• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, September 15, 2010

Just in case there wasn't enough brand recognition in pairing AMEX with John Legend, an upcoming performance streamed live on YouTube is a flash mob of celebrity. On September 23 John Legend and The Roots will perform at Terminal 5 In New York. The event will leverage YouTube's recently introduced live streaming platform and is part of an American Express/YouTube/VEVO project to run five such live events to feature both the artists and the potential of the platform. High profile directors are being enlisted in the effort, so no less a master than Spike Lee will oversee the live stream of this concert.

The event is a multi-brand mash-up of goals. AMEX gets to align itself with hip music culture. YouTube shows off its platform. VEVO extends its brand beyond recorded music video into event hosting and promotion. And John Legend and The Root promote their collaborative album that launches two days before the concert. Spike Lee? I am not sure what the filmmaker gets out of this. There is a pre-show video for Legend and The Root being offered up prior to the performance. Also directed by Lee.

The series, titled "Unstaged," began on August 5 with an ArcadeFire Madison Square Garden concert directed by Terry Gilliam.

And it's certainly tricked out with social media. The viewers to the September show will be able to choose either the "director's stream" of the event or an alternate stream of other angles. They can vote for the addition of one song to the set. And of course you can Twitter questions to the performers in advance of the show and answers are supplied by the musicians in the pre-show video.

In short this is a mass convergence of brands, marketing goals, and even every social media tool imaginable. It will be interesting to see what sticks. Especially interesting is whether the live streamed event model pays off for YouTube and its marketing partners. As Web video converges onto the TV, this type of live event could have exceptional impact. But I am sure the wizards at Google who are putting the final touches on that Google TV software have that kind of thing in mind already.