Kanye West: 35min vid

The idea of an extended music vid, effectively as a short film isn't new - John Landis' work for Michael Jackson's Thriller itself built on The Beatles' films, which could be viewed as a series of sketched built around multiple prototype music vids. Kanye West's effort, the 35min Runaway, has split web opinion, currently accruing 29,055 likes/5,101 dislikes after 5,389,189 views at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7W0DMAx8FY and another 28,165 likes/2,890 dislikes from 6,331,377 viewings at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA&feature=channel (just some of the uploads on YouTube alone; its also on his official site and many more).
The bottom line - its working wonders as a promotional tool. KanyeWest.com even includes a live twitter feed on what people are saying about it, stark evidence of its impact.