How Travis Scott and Gaming Execs Reverse Engineered the “Music Video”
A perspective on music content with an underbelly of gaming competition that challenges industry norms.
Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite made music history in April 2020 when inviting Travis Scott to create a 10 minute in-game live performance called “Astronomical”. Admittedly, following music culture is not top of mind for me. Being more like Beaker than Bieber, I sat down with our content braintrust, ESPAT co-founder and CEO of ESPAT TV, Dante Simpson.
“Meaningful innovation does not need to be based on outright invention. Rather, there is an exhilarating shortcut. It is based on bold, new combinations of already existing components that simultaneously unlock heightened levels of consumer value and reduce costs.” — Gabor George Burt
This progressive thinking by Gabor George Burt exemplifies what becomes possible when you “mashup” creativity. Dante and I wanted to debunk what we traditionally knew about: music audiences, copyrights and monetization.
Acquiring a Generation of Gamers
Newzoo reports there were 2.47 billion gamers in the world by the end of 2019. Growth has been steady with an average of 5.9% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase. 2020 figures are forecasted to reach 2.6 billion gamers that will earn the global games market an estimated $165 billion.
Our advisor Jeff Swierk, former Vice President US Consumer Marketing & Emerging Technology at Mastercard says it the best. “You have to meet them where they are.” This could not be more accurate in the case of Travis Scott-Epic’s collaboration.
The Scott event yielded staggering numbers: 12.3 million concurrent viewers; 28 million unique views; 46 million total views (people watched more than once). Again, let’s keep in mind, this was a 10 minute performance by Travis’ digital avatar. I venture to guess that they real life Scott could not physically aggregate these numbers on any successful tour.
Avatar’s Taking Ownership
Understandably, we do not have full knowledge of the deal as it pertains to shared rights. The one thing we have all noticed is the undefined line between these music-marketing digital venues and rights shareholder concerns.
When it comes to Scott’s personality rights, aka “Cactus Jack” we can anticipate who owns the human—but what about his avatar likeness? Dante and I were also keen on questioning the management of content creators being present and sharing post-performance videos on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Epic stayed proactive on these Content ID / copyright headaches by releasing the Astronomical Content Creator Guide.
Music Labels are a big component in the distribution of music tracks across various (traditional) platforms. Our burning question is “is that still true in this online fusion of “open-source” music and gaming distribution?”
The Green is Skins
If you are not familiar with Fortnite skins they are stylized weapons and outfits for their in-game avatars. Although it does not enhance your ability to progress in the game, it’s a way to customize the default look and feel—make it your own. In the Fortnite store, the Travis Scott skin sells for 1500 V bucks and the Astro Jack for 2000; this equates to $15 and $20USD, respectively. The number of skins sold is not public, considering 28 million unique views, I’d say is slightly better than traditional in-venue merchandise sales. 🤔
When the Gaming Console goes Dark
What happens when the stage lights go down or in this case the console is turned off for the night? It is where the real marketing starts, a total integration of those subtle micro-visual placements now delivered to your inbox, web browser and social media feed. From Jordan collab fetching $500-$1000 to Kid Cudi releasing “The Scotts” to Scott x Fortnite Nerf guns, Epic and Scott was truly a post-virtual success. If you need more proof, view it on YouTube alongside 86M who beat you (and me) to it. Let’s create!
