Virtual concerts in the Metaverse (Part 62)
Welcome to the 62nd part of the 100-part series on Blockchain.
During the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled and delayed many real-life concerts, many artists saw an opportunity to organize virtual live or pre-recorded concerts over the platforms like Youtube, Zoom, Instagram, and Facebook, but they were far from what we used to experience live concert experiences at real-world concert venues.
On the contrary, virtual concerts in the metaverse are much more immersive, and participants feel connected to the artists beyond just merely watching a live video.
What exactly is a virtual concert in the metaverse?
A Virtual Concert is a performance that takes place in the metaverse in which a performer is represented by a virtual avatar and is projected onto a virtual stage, synced to pre-recorded music. If the artist wishes to have a live performance in the metaverse, he can perform live in a motion capture suit equipped with various sensors to create a more realistic artist’s avatar to have their virtual avatar replicate their movements beat for beat. Either way, the performances are genuine, and fans attend, and experience concerts live.
The virtual concert is also different from a hologram concert which is a live musical performance that takes place in the “real” or physical world that uses lasers to project a 3D hologram of an artist onto a glass panel. On the other hand, metaverse concerts occur on virtual land and are attended by the audiences in the form of avatars. A person can access the metaverse concert through VR headsets like Oculus Quest 2, Valve Index, HTC Vive Pro 2, Samsung Gear VR, Meta Quest, etc., from the comfort of their homes.
In 2022, the 64th Grammy Awards were presented in Roblox, and the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) debuted a new award category for Best Metaverse Performance, further cementing the metaverse as a venue for artists to host concerts and release their music videos.
Benefits of hosting a Virtual Concert in the metaverse
(i) Being an artist, you can reach a larger audience in the virtual concert. For physical concerts, the venue is subjected to one place only; you cannot reach out to the global audience at the same time. But with virtual concerts, the event has endless opportunities to reach fans anywhere in the world.
(ii) You can create a Virtual Concert with the ease of a computer program. This means you can create your show in whatever format you want without worrying about the physical limitations of a live performance. A virtual concert provides you with more flexibility than a physical concert.
(iii) In the Metaverse, virtual artists are no longer bound by physical limitations. An artist can quickly change outfits in a virtual concert or create a new stage by changing the environment in the virtual world. While performing, he can fly, enter outer space, or even go underwater. Also, even the avatars of audiences can change their outfits and dance steps.
(iv) Metaverse concerts also keep the audience engaged and motivated to stay through the entire concert as they can dance, walk around the stage, and see the artist from a different point of view. For instance, Epic games organized the concert of Travis Scott in their popular game Fortnite. In the concert, Travis Scott’s giant skyscraper 3D avatar walks around the virtual world with the audience avatars following behind him as he ventures through outer space and even underwater at one point.
On the other hand, Ariana Grande’s virtual event in Fortnite took place for several days, where her avatar interacted with the fans during her performance by lifting them and dancing with them.
NFTs in the metaverse concerts
(i) The artists can buy virtual lands to organize their concerts in the metaverse. NFTs represent certificates of virtual land ownership. For example, earlier in 2022, Music industry powerhouse Warner Music Group (WMG) purchased LAND on the decentralized platform The Sandbox (SAND). It is a beachfront property in the Metaverse, where WWG wants to build a musical theme park and open a concert venue. They have also signed major artists like Ed Sheeran, Madonna, Coldplay, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, just to name a few. Also, a popular Indian singer Daler Mehndi bought a piece of land on the metaverse platform PartyNite and named it Balle Balle Land, where he hosted his concert.
(ii) NFT tickets: The metaverse concert organizers can send an NFT “ticket” to the attendee’s digital wallet. These unique NFT tickets provide access to the concert while keeping others out and also erase all possibilities of counterfeit ticket sales and resale. Additionally, NFT tickets can act as collectibles. For instance, the virtual concert organized by your favorite artist sold only 1000 NFT “tickets.” Now that NFT “ticket” you own is 1 of 1000 tickets that will ever exist worldwide. Thus, the NFT ticket has value purely as a collectible.
Few examples of platforms hosting virtual concerts
(i) Decentraland is a virtual 3D world where users can buy land plots using the metaverse’s crypto token MANA. It was launched in February 2020 and is managed by the nonprofit Decentraland Foundation. Music artists such as Grimes and Deadmau5 have held virtual concerts in Decentraland.
(ii) Warner music group (WMG) has partnered with The Sandbox to host its virtual concerts.
(iii) Ariana Grande, Marshmello, and Travis Scott did in-game live music concerts on the highly famous survival game Fortnite.
(iv) Music streaming application Spotify partnered with virtual gaming universe Roblox to enter the Metaverse with the first music-themed island, Spotify Island, allowing the players to create new sounds together, explore new music and exclusive merchandise alongside their favorite artists.
(v) There are many other artists and musicians who have embraced the metaverse, like Dolly Parton, Justin Bieber, Daler Mehndi, Li Nas X, Marshmello, Young Thug, etc. Dolly Parton partnered with FOX Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs (BCL) to launch Dollyverse. On November 18, 2021, Justin Bieber performed his first-ever live show as an avatar in collaboration with Wave, a virtual entertainment company.
(vi) Rapper Snoop Dogg partnered with The Sandbox to release the first-ever metaverse music video.
(vii) Decentraland and Roblox have also organized music festivals in the metaverse.
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