How virtual worlds, avatars, and immersive technologies are reinventing live music

The world of music and entertainment is undergoing a change that just a few years ago sounded like pure sci-fi music: live concerts and festivals are not only taking place in stadiums or clubs, but now also virtually, in the metaverse.

The metaverse is a spatial, digital world in which people interact, play, work and shop with each other via avatars – and can also experience music live without having to physically be in a particular place.

This development makes the live experience global, immersive and interactive. And it shows how new technologies are already breaking down boundaries that were previously inviolable.

Metaverse: more than just a buzzword

Conceptually, the metaverse can be described as an advanced internet in 3D spaces – a world in which digital and real experiences merge.

People move around with avatars, explore virtual environments and experience events together in real time. Technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) create immersive spaces in which music and interaction are completely redefined.

Examples of successful metaverse concerts

Lil Nas X’s Roblox concert

In 2020, rap star Lil Nas X made history when he held the first big virtual concert on the gaming platform Roblox. He appeared in four different theme worlds – from the wild west to a wintry landscape.

• The performance was part of the promotion of his song “Holiday” and was an extremely big PR campaign for both the Roblox platform and for himself.
• The event was visited 33 million times. This makes it one of the most watched virtual concerts ever – especially at a time when physical concerts were cancelled in large numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Fans could experience the whole show through their avatars: they could walk around, interact and even buy virtual merch items. The gaming company turned over nearly $10 million.

This event showed for the first time that music connects people digitally just as well as it does physically, on a global level, completely independent of geographical boundaries. Find out more about the concert here.

Decentraland Festival: four days of virtual stage

Decentraland is a decentralised, 3D-based metaverse on the Ethereum blockchain. Users explore a virtual world as avatars, creating their own content (games, art, shops) and managing it by buying virtual properties (LAND as NFT) and trading with the cryptocurrency MANA. It is a community-driven platform.

In October 2021, a four-day metaverse music festival took place, with more than 80 artists from different genres and plenty of interaction for viewers.

• Visitors could move freely, interact with each other, and even collect NFTs or buy virtual objects.
• Decentraland itself describes the event as an exercise in how culture, community and music can work together in virtual spaces.

You can find out more here.

From festival to community experience

The two above events are just examples of what is possible. They provide a glimpse into the future and show what opportunities the internet can offer.

What these events have in common:

• Immersive experience instead of a passive show:
  Fans move actively in the virtual world, can meet others, network or play – music can thus be experienced in a multi-dimensional way.
• Access for all – without location limitations:
  People from all over the world can participate – no travelling, queueing or physical capacity limits.
• New income and interaction sources for artists:
  Avatar merchandise, virtual products or NFT-based tickets open up new economic opportunities.

New generation, new expectations

The reason for this change is pragmatic: younger generations are already growing up in digital worlds. For them, online communities, gaming events and virtual experiences are as normal as real meetings.

For Generation Z and Generation Alpha, socialising online is part of everyday life – whether it’s playing, streaming or even virtual concerts. These generations bring new expectations: interactivity, immersion, participation, and this is exactly what the metaverse provides.

Conclusion – why the metaverse can be the future of concerts

Concerts in the metaverse combine music, community and technology to create a new type of experience:

• They make live music globally accessible.
• They create new ways for artists to interact with fans.
• They provide completely new opportunities for making money and expressing yourself.
• And they fit perfectly with a generation that has long understood digital space as a part of everyday social life.

Festivals like Decentraland or mega events like Lil Nas X on Roblox all show that live music has arrived in the digital world.

And as technological hurdles continue to fall, these formats will not only grow, but also become real meeting places in our cultural future.