philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Is Virtual Reality About to Transform the Way We Experience Live Music?

I stood in a small room with a headset and felt like I was on stage with Fall Out Boy. Kind of.

According to a press release, this new venture has been launched by a company called MelodyVR, and is the world’s “only virtual reality platform licensed by the music industry.” They’ve secured deals with Universal, Warner, Sony, and Roc Nation, with agreements to film in certain venues, and have starting selling “virtual tickets” to shows in the United Kingdom and United States. In other words, this is a win, win, win situation for music industry capitalism. MelodyVR cover the relatively minor cost of filming, the artists get more money and exposure and the venues sell more tickets. And then there are the audience, who can watch shows—either live or pre-recorded, arenas or private—in the comfort of their own homes, from any part of the world, as long as they have a VR headset (initially on Oculus Go and Samsung GearVR) and a subscription to the MelodyVR app. So far, so simple.

I’m not going to pretend I left this experience feeling like my consciousness had been shattered into tiny pieces and I was now scrambling to pick them off the floor. It was just like going to a really good simulator at an arcade centre. What I was left with, though, is a glimpse into the possibilities that could open up as a result of MelodyVR. For future generations, what I experienced for one afternoon in someone’s office for the first time, is probably just going to become a way of life. Which is pretty cool, I guess?

See the full story here: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/mbxmep/virtual-reality-live-music-melodyvr-the-future-2018