Gaming Meets Live Music. NewsWire

NewsWire: 10/22/21

• Are virtual concerts the future of the music industry? Big-name artists are performing shows within games like Roblox and Fortnite that are attracting tens of millions of viewers. (The Wall Street Journal)
• NH: Amid pandemic restrictions, a growing number of big-name musicians are taking their shows to the virtual world. In recent months, Twenty One Pilots, Lil Nas X, Travis Scott, and Ariana Grande have all performed concerts in Roblox (RBLX) and Fortnite. The Weeknd, meanwhile, performed live as an avatar on TikTok.
• These shows can accommodate audiences far larger than their in-person counterparts. Nearly 28 million people watched at least one of Travis Scott’s five concerts on Fortnite, while Twenty One Pilots drew 13 million and The Weeknd 2 million. Viewers can chat with each other’s avatars, decorate the stage with their own special effects, and buy virtual merchandise.
• But this performance format is still very new. Just 9% of consumers have live-streamed a concert, according to Midia Research. Viewers skew younger and male. Tickets to live-streamed concerts grossed $600 million in 2020--even though, so far, most of the U.S. shows are free to attend. The revenue comes from merchandise, other digital add-ons, and sponsorships. Midia Research co-founder Mark Mulligan speculates that, in time, this format “could be to live music what pay-TV is to sports.”
• This would, of course, be a massive accelerator for gaming and social media companies. They’re already winning the attention economy, and now they’re on the verge of expanding into live music and becoming entertainment promoters rivaling the likes of Live Nation. While the gaming and music industries have long collaborated with each other (for example, with popular artists recording exclusive tracks for hit games), this would take that collaboration to a whole new level. The vice president of partnership at Epic Games, which owns Fortnite, expects that the game will someday host virtual concerts weekly—for both major stars and emerging artists who want more exposure.
• Virtual concerts have already taken off in South Korea, where the government announced earlier this year that it will spend $17 million to build a new performance venue (without seating!) just for online concerts. This followed the success of several live-stream concerts hosted by the K-pop megalabel SM Entertainment, which charged for tickets. Its first show, which featured the band SuperM, sold over 75,000 tickets (compared to an average of 10,000 at an in-person show) and grossed over $2 million.