A concert like any other. Or almost. At the end of July, the South Korean group BlackPink continues its greatest successes. How You Like That, DDU-DU DDU-DU… Jennie, Lisa, Jisoo and Rosé’s choreography is meticulous, the sets sparkling and the catchy (and heady) pop melodies. Nothing unusual for fans of the girl band. With one exception: the concert – dubbed the “Virtual” – takes place in the battle video game PUBG Mobile. A digital performance that earned them the prize for “best performance in the metaverse” of the MTV Video Music Awards, Sunday August 28.
In the history of this ceremony which took place in a stadium in Newark (New Jersey), this is a first. Driven first by the Covid-19 pandemic and the impossibility for artists to perform on stage, virtual concerts now benefit from the spotlight brought by the notion of “metavers”, the new darling of the start-up nation. and brands.
After Mark Zuckerberg and his very mocked “Horizon Worlds”, more and more giants and tech gurus hope to be able to immerse us in these entirely virtual worlds to go shopping, work, socialize… Or even attend concerts. In February, Release had also been able to attend the preparations of one of them, Timothée Joly at the microphone.
Alongside Blackpink, four other artists were nominated for this new category of MTV. First, Ariana Grande and her “Rift Tour” in the Fortnite video game. Very interactive, the August 2021 event offered its participants the opportunity to navigate a maze of columns and stairs or to fly through clouds to the sounds of the American artist. 10 million players attended.
The “BTS”, a K-pop group today in «pause», were also on the list of potential winners. Transformed into avatars of pixels, they had occurred in the famous game Minecraft in December 2021. Justin Bieber also appeared among the nominees. More versed in virtual reality, the Canadian star had joined the virtual world Wave XR for his show “An Interactive Virtual Experience”. During the performance, fans could interact with the singer and chat with him.
Finally, indie rock was also entitled to its place in the table with the Twenty One Pilots. In September 2021, the American group had chosen the virtual world Roblox. Participants could then choose the order of the songs they wanted to listen to, interact with the decor and participate in a chat with the musicians.
For artists, the virtuality of these concerts is often described as a favorable lever for creativity. If only for the freedom induced by the special effects or the modes of interaction with the public that it allows. We will add that it can also consist of a nice cash lever for the platforms concerned as well as for the musicians. In the case of Blackpink, more than 15 million spectators attended the event. Enough to attract new players online.
For a concert held in 2020 in the game Fortnite, rapper Travis Scott would have earned more than $ 20 million in merchandise sales according to the magazine Forbes. By way of comparison: his record, in a single night, had been 1.7 million dollars during his Astroworld tour.
If the MTV ceremony placed an important emphasis on digital performances – with in particular a Johnny Depp projected on stage as an cosmonaut a few weeks after his trial against Amber Heard – it also awarded its good points to artists of flesh and bones . To remember among the stars of the evening: the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and the American pop-folk megastar Taylor Swift.
Another pop star of the year, Harry Styles accepted his award for best album of the year (Harry’s House) remotely by video, before returning to his concert at the legendary Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
New York hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj also had a triumph on stage, before California’s Red Hot Chili Peppers won an award for their long career and paid tribute to late drummer Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters.