[CLUB5050] | Are Virtual Artists The Future of The Music Industry?

Good day to all members of this community 😊. I hope we are all having a great day? Today we'll be talking music. If you've been keeping up with recent trends, then you must have heard about virtual artist, virtual concerts amongst others. Today, we'll be exploring all that.

As we all know, the music industry is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The industry is responsible for creating some of the most famous people in the world today. From Michael Jackson, Drake, Eminem, Selena Gomez amongst others, all these people were able to build empires from music.

One of the reasons which account for the success of the music industry is its flexibility and its ability to evolve over time. Think of the different genres of music which exists. Taking a genre like hip hop, think of how much the sound has evolved from 3 decades ago. And the evolution hasn't stop. The music industry seeks to take another leap, through virtual artists and virtual concerts.

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VIRTUAL ARTISTS

You can call them virtual musicians. These are artists who have no human personality. That is to say they aren't human. They exists solely as virtual avatars. Perhaps the most popular is the Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku.

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Image Source

^{Photo of Hatsune Miku}

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Miku is the true definition of a pop star. In Japan she is really big. Miku is a vocaloid in the avatar of a 16 year old girl. Miku has millions of views on YouTube, and she also has massive turnouts for her concerts. During her concerts, the hologram of Miku's avatar is displayed and her movements as well as choreography is recorded and transmitted unto the hologram using specialized software.

The success of Miku has changed the perception of record labels towards music. Why spend money on record deals for artists when the label can just create one? This issue is now up for debate. And with the success of virtual rapper FN Meka who uses a punk themed avatar, it seems like there's no going back. As technology advances, I have no doubt that we would one day have a virtual musician occupying the top spot of the billboard hot 100, or an entire record label made up of virtual artists.

Advantages.

• Record labels can save a whole lot of money. Creating an avatar is less costly as compared to signing artists.

• Record labels can easily manage these digital artists. Scandals which are often related with humans can be avoided completely.

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VIRTUAL CONCERTS

Now, imagine being at Drake's concert, but its not actually Drake performing. Instead, you see the hologram of his avatar presenting on stage. Sounds weird right?

Not really... Because as weird as it may sound, that is increasingly becoming a possibility as days go by. In fact, some artists like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd are already trying it out. Travis Scott's avatar earned him over $20,000,000 from a virtual concert he did in collaboration with Fortnite. With that kind of money on the line, who wouldn't wanna get in?

It's a game of high stakes. And one thing we've definitely learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that we definitely must evolve to stay relevant. While the technology in itself is new, and still needs working on, I think there's no denying the fact that virtual concerts are part and parcel of the future of music concerts.

Advantages

• An artist has the possibility of doing many more shows, as they can be present at many different locations at the same time using their avatar.

• Artists can have some more privacy, as they do not necessarily need to be in public places at all times.

Disadvantages

• Personally, I feel like the emotional connection between an artist and the fans will definitely be lost. To me I'll always be more excited to meet the real artist, as compared to watching an avatar or hologram.

CONCLUSION

Regardless of how we may feel concerning this subject, I think at this point in time irreversible. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology continues to grow, it is bound to happen. We already have virtual social media influencers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. It's just a matter of time before we have virtual celebrities in the music industry, and virtual concerts every now and then. It is a revolution in the music industry, and it is very exciting...

Thanks for reading 👊
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