Have you ever attended an online concert? Or would you rather see an artist perform live?
While online concerts were almost unheard of and unfamiliar to most prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have resorted to offering concerts online as an alternative to live concerts. Consequently, online concerts and the use of holograms have been on the rise in the past two years, which is proving interesting for technological developments in the music industry.
While digital options were introduced as a temporary solution to restrictions and social distancing, they have offered significant benefits to artists and customers over traditional live concerts. For example, the can decrease costs related to venue booking, reach a wider audience all over the world, decrease travel costs, and only have to perform once. While such online concerts may not substitute traditional live concerts completely after the pandemic, they are likely to continue serving as an additional form of entertainment in the future
As technologies progress within the digital concert sphere, customers are also able to not only purchase tickets at a lower cost and decrease transportation costs, but they can also receive a unique experience that is not possible in a traditional live concert. For example, there have been recent developments in hologram programs as part of the digital experience, which allows more flexibility in projecting artists onto stages to mimic a live show. It also allows for concert goers to even enjoy performances from inactive artists, like ABBA, who has announced a 2022 holographic tour, in which they plan to blend the digital and physical through the use of holograms and CGI. This provides a unique business model within the entertainment industry, in which in-person events in venues can take place without the need for the physical presence of the artist. Other artists, like The Weeknd and Travis Scott, use holograms to enhance the concert experience through projecting animated versions of other artists or backup dancers onto their stage.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a presumably temporary surge in online concerts, it has also accelerated the development of concert-related technologies, blurring the lines between the physical and virtual experience of concert goers. This raises the question as to what the future of the music industry will look like in a post-pandemic world. The advancements that have been made in the industry in the past two years have been disrupting and changing how individuals consume live music. A few years ago we saw the shift in music consumption from CDs to streaming. Could online concerts and holograms be the next big technological revolution in music?
References:
Grow, K. (2019). Live After Death: Inside Music’s Booming New Hologram Touring Industry. The Rolling Stones. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/hologram-tours-roy-orbison-frank-zappa-whitney-houston-873399/ (Accessed 5 October 2021)
The Groove Cartel (2021). Virtual Sound: the Rise of Online Concerts. Available at: https://thegroovecartel.com/featured/virtual-sound-the-rise-of-online-concerts/ (Accessed 5 October 2021)
Hi Natia,
I myself am a huge music fan and think this is a great development in the industry. The reason i think it is great is because it’s yet another way to consume the content we all love. This technology can be a fun addition to a live show like you mentioned, or it can create an opportunity for fans to, in some way, experience the presence of an artist that for example past away or can’t perform due to certain circumstances. If i’m not mistaken the one of the first hologram shows were performed by people like 2PAC, Micheal Jackson and Elvis. However, as you mentioned i agree that this innovation will not revolutionise the live entertainment completely, since the magic of a live show is the unpredictability of the show and the interaction with the artist. The fact that a hologram is prerecorded or produced with a computer for me reduces the excitement for a show. This is however just one implication of the hologram, because in the future hopefully it can be possible that these holograms come and perform our own living rooms. Until then i’m fine enjoying the real life experience of a concert or festival.