Pop superstar Liam Payne is teaming up with music virtual reality company MelodyVR for the first-ever live VR concert this Wednesday at 3 PM EST. According to a press release, "To experience the show at home, you’ll need an Oculus Go or Samsung Gear VR headset with the MelodyVR app installed and an internet connection. On Wednesday 19th December at 8 pm GMT (3 pm EST), fans can launch the MelodyVR app, select Liam Payne from the home screen and will be right there on stage with Liam. For those who don’t have VR headsets, Liam and Melody are going to host this secret concert via a Facebook 360 live stream, that way fans without VR gear can get in on the action."
The show is part of a wide-ranging initiative that MelodyVR, who have done shows with everyone from KISS to Imagine Dragons and Blake Shelton, has to blend music and VR. The music industry is responding.
Chainsmokers manager Adam Alpert says of why he likes to work with Melody VR, "Everyone at MelodyVR is passion about music and they think about ways new technology can make music more amazing. Whether it’s about access and proximity or a new creative outlet for musicians, MelodyVR provides that at a scale you could never do in real life," he says.
He also sees it as very beneficial for fans. "For the die hard fan, access to an artist’s world, their process, and their daily routine can be really fun and exciting. Even I got to experience what its like to be on stage performing with my band by watching MelodyVR."
I met recently with MelodyVR CEO Anthony Matchett in L.A., who took me through the MelodyVR plan to broaden the reach for music in VR.
"We do kind of three main things," he said. "The first one is recorded content. So that can be on a simple level, a concert experience. So be at the festival, be onstage, be there. On top of that we also create a lot of original content. So that can be something really simple, be in the studio, be at Abbey Road while the band's writing the album, be part of the experience, get behind the scenes, feel like you're there, like you're present and part of it. And we can go through to other forms of content, which maybe can have more of a narrative. What we find with our users and our fans is they love the unattainable. So that can be simple, be in the studio or be onstage.
"The second part of what we do is live real time. So in essence a concert performance, having that happen as it happens in VR and then letting people have VR, making VR available for that. That's something we're dropping in later this year, which is really fun for us because it kind of limits those restrictions on capacity, but also we're hoping to take a little bite out of secondary markets because as you'll know from artists, everyone hates it. I hate it, the artists hate it, the fans hate it. Anyone aside from the guy who's scalping in the middle. If we can give people the cost-effective opportunity, it's not the same as being there, we hope it's the next best thing. We can give people access for five dollars, ten dollars, 15 dollars, that, for us, is an important part of what we do.
"The third bit, which people find the most interesting, is kind of interactive original content. That can be anything from an interactive listening experience through to a journey through a VR world. That can happen with artists, anyone from John Williams to artists who are no longer with us. What we do there is use the power of VR to give people interaction with their surroundings and choose the journey. It's a lot more immersive than just being present at a concert, which is still really cool. But the kind of built for VR experiences are the ones that are really interesting. So throughout the next six months we're dropping a lot more of those out.
Payne tells me he has done a lot of those interactive videos, including one where fans can drive with him. I spoke with Payne about VR, why he would've wanted to hang in VR with Eminem and the importance of these kind of shows for fans.
Steve Baltin: What band or artist would you have wanted to spend time with in VR?
Liam Payne: I actually really liked Eminem when I was a kid, so probably Eminem. The Gorillaz would have been a good one as well. I bet you could have done something really cool with it using the cartoon stuff.
Baltin: What experience would you have wanted to share with Eminem in VR?
Payne: I quite like the fact that people can get on the stage with you, but there are different parts of the stage you can jump to and that's why this is a world first. They haven't been able to do the jump spot before around the stage live. But you can jump to...it just depends where you put the cameras really I guess. I think we're having side of stage, you can join the band, stand right at the very front of the stage, go into where the audience are. You don't have to pick one spot. You can pick many, which is, I think, pretty amazing.
Baltin: As an artist, why do you think it's important to share this experience with fans?
Payne: Obviously there are a lot of places around the world yet I haven't been to, so many fans who haven't seen us perform live yet, and we'll probably never get the chance to without something like this. So for that this is really, really great. I also think people who don't like to go to concerts typically who want to see the artist, some people don't like big crowds, some people don't like those sort of environments, so I think this is also another good step for them. And also for people in the audience who are actually there you can go back and watch it again from a different angle, which I also think is another thing...if something happens in a concert or anything crazy you cand go and see it from a different part of the stage of wherever it is, which obviously adds a little bit of pressure, but I think it's worth it. And just the ability for them to get up close and personal with you and see the concert from an angle no one ever sees it from is a really amazing thing, so it seemed like the perfect match to me.
Baltin: What do you want people to take from the show?
Payne: Just how good a quality it is. I've been and seen the kit working and where you can see from. And it is a really, really amazing view. We also did a bunch of videos for Melody before this that aren't actually yet, different things that was one like a driving experience and you're in the car. I was kind of driving with myself, which is a really weird scenario to be in. But it's just a bit of fun for the fans, giving them something different to be up close and personal with the artist and do things that I get up to, different things. With the show you have to be careful about the way you arrange things like lights, staging, where the cameras go. that it's not gonna distract the audience too much in the show. There are a lot of different moving parts that are going together to get this on. But I have my live band with me, which I think is gonna be really cool. We haven't performed for a while. I just hope everybody enjoys it and gets a completely different experience they haven't had at a concert before.
Baltin: You could do your own version of Carpool Karaoke.
Payne: It was so strange to see what you look like when you drive (laughs). It was really interesting. I've never had the chance to do that before. It was okay.
Baltin: But that's what's cool, is you can show fans the internal workings.
Payne: For me, from an artist point of view, you'd want to see Eminem write the song. You'd want to see him going through how the song started and how they worked. Having these cameras in a studio and them being able to watch you making a song would be a crazy experience for anyone.
Baltin: Where do you see your role with VR going forward?
Payne: I think it could be really, really good for me going forward. I also got to watch some of the World Cup on one of the headsets as well, which was pretty amazing. So I think it's gonna be incorporated to a lot of different live events that people can't always get to because of ticket limitations and different things. It's definitely something I want to use going forward and having such a big online following, as I do, I think it works perfectly.
READ MORE ABOUT LIAM PAYNE
