Will Virtual Concerts Take Over Our Future?

Right now, North Americans live in a concert ticket monopoly, run by the Ticketmaster giants (who recently merged with Live Nation, another giant). It is a ridiculous system, which leads to price gouging and general fan (and artist) unhappiness. At the Music Hack Day event in San Francisco, an app explored a world where instead of attending concerts in person, we attended them virtually (via Wired).

The app, called Concert 2021, combines several ideas that already exist in other realms of the online world. Everyone is listening to the same music (like Turntable.fm), and you make an avatar and can walk around in this world (tons of games). The app adds some quirky features, such as virtually buying beer, walking around the festival and hearing people shout things out, and hearing music across your headphones as you hear new bands.

Right now, the app is just a small demo that was used for Music Hack Day, but you can check it out at the Concert 2021 website. I hope you like the song White Limo by the Foo Fighters, as that is the main song playing. Move around with the cursor keys (you can’t hold the arrows down to move more than one space, you must push it a million times), and you can wave your hands in the air (like you just don’t care), by pressing the A and D keys. If you don’t like White Limo, hit Q to boo them (but that’s just mean).

With the popularity of the online streaming on concerts, this might provide those without the means or money to get to a concert to experience with other people, and engage in online banter, and possibly provide another revenue stream.