Imagine yourself front row at a Beyoncé’s latest concert. Your heart racing as the music pulses through your body, you can hear the crowd screaming behind you. You look up and see Bey herself standing right in front of you. You’re so close you can see the sweat roll down her face as she begins to break into Formation. As you reach up to grab her hand to join her onstage, you feel a large plop in your lap. You take you headset off, shaking your head as you come to realize you’re sitting in your living room with your favorite doggie companion not front row with Bey.
With augmented reality, experiences similar to the one above are already possible. New devices, such as Samsung’s Gear VR and Oculus Rift headsets are changing the way brands and consumers interact with technology.
“VR is kind of like film and theater, but more interactive, more immersive. And you have that tremendous opportunity of taking an artist, their music, and their whole identity, and putting it into this space. And what can you do with that? There are so many things—and not just on a visual level, but on a social level, on an economic level.” Kimberly Cooper, co-founder of Prologue Immersive
Back in 2011, The Black-Eyed Peas released their music video, “The Time (Dirty Bit),” using an augmented reality application they called BEP360. The app allowed fans the opportunity to watch the music video in a 360-degree universe. The Black-Eyed Peas hoped to immerse fans outside of the traditional 4-minute song space by developing the first mobile 3D360 music video.
“will.i.apps and the BEP360 app have been established to help artists tap into the potential of our hyper-connected mobile world and bring fans deeper inside the music far beyond a four minute audio recording. It’s a unique and completely new way to experience 360-degree music immersion that will bring artists and fans closer together.” will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas
As we continue to learn how to use augmented reality and technology matures, we will see an emergence of opportunities for music professionals and brands to create a unique experience for fans. REIFY, a new 3D audio platform designed to use augmented reality to capture artist’s songs and display a visual experience for fans.
Innovative technologies like REIFY are the first of many that will disrupt the way we consume music. The more brands and artists understand how to use AR technology the more value they can create for themselves and fans. The possibilities and benefit of AR technology are endless for music professionals. AR technology has the potential to deliver a uniquely, interactive and personalized experience for fans while also allowing advertisers to engage with consumers on another level.
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