For many years, the MTV Video Music Awards have given awards to the best live performances. This year, they will also give an award for “Best Metaverse Performance” to the best digital concert.
Ariana Grande, Charli XCX, Justin Bieber, Twenty One Pilots, and the K-pop groups BLACKPINK and BTS are all in the running. All of the candidates performed on different “metaverse platforms,” like Roblox, Fortnite, and Minecraft. Friday is the last day to vote, and the winner will be announced at the VMAs on August 28 in Newark, New Jersey.
The first awards show was in 1984. It honors the most famous people in the music business and is known for categories like Artist of the Year and Video of the Year. But in recent years, a lot less people have been watching the VMAs. Billboard says that a record 12.4 million people watched the show in 2011, but that number dropped to less than a million in 2012.
MTV might be trying out the metaverse to try to get more viewers and keep its fans interested. MTV made its own VMAs metaverse experience in Roblox, complete with three music and dance-themed activities and a virtual red carpet for taking pictures.
Amy Campbell, chief marketing officer for Paramount Media Networks and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement, “The MTV Video Music Awards has a long history of social and digital innovations, as we always look to meet our fans where they are.”
Over the past few years, there have been more and more Metaverse concerts. Since DJ Marshmello brought 11 million people to one of the first metaverse concerts in the online survival game Fortnite in 2019, many musicians and businesses have jumped on the trend. Reports say that in 2020, rapper Travis Scott made $20 million from a Fortnite show. Forbes says that Scott’s 26-city Astroworld tour made him $53.5 million in 2019.
Still, not all attempts to perform in the metaverse have been successful. Travis Scott’s virtual show drew 27 million people, and Marshmello’s drew 11 million. However, Meta’s attempt at metaverse concerts at the end of last year failed. Futurism says that the company spent $10 billion in 2021 trying to make a widely used metaverse. About 100,000 people went to a free digital concert by rapper Young Thug, and almost a million people went to a performance by the electronic DJ duo the Chainsmokers. Both of these events were held on the company’s Horizon Venues VR platform.
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