Is digital media the new medium for musicians to share music with the world? Do people actually prefer digital concerts? These are the types of questions that have arisen since the Covid pandemic. Artists were stimulated to bring their music to the people in other forms than live concerts. Think for example about virtual concerts, live streams or even shows in the metaverse!! But what do these types of digital events do with the spectator? I wonder if people prefer this type of concerts or music events. In this blog I will go more in depth about the experience of a virtual concert by combining it with my own experience.Have you ever been to a virtual concert? How did you feel about it? Share it in the comments 🙂
What is a virtual concert and how could it benefit us?
Before I start this blog I will first explain what a virtual concert is. A virtual concert is a performance that can be watched online or in the Metaverse (Chen, 2022). You can watch your favorite band and sing ugly while you watch a streamed show on sites like YouTube. You buy your ticket online and then you get access to the live concert. Sometimes you can even rewatch it a few hours after the show. Here are a few benefits listed of hosting a virtual concert:
- You can reach a large audience. For a live audience you have limited space and sometimes people can’t go to a concert, because the artist doesn’t come to their country. Also in covid time, we couldn’t go to live concerts
- A virtual concert is more flexible, because you don’t have any physical limitations.
- In the perspective of the participant, it could save money such as travel expenses. Often online concerts cost less money.
As you can see, virtual concerts gave us the opportunity to still watch concerts during the lockdown and sing and dance in your student dorm.
Social Connection and Kama Muta
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and the social distancing rules the popularity of virtual concerts has increased. During a live concert people often feel a form of social connection and/or kama muta ( also known as ‘being moved’, ‘being touched’ etc.), but does this change when you watch it online? Research has found that social connection and kama muta are related and that they can be predicted by empathic concern (Swarbrick et al., 2021). They also found that live concerts produce more social connection, but not necessarily more kama muta, than virtual concerts. At last, Swarbrick et al. (2017) also concluded that the salience of the pandeming during concerts predicted kama muta and this effect was completely mediated by social connection. Virtual concerts or live streams could give people a feeling of connectness. However, the research also shows that there was no effect of concert type on kama muta (Swarbrick et al., 2017). I could go more in depth about the link between social connection and kama muta, but it’s important to realize that since the pandemic people could find some form of social connection at these virtual concerts. It made people feel less lonely.
Other forms of digital music events
Covid made musicians think of other forms to bring their music to the people. Virtual concerts are one way to do that, but there were also some other platforms that were used (Ypulse, 2022). For example, Justin Bieber did a concert in the Metaverse.
Here are some other examples:
- Pre-recorded concert specials. For example Taylor Swift with Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Session.
- Visual albums. For example, Black is King by Beyoncé.
- Short films.
- Intimate, Tell-all Documentaries.
Before covid some of these forms of digital media were already used, but the pandemic has increased this a lot.
My experience
During the pandemic I watched a livestream of TwoSetViolins. They made a show and you could stream it on a streaming website. I bought my ticket in advance and then you got access to the stream link. I could do this very easily. During the live show I could also interact with other viewers around the world in the live chat. Also they had many shows for different time zones, so that was also very nice! These YouTubers are Australian and they would have never come to the Netherlands probably so live concerts made it accessible for me to listen to them. This is the same for other concerts. If an artist doesn’t come to your country you could still be there and enjoy their music. It also made me feel less lonely and I didn’t have to leave my house. However, I still missed real concerts. After the social distancing rules were gone in the Netherlands I went to Queen and Adam Lambert: the Bohemian Rhapsody tour. And the vibe (kama muta) is so different. I felt more connected to be honest. And the sound is way more intense than your headphones. But I do see the advantages of virtual concerts, but I hope artists will keep doing live concerts. I also wanted to talk about the ABBA hologram show, but I will save this for another time😉
References & interesting articles
- Chen (2022) Virtual Concert In The Metaverse: The Future of the Musical Industry. EventX. https://www.eventx.io/blog/virtual-concert-in-the-metaverse-the-future-of-the-musical-industry
- DisneyPlus Hotstar IN. (2020). Taylor Swift – folklore: the long pond studio sessions | Official Trailer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubK30MxDfxM
- Swarbrick, D., Seibt, B., Grinspun, N. and Vuoskoski, J.K. (2021) Corona Concerts: The Effect of Virtual Concert Characteristics on Social Connection and Kama Muta. Front. Psychol. 12:648448. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648448
- Spangler, T. (2020). The Weeknd Virtual concert on TikTok Drew Over 2M Viewers, Raised $350,000 for Equal Justice Initiative. Variety. /https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/the-weeknd-tiktok-virtual-concert-2-million-viewers-1234733104/
- TheWeekndVEVO. (2020). The Weeknd – Blinding Lights (The Tik Tok Experience) ft. Major Lazer [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uViueiV8fME
- Walt Disney Studios. (2020). BLACK IS KING, a film by Beyoncé | Official Trailer | Disney+ [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69MO7yU0d70
- YPulse. (2022, 14 januari). Virtual Concerts Aren’t The Only Way Musicians Are Reaching Young Fans. https://www.ypulse.com/article/2022/01/13/virtual-concerts-arent-the-only-way-musicians-are-reaching-young-fans/
I think virtual concerts where a great alternative for performers and fans to connect throughout the pandemic, but I missed everything that make concerts fun and exciting. The ecstacy of performance, sharing emotions with complete strangers and the simple fun of it all that I found virtual concerts lack. it’s more like watching an elaborate music video to me
Yeah I really recognize your feeling!! After the social distancing rules were scrapped in The Netherlands I went to a concert in the Ziggo Dome and the feeling you get when you hear everyone scream and sing is such a feeling you don’t feel through your screen.
Maybe I am a hardcore live music fan, this type of 3D virtual concerts (more or less having a very cartoon-ised avatar dancing and singing in front of you) are even worse than having no concerts. I think one of the best thing about live concerts are in fact the fans – chanting, singing along, circle pit and crowdsurfing are not replaceable by virtuality.
The best part about real concerts was the adrenaline rush – everything seemed so real at the moment, so immediate and so precious. Virtual concerts, while a great way for artist and fan to communicate during the pandemic, served up the opposite of what concerts should be. Now that we’re moving beyond the pandemic, I don’t think it’ll stick – nothing can replace that feeling of really being present in the moment.
One of the first things I did when the pandemic was over is go to a live concert and even though I have never participated in a virtual one, I don’t think it could ever compare. That being said, I don’t mean by that that virtual concerts are less good than so-called ”real” ones. I think that that opinion is build on the misconception that virtual concerts and traditional concerts aim to be the same thing. As you said in your article, the virtual space allows for way more freedom than our current reality, and that combined with for example the meta-verse or simply VR could yield some very interesting experiences. However, since the medium is so different from traditional concerts, it is simply not comparable. This means that in order to survive, virtual concerts should not advertise themselves as a sort of bootleg of traditional concerts, but rather a whole new thing altogether.
yes, virtual concerts is a big yay, I think. What would make it different than another live YouTube concert or archived concert. However, it will miss the real life concert hype and vibes, which cant be experienced virtually.
About the ABBA hologram, though … I think it’s interesting people want to go visit that – I think nostalgia is very strong. A concert with sweat and all is to me much more appealing. I do think going to a concert of a digital-persona artist – famously Hatsune Miku, or lately, I listened to JACKIE EXTREME – which I would both love to see “live.” I think here of Walter Benjamin who envisioned cinema as a social event, and not solitary – it was about connecting with the people with which you (could) find yourself in the audience, and what you think of the production together. I think this makes sense for hologram shows because it is almost like watching a movie but while having a party almost. I think this is hard to have with virtual concerts if it’s not seen in a shared space.