Get Music Fans by Playing in the Metaverse!

It’s true, you can gain fans by playing music in the metaverse. “What the heck is a metaverse?” you ask? Good question. 

Wiki calls it “the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.” But really it’s just online virtual reality. And yes, it can be very useful to today’s independent music artist.

While the word ‘metaverse’ may be kinda new, the concept kinda isn’t, and we here at Octiive have been preaching virtual shows and practice rooms for about two years now.

Suddenly in fall 2021, though, the industry is getting up from their chairs to talk about it.

Apr. 19th 2021, South-by-Southwest said on their YouTube channel:

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“In the midst of the 2020 global pandemic, one of the biggest concerts ever took place in the virtual worlds of Roblox. Two-time Grammy Award winner Lil Nas X gave a performance debut of his new single ‘Holiday’ and other top hits, dancing and socializing with fans, and attracting over 30 million concert views in this revolutionary music experience. The concert’s unprecedented success was made possible by the Metaverse, a social and technological phenomenon driven by a new generation growing up online and global platforms paving a new way for people to be together, even when they can’t in person.”

Right, but then there was a 200 million-dollar lawsuit about that show and others because Roblox was technically stepping on the licensing rights of music owners. That put a stop to music in the metaverse until Sept. 27 when the suit was settled to allow license holders to give permission to Roblox to hold concerts and other events online.

So now that that’s out of the way, there’s an ongoing virtual “land grab” on the Interwebs. Entrepreneurs are making startups looking to capitalize on music in the metaverse however they can.

And yes, they can. And so can musicians. Read on to see how.

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According to Rolling Stone, the metaverse is changing music in four main ways: tapping new audiences, new ways to make cash, NFTs and wearables, and using avatars both as an artist and a fan.

If you didn’t notice, that’s basically two ways — using avatars for music and making real money doing virtual things. We’ll look at both of those below.

Music in the Metaverse via Avatars!

You can get real fans via getting yourself an avatar today and getting into the metaverse. 

There are lots of ways to get into the metaverse, such as Minecraft or Roblox — both of which have already hosted very successful concerts — but maybe the best one for making yourself online today is Decentraland.

Decentraland is built on Microsoft’s Etherium cryptocurrency which is gaining ground on Bitcoin with every passing year, and it’s already set up to give you full sound capabilities with the virtual people around you. As long as you’ve got a place to go, you can get your music artists together and jam where people can hear you and watch you play online (kinda).

It’s still super rudimentary, but this is ground zero. Start today and reap the benefits tomorrow. After all, Generation Alpha are all about virtual spaces, and they’re that new audience you’re looking for.

Oh, and by the way, that’s also a way to make money on the metaverse at the same time: build up your virtual brand and maybe even invest in a virtual space for yourself, and in a little time, you stand to make a lot of money as the metaverse continues to flourish.

[Don’t invest any money because this article told you to. Go see a professional for advice].

Get Music Fans on the Metaverse with New Companies!

Today’s tech-savvy music artist doesn’t need to pay for a practice space, anymore. Heck, they don’t even need to know any other artists to form a band! An early frontrunner for the metaverse music industry awards is the upcoming Roar Studios (not to be confused with the ROAR Studios at Loyola Marymount University). It’s basically a music studio where you’re an avatar of yourself (like in Minecraft, World of Warcraft and such).

They've only just begun and already features in Fortune and FastCompany have cropped up, so there's plenty of interest.
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Roar says of itself:

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“Roar Studios is a new company building a platform at the convergence of music, gaming and social media to enable musicians of all demographics, genres, and skills to achieve their common goals. Experience music. Be heard. Play ROAR!”

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Roar Studios started early 2021 to help artists like you take advantage of today’s high-tech, highly connected infrastructure. With Roar, you’ll be able to find band members or other artists for collab work, set up online jam sessions (better than on Zoom), and perform on virtual stages just as if you were at a popular venue in your area — except this area will be much, much bigger.

But they’re not live, yet, so keep your eyes open for them. They’re gonna be huge when the doors open, and that time is approaching fast.

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Play the Metaverse Now and Get Your Music Ready for Tomorrow!

In case we haven’t made it clear, the metaverse is a tomorrow thing more than a today thing, but that tomorrow is right around the corner. We’re far from the only people saying so.

These aren’t the only ways to get involved, either, but there’s not enough room in a single blog post to teach musicians how to use Minecraft, Roblox, Decentraland, et cetera to get their music heard. The point is, you should get acquainted with the metaverse in one or some of these ways now because it’s going to be standard inside of ten years.

And heck, you might even make some money before your music blows you up.