holograms
From CDs to streaming to AI, new technology has had an outsized impact on the music industry for decades — and Venice Music founder/CEO Troy Carter predicts the next big technological shift will come in the form of synthetic artists.
At a panel titled “The Future of Streaming” at the inaugural Trapital Summit in Hollywood on Thursday (Oct. 3), Carter said he does not believe audiences will be able to tell the difference between physical artists and their holographic images in the coming years — and that those lifelike holograms represent the next big revenue generator in music.
To illustrate his point, Carter highlighted what Industrial Light & Magic created for the ABBA Voyage holographic concerts in London. “In terms of live experience, it’s a combination of artificial intelligence and high-end holographic imaging that seems real. The audience won’t be able to tell the difference,” said Carter. “When you go to whatever streaming service, you won’t be able to tell whether that is a human artist or a synthetic artist. When you go to see them live, you won’t be able to tell if it is a human artist or synthetic artist. And the audience won’t care.”
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The bold prediction from the former Spotify executive stemmed from Trapital founder and moderator Dan Runcie’s question about what will replace streaming in the music consumption hierarchy as the technology reaches its saturation point.
While Carter stated that the ascension of synthetic artists will take away from “the purity that our industry thrives on…the genie is out of the bottle and the audience doesn’t care,” he said. “They’re going to gravitate towards it and it’s going to be hugely competitive with what legacy music is today.”
The use of synthetic artists, Carter believes, will be beneficial to both human artists and the wider industry due to its scale. By employing them, he said, “you could do [live experiences and recorded music] in every language. You could do it in all parts of the world. Then there are ways for real artists to be able to use that technology to be able to scale their businesses, as well.”
The discussion followed Carter’s thoughts earlier in the panel on where the music industry needs to be placing its energy now that, in his words, the trend of signing artists from TikTok is “starting to crumble.”
“Everybody chased what was hot on TikTok. We gave the keys to TikTok,” said Carter. “Everybody bet on ephemeral artists for the most part and ephemeral songs on TikTok and that’s starting to crumble now. We got to get to a point where it’s, ‘Okay, let’s bet on the art. Let’s bet on the artist. Let’s bet on development and really put strategy around that.’ The people who can do that are going to build billion-dollar brands with artists.”
According to Carter, the music industry can best use new technologies to its advantage by striking true partnerships with the companies that create it.
“In order for this to work, you need partners in this ecosystem whose incentives are aligned with our industry,” he said. “Me going inside of Spotify, Lyor [Cohen] going inside of YouTube, Jimmy [Iovine] and Larry [Jackson] going inside of Apple, it was people who were actually internally helping to align the interest [of music and technology] and being able to explain why [the music] is important. Some great things came out of that, in terms of building real partnerships. We have to hold all partners who are coming into our industry, who we’re giving content to, accountable for that.”
The inaugural International Anime Music Festival announces its debut tour, bringing virtual music superstars to 37 venues across North America starting Feb. 6, 2023. This marks the first time the popular VTubers (virtually generated animated YouTubers) and Vocaloids (virtual singers with computer generated voices) appear on stage together.
The International Anime Music Festival will feature #kzn, the original singeroid developed directly from the voice of popular Japanese Virtual YouTuber Kizuna AI, vocal duo HIMEHINA, vocal trio MaRiNaSu, Megumi Nakajima voiced anime singer GUMI, and pop twins LiLYPSE. The show will be presented as live DJ-led multimedia concert with the fan-favorites of the international anime-music movement brought to life with state-of-the-art LED and high-definition digital projections.
Originating in Japan, these superstar avatars have exploded globally over the past two years, drawing tens of millions of followers worldwide, generating over 62 million Google searches, and more than 1.2 billion views (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and others).
Artist presale starts on Monday, October 31st at 10am local time. Tickets for all North America shows go on sale Friday, November 4th at 10am local time. VisitIAMF.LIVE to learn more, sign up for presale access and to purchase tickets.
The worldwide festival will continue its tour throughout 2023, in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America.
“I feel honored and privileged to be working with the talented IP holders and character creators of the five acts appearing on our International Anime Music Festival,” says producer and BASE Hologram co-founder Bob Ringe. “The response from the Anime community and Anime creators worldwide has exceeded my expectations. See you all at the festival!”
“I am excited to work with this extraordinary visually exciting Art Form,” says producer and BASE Hologram co-founder Marty Tudor. “The energy that this group of Virtual Artists has is amazing and incites the best of our superb creative team. This show will be a blast!”
Banc of California is underwriting the tour. The International Anime Music Festival is produced by Anime Entertainment LLC with Creative Director Rob Roth (Tony Award winner for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast). The tour is represented by Wasserman Music (North America) and UTA (Internationally).
North American Tour Dates below. Artist Presale starts on Monday, Oct. 31 at 10am local time. Tickets for all North America shows go on sale Friday, November 4th at 10am local time. VisitIAMF.LIVE to learn more, sign up for presale access and to purchase tickets.
Mon, February 6, 2023 | Vancouver, BC | Orpheum Theatre
Wed, February 8, 2023 | Seattle, WA | Paramount Theatre
Thu, February 9, 2023 | Portland, OR | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Sat, February 11, 2023 | San Jose, CA | San Jose Civic Auditorium
Tue, February 14, 2023 | Los Angeles, CA | Microsoft Theatre
Thu, February 16, 2023 | Phoenix, AZ | Arizona Financial Theatre
Fri, February 17, 2023 | Las Vegas, NV | The Theater at Virgin Hotels
Sat, February 18, 2023 | Albuquerque, AZ | Revel Entertainment Center
Sun, February 19, 2023 | Denver, CO | Mission Ballroom
Tue, February 21, 2023 | Kansas City, MO | Arvest Bank Theatre at The Midland
Thu, February 23, 2023 | Austin, TX | ACL Live at Moody Theater
Fri, February 24, 2023 | San Antonio, TX | Tech Port Arena
Sat, February 25, 2023 | Irving, TX | The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
Sun, February 26, 2023 | Houston, TX | 713 Music Hall
Tue, February 28, 2023 | Oklahoma City, OK | The Criterion
Wed, March 1, 2023 | St. Louis, MO | The Factory At The District
Thu, March 2, 2023 | St. Paul, MN | Myth Live
Fri, March 3, 2023 | Milwaukee, WI | Riverside Theatre
Sat, March 4, 2023 | Chicago, IL | Riviera Theatre
Sun, March 5, 2023 | Detroit, MI | Masonic Temple Theatre
Tue, March 7, 2023 | Indianapolis, IN | Murat Theater at Old National Center
Wed, March 8, 2023 | Cleveland, OH | The Agora
Thu, March 9, 2023 | Cincinnati, OH | Bogart’s
Fri, March 11, 2023 | Montreal, QC | MTELUS
Sun, March 12, 2023 | Toronto, ON | HISTORY
Tue, March 14, 2023 | Pittsburgh, PA | Roxian Theatre
Wed, March 15, 2023 | New York, NY | Terminal 5
Thu, March 16, 2023 | Boston, MA | Roadrunner
Fri, March 17, 2023 | Mashantucket, CT | The Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino
Sat, March 18, 2023 | National Harbor, MD | MGM National Harbor
Sun, March 19, 2023 | Philadelphia, PA | Franklin Music Hall
Tue, March 21, 2023 | Charlotte, NC | Blumenthal Performing Arts Center – Belk Theatre
Wed, March 22, 2023 | Jacksonville, FL | Florida Theatre
Thu, March 23, 2023 | Durham, NC | DPAC
Fri, March 24, 2023 | Atlanta, GA | Fox Theatre
Sat, March 25, 2023 | Orlando, FL | Hard Rock Live
Sun, March 26, 2023 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Broward Center for the Performing Arts
Thu, March 30, 2023 | Monterrey, Mexico | Arena Monterrey
Fri, March 31, 2023 | Mexico City, Mexico | Arena CDMX
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