The entertainment industry has taken a major blow as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis, as gatherings of any kind are to be avoided whenever possible. One could argue that musicians have been hit particularly hard by the loss of the income they would normally receive from live gigs. Some singers and bands have taken to performing virtual performances from their own homes and trying to keep things as close to normal as they can. Others have taken to video games.
In late April earlier this year, two massive music performances took place on two of the world’s biggest games. The first took place inside the best-selling video game to date, Minecraft. 100 gecs, an American musical duo, hosted a virtual musical festival called Square Garden. The festival took place on an open Minecraft server and featured a dozen different artists. The festival was free for admission and collected donations for the Feeding America organization.
That same weekend, Fortnite held a concert, fittingly named “Astronomical,” featuring rapper Travis Scott. Much like theMinecraft festival, Scott’s performance took place entirely in Fortnite and was made possible
through a collaboration with the game’s developers, Epic Games. The concert allowed players to enter a special world in the game and watch a giant version of the rapper perform.
A whopping 27.7 million unique players attended one of the several performances that took place over the course of three days, according to gamesindustry.biz. Some players decided to watch the performance again, resulting in players watching an accumulative 45.8 million times.
“I think it’s extremely cool,” sophomore psychology major, Raegen Grooms, said. “We’re currently in a very uncertain time and things like the music industry have to adapt and that’s a way for musicians to still reach out to the fans and interact with them without doing it in person.”
Sophomore social work major Alicia Zindars said, “It is a little lame…it is a cool way to connect fans, but personally I just don’t see the appeal in it. But for younger fans and those really into [the games], it is really a good chance for them to experience [these artists] with how things are right now.”
“I would give it a chance,” Grooms said. “It’s not my exact cup of tea, I’m not really big into video games and I doubt it would have the actual concert feel to it. However, if it’s an artist that I like and it’s an opportunity to see them perform…of course, I’d give it a shot.”
Zindars, on the other hand, said that she would “probably not” attend a virtual concert.
“It just doesn’t seem really interesting to me. I find it cool for fan outreach…but it doesn’t seem any different than a Instagram Live or Facebook Live thing, you’re not seeing them live…I would be interested in playing a game with the [musicians] I really like.”
Despite the success of Scott’s Fortnite venture, Grooms does not think that these types of performances will be something thatwill be “long-lived after COVID.”
However, as long as we are in our current situation with the coronavirus, she can see virtual concerts sticking around and would “love for them to. It is a wonderful opportunity for artists to still in- teract and get some money.” She called it a “beneficial situation for both fans and artists.”
Zindars believes that these virtual concerts will continue, but only for the sake of money.
“I mean honestly I feel like some artists will do it for their fans, but it is likely only for the money behind the scenes,” she said. “Now that video games companies see the impact these musicians have on bringing in players, they’ll begin using them to get more traction and more money. So, I don’t doubt this will become a more common thing.”
Whether artists do it for money or their fans, it might be worthwhile to keep an eye on how video games studios and musicians interact moving forward as we all await the day that proper concerts can return.
