Virtual concerts are becoming more and more prevalent in the music scene, and now, the entertainment technology company Wave is introducing the world’s first multi-channel virtual entertainment platform for live concerts.

The new platform uses live broadcast technology that allows artists to perform live for their fans around the world through different digital channels. The “cutting-edge” technology transforms the artist into a digital avatar and then casts them onto a virtual stage; the avatar is customized to accurately represent the artist’s style and actions. Additionally, fans will be able to appear as an avatar in the audience and can chat with other attendees around them using the company’s VR and PC desktop apps – accessible with Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality, and other devices.

The CEO and co-founder of Wave, Adam Arrigo, said in a statement that the next generation of viewers are “flocking to digital channels of all kinds to find engaging entertainment.”

“Gaming, the fastest-growing entertainment category, has become a driving force in music discovery,”Arrigo said. “Today, we are extending the groundbreaking work we’ve done in VR to make virtual concerts ore braid-reaching, so that artists can unleash their creativity and reach fans across any digital, social, or gaming platform.”

Earlier this year, violinist Lindsey Sterling took advantage of the platform and performed a virtual concerts for 400,000 fans around the world.

“That’s me, that’s how I move, that’s me performing,” she said in a video describing the concert. “And I got to experience it with people around the world and feel their energy even from a virtual screen was really cool. It was just really fun to bring this world to live with ideas and things that could never happen in a practical, real show.”

While artists have delved into the virtual world in the past – like Minecraft’s Coalchella in 2018 and the U2 concert in Second Life back in 2008  – virtual concerts have been on the rise in 2019. Earlier this year, Marshmello held a concert inside of the smash-hit video game Fortnite, where the DJ broke a record for having 10 million concurrent users attending the concert at the same time. Similar to Wave’s avatar feature, people within the game were able to see other people around them – only 100 at a time – and interact. Other virtual concerts this year included Korn in AdventureQuest and Kane Brown and Marshmello’s performance on Good Morning America.

Additionally, some artists like Post Malone and Billie Eilish have partnered with Oculus VR to allow fans with VR headsets to attend their shows across the globe. With more and more options to explore virtual reality, its likely that we’ll see even more concerts like this in the future.

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To learn more about Wave, visit their website.