Virtual concerts were a huge talking point in the music industry a couple of years ago when IRL shows were on pause due to the pandemic.
Live music is back now, and business is booming, as evidenced by Live Nation’s recent blockbuster earnings, but the virtual concert space is still very much active.
Superstar artists like Ed Sheeran are still seeing value in performing virtually, with Sheeran’s upcoming Fortnite-based iHeartLand appearance scheduled for October.
British pop star and former Take That member Robbie Williams is making his own “metaverse debut” via a partnership with London-based Vertex Labs and its metaverse platform LightCycle.
Set to launch in Q4, LightCycle is described as an AI-powered “hyper-realistic virtual city”, with the ambition for it to become “the go-to destination for art, film, gaming, music, fashion, sport, property and retail”.
The platform is being developed in partnership with Dubai-based H3 Entertainment.
It’s interesting to note that Vertex Labs says its LightCycle platform was created using Unreal Engine 5 and powered by “Vertex Network real-time edge rendering”.
Unreal Engine 5 is the powerful gaming engine and 3D creation tool developed by Epic Games – the gaming giant behind Fortnite (and the company that acquired Bandcamp last year).
Here’s a press quote from Epic on UE5 issued back in 2020: “One of our goals in this next generation is to achieve photorealism on par with movie CG and real life, and put it within practical reach of development teams of all sizes through highly productive tools and content libraries.”
Vertex Labs is itself described as a “Metaverse, Web3 and AI infrastructure provider, powered by decentralised, real-time edge rendering engine”.
In May, the company acquired London-based Digimental, a digital art studio, for USD $12 million.
A preview of what Vertexlabs is calling the “landmark” Robbie Williams metaverse event will be unveiled as part of a LightCycle preview night at EDGE Global Web3 and AI Investment Summit, taking place in Hong Kong at the AsiaWorld-Expo next week.
This is not the first time Robbie Williams has been involved with an AI-related project.
Late last year, he partnered with Germany-based telco Deutsche Telekom to create a new version of his hit Angels. The original has been streamed over 450 million times on Spotify.
The project saw AI used to add “Beethoven-style compositions” to the track.
“The talented development team at LightCycle have produced some incredible work and I’m excited to see it all brought to life in full 3D glory.”
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams said: “Staying connected with my fans has always been important to me. I’m fascinated by the Web3 space – it’s full of creativity and mind-blowing potential.
“It’s also a big new market for music discovery. As an artist, I’m always looking for ways to push forward so this is the perfect next step in that journey.
“The talented development team at LightCycle have produced some incredible work and I’m excited to see it all brought to life in full 3D glory.”
“Robbie has a dedicated and passionate fanbase and we believe that, through our unparalleled technology, we can bring them a supremely enhanced environment and fan-experience.”
Sara Ezen, LightCycle
Sara Ezen, CEO of LightCycle added: “Robbie has a dedicated and passionate fanbase and we believe that, through our unparalleled technology, we can bring them a supremely enhanced environment and fan-experience.
“The concert is truly something special and we’re excited to be giving it a home in LightCycle so his fans, new and old, can enjoy next-level interaction and engagement. We are looking forward to seeing where we can go with this.”
“We hope that, through Robbie’s initiation into Web3, new and existing fans can elevate their entertainment experience in a virtually enhanced way.”
Ander Tsui, Vertexlabs.uk
Ander Tsui, Founder & CEO of Vertexlabs.uk added: “Robbie is a visionary creative and, as the ultimate showman, his music and songs have had a huge cultural impact.
“We are enormously excited to be bringing this super special performance into LightCycle. We’ve had a lot of fun creating the project and we can’t wait to share it with the world.
“We hope that, through Robbie’s initiation into Web3, new and existing fans can elevate their entertainment experience in a virtually enhanced way.”Music Business Worldwide
