In recent months, virtual concerts have multiplied. The MTV Video Music Awards ceremony then devoted a category called “Best performance in the Metaverse”. We found singers like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Black Pink, BTS and more vying for this coveted award. The creation of this new category follows the era of the pandemic which has favored the development of virtual concerts. Music artists like Travis Scott and BTS have played such gigs on Fortnite and Minecraft before. This year, the bet paid off for MTV, which saw its audience ratings increase thanks to the metaverse experience offered.
A new category for the famous VMAs ceremony
The first awards ceremony dates back to 1984 to recognize music video prowess. Great musical artists like Nirvana, Kanye West and Madonna have won awards. The usual categories for VMAs are “Video of the Year”, “Song of the Year” and “Artist of the Year”. New this year for MTV is the Web3 with the creation of the new category “Best performance in the metaverse”.
Six artists were in the running for this new prize. We found Ariana Grande for the “The Rift Tour” on Fortnite. But also, Justin Bieber for “An Interactive Virtual Experience” on Wave. Blackpink also won an award for “The Virtual” on PUBG Mobile. Held the night of August 28, 2022, Black Pink “The Virtual” won the “Best Performance in the Metaverse” award. The creation of this new category was an opportunity for MTV to stay up to date with technological developments. But not only, it also aims to attract more audiences.
MTV: A Metaverse experience alongside the ceremony
Aware of the sheer scale of performances in the Metaverse, the MTV spokesperson announced the ceremony’s first-ever Metaverse experience. Paramount Game Studios has also launched The VMA Experience in the Roblox metaverse. The latter is very active in the Metaverse, in the field of pop culture event. Last year, he created virtual festivals in his metaverse, with the collaboration of Insomniac, a large producer of electronic music festivals.
This year, “The VMA Experience” was held on Roblox, alongside the live ceremony. Visitors were able to walk the red carpet surrounded by paparazzi. They also got to play music-themed mini-games.
These decisions by MTV to enter the Metaverse are explained by the consecutive decline in viewership at VMAs over the past five years. Including virtual performances in this contest helped to attract more audience. Moreover, the music industry is becoming more and more established in Web3, in particular with music streaming: singles in the form of NFTs or the use of the blockchain to improve music licensing.
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