In an unassuming warehouse in Culver Metropolis, members of the famend metallic band Avenged Sevenfold are shedding their typical fire-and-brimstone aesthetic for a novel enterprise into the world of digital actuality (VR). The inexperienced screen-lined room, a stark distinction to their regular live performance settings, will quickly be reworked into fantastical venues, the place the band will carry out amid lightning strikes, floating monoliths, and the enduring winged cranium, Deathbat.
Tech startup Amazevr is on the helm of this groundbreaking challenge, with plans to launch the VR expertise early subsequent yr. The platform, a mix of a music video, stay live performance, and first-person online game, goals to supply viewers an immersive live performance expertise harking back to a stay occasion. Avenged Sevenfold’s showcase, developed by Miracle Mile-based Amazevr, guarantees a visible spectacle that followers can relive from the consolation of their properties utilizing VR headsets.
Whereas the pricing particulars are but to be finalized, the expertise will embody a complimentary track, with earlier reveals launching at $6.99 for a yr of entry. Amazevr’s ambition is to infuse the thrill and showmanship of stay occasions into the VR sector, a website that has seen appreciable {hardware} funding from main gamers like Meta and Sony.
The upcoming launch of Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional headset is anticipated to reinvigorate curiosity within the VR sector, probably increasing its viewers base. As digital actuality concert events acquire traction, they arrive at a vital time for the music trade, which continues to grapple with the aftermath of the COVID-induced hiatus and ongoing questions concerning the sustainability of the streaming mannequin.
Avenged Sevenfold’s foray into VR aligns with a broader development of artists diversifying income streams and exploring progressive methods to have interaction with followers. From synchronized livestreams to performances inside video video games, musicians are searching for novel avenues to attach with audiences past conventional excursions.
Frontman M. Shadows views VR music experiences as an inclusive platform, enabling the band to achieve followers who could not attend stay concert events whereas additionally experimenting with stagecraft and artwork course past the constraints of actuality. Describing Avenged Sevenfold as “tech-forward,” Shadows emphasised the band’s curiosity in crypto, collaborations with gaming franchises like Name of Responsibility, and a latest teaser of a Fortnite tie-in.
The early model of Amazevr’s Avenged Sevenfold present guarantees a novel mix of stay occasion parts, music video aesthetics, and interactive gaming options. Whereas skeptics could query the flexibility of digital media to rival the tangible thrills of a stay music expertise, Shadows sees it as a possibility to interrupt down boundaries and produce followers nearer to the band’s efficiency.
In a Primus T-shirt and a hat representing a line of crypto tokens, Shadows defined the band’s perspective, stating, “There’s all the time a barrier between the viewers and us. You wish to be sure that, although there’s going to be a number of cool stuff occurring, the folks can get actually near you… and see you sing and see the drums.”
Amazevr’s pioneering method just isn’t restricted to the digital realm, as the corporate has beforehand organized in-person occasions the place audiences watched VR concert events collectively in a theater, signaling a convergence of know-how and conventional communal experiences.