Rock Concerts

The rock concert of the future comes in two varieties:

Traditional

The band journeys to a real venue and plays in the real world, just like they do today.

People who do not live locally can choose to visit using a telepresence robot. It will take up the same space as a real person, and get to see the band from the crowd, just the same. Because it won’t buy drinks, and in general is not cool, admission fees will be substantially more – perhaps $500 instead of $100.

Avatars can also visit in the now. Because they don’t take up real space, the admission fee will be less than that of a robot. However there will still be space limitations, because Avatars will still wish to meet other Avatars and humans wearing special glasses. And that means that they need to be spatially separated.

Anyone who just wishes for a non-interactive concert experience can choose a 2D pay-per-view on TV.

Virtual

The venue is virtual, which means that only Avatars can visit. The band performs for real, from a VR system designed for bands. Their performance is projected into the virtual venue.

Because the venue is virtual, these can be:

  • unlimited space – Avatars get x amount of personal space,  and the venue expands to meet demand
  • everyone gets a good view – regardless of where you are in the venue, look up and see the  band as if you were in, say, the 20th row from the stage
  • if you wish to talk to another Avatar, you can mute the band to a level that allows conversation
  • the band plays on a virtual stage that anyone can look up and see from a 20th row viewpoint. Some people see front row views continually because they paid for it
  • additionally, the band can appear in front of groups of the audience, so close you could almost reach out and touch them. It can do this to thousands of small groups at once – just digital reproduction – for as long or short as they choose.
  • most likely the venue would have themed zones for the purpose of meeting other Avatars – ranging from I am here because I loved this band when I was a teen, to I am here because I love the punk remake of one of their hits that was on a TV show last week.

Musicians will make a lot more money using MapMerge. That would make many more bands financially viable, and watching bands virtually would be substantially cheaper.