Ariana Grande to hold tour on 'Fortnite'... Metaverse as the new stage for music industry

▲ This photo, provided by ABYSS Company, shows Sunmi. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Epic Games Korea, shows "Fortnite". (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo, provided by Sony Music Korea, shows Lil Nas X's virtual concert on Roblox, last year. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Aug.3 (Yonhap) -- The cases of performances and showcases held on virtual spaces are increasing with more and more parts of the music industry is collaborating with the metaverse, which is a concept widely attracted around the world.

Metaverse is a combination of ‘meta’, which means virtual and universe which means ‘reality’. The combination refers to a 3 dimensional virtual where social, economical and cultural activities can take place like the real world.

In music industry, stars, who cannot hold offline concerts in big scales due to the pandemic, are appearing in metaverse platforms as avatars and hold performances for virtual audiences.

Epic Games’ popular game “Fortnite”, which gained attention for opening the American rapper Travis Scott’s virtual performance last year, is set to be the stage for pop star Ariana Grande, this month.

Ariana Grande’s “Rift Tour” will run between August 7 and 9 (in Korean time), said Epic Games Korea, the U.S. firm’s Korean branch, Tuesday.

The performances will be done 5 times for 3 days and any “Fornite” users can enjoy the tour for free. “Performances most convenient for Koreans will be the ones at 1p.m. and 11p.m. on the 8th,” recommended Epic Games Korea.

“This will not only satisfy those who were thirsty for superstars’ performances but also provide the users with a special opportunity to experience a higher quality of metaverse through ‘Fortnite’,” said Epic Games Korea CEO Park Sung-chul.

“Fortnite” has held virtual performances of various artists.

In particular, “Astronomical”, Travis Scott’s Online World Tour, rose as a world issue with 12.3 million people tuned in at the same time in April, last year.

Recently, game platform, Roblox, one of the leading corporation in the metaverse industry announced a strategic partnership with Sony Music, one of the global music companies.

The two companies said to “develop innovative music experiences for Roblox community,” which raised anticipations for Sony Music stars’ virtual concerts.

Lil Nas X, a popular rapper in Columbia Records Label of Sony Music, held a virtual concert on Roblox attracting 36 million viewers in November, last year. He also released his new single “Holiday” on the virtual concert.

Music events using the metaverse stage are being tried out in Korea.

Solo artist, Sunmi, is opening a comeback show combining XR (extended reality) and the metaverse with her new 3rd mini-album “1/6” at 7p.m., Aug.6.

Sunmi, collaborating with Naver’s live audio streaming service, “NOW.” and the metaverse platform, “ZEPETO”, will be the first artist to perform through K-pop comeback festival “#OUTNOW Unlimited.”

The festival is an extended version of Naver Now.’s comeback show “OUTNOW.” The comeback show will consist of a story about connecting of online VR (virtual reality) platform and the reality. The artist will perform using XR technologies.

“We are planning to demonstrate the world in the mini-album “1/6” in a new and experimental way,” said ABYSS Company, Sunmi’s management agency.

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