Sansar, the social virtual reality platform built by Second Life creator Linden Lab, has partnered with electronic music label Monstercat to bring live music and entertainment into VR.
The Monstercat: Call of the Wild Experience is a collaboration that the companies hope will change live concerts and gaming. The virtual world offers fans a larger-than-life venue for live events and entertainment — from concerts to meet-and-greets to exclusive fan quests and giveaways — while also allowing artists to reach a global audience with a single performance.
The experience will officially open its doors on July 12, when Monstercat throws a virtual bash to celebrate its eight-year anniversary. Free and premium tickets are currently on sale for the show, which features performances from more than a dozen Monstercat artists, and which will be followed by regular shows every week, starting with Monstercat: Call of the Wild — hosted in Sansar every Wednesday at 1 p.m. Pacific time.
Ahead of the opening, fans are encouraged to check out the Call of the Wild Lobby, where they can explore, play games, and unlock hidden clues about the July 12 lineup.
With Monstercat, Sansar said it is pushing the envelope in virtual events and entertainment.
Through features like Avatar Broadcasting, where a single performance can be broadcast to unlimited numbers of people, artists can reach big audiences, while fans, in turn, can get to see artists that never toured their cities.
Through ticketing and virtual commerce, performers can monetize their work in a whole new way. Through Sansar’s interactivity and visual fidelity, every show can be an absorbing sensory experience unlike anything artists or their fans might have dreamed of before.
Above: A live Monstercat concert in VR.
“Partnerships like these help us realize the very best of what virtual reality has to offer: access, connection, immersion — the feeling that we’re part of something bigger, no matter who we are or where we live,” said Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab, in a statement. “With the Call of the Wild Experience, we’re giving fans all over the world the chance to connect in a shared experience with other fans and the artists they love, but more than that, we’re using gaming to elevate the concert experience — questing, raffles, special in-game prizes, across both VR and PC. This is the future of live music, and we’re excited to have Monstercat on board.”
For Monstercat, the foray into VR builds on a broader ethos of access and discovery. Since 2011, the label has earned millions of fans and streams through its disruptive approach to music distribution — going around conventional avenues like radio in order to meet fans where they are, within the channels they already use: YouTube, Mixer, Twitch.
Monstercat has become the most-followed music channel on both Twitch and Mixer. It is also a licensed music provider for Psyonix (developers of Rocket League), as well as thousands of content creators that use their music in their content everyday. It also staged live shows spanning seven countries and 26 cities in 2018.
With Sansar, Monstercat can once again bring music directly to the people — letting anyone, anywhere feel like they have a front row seat to live shows, and making the Monstercat universe into something that fans can see, touch, and explore for themselves.
“We’re offering our fans something truly unique in the Monstercat: Call of the Wild Experience: their own space to meet, connect and share creative ideas with each other,” said Dan Scarcelli, head of programming at Monstercat. “Social VR has the power to transform how communities gather online, and we’re thrilled to be leading the charge with Sansar.”
