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Volta: Use XR+NFT to find a new direction for the realization of the music industry

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Apart from streaming media and live performances, what other possibilities exist for the music industry to monetize?

Written by: LeftOfCenter

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected countless industries, but none more so than the music industry.

Shows and music festivals around the world have been shut down for months, tours have been cancelled, and live performances are an important source of income for musicians/DJs/bands, cutting off the main way for musicians to earn income. On the other hand, online income based on streaming media is also a drop in the bucket. The data shows that Spotify can only bring musicians $0.003-0.005 in revenue per play, and YouTube is even worse. In 2020, YouTube will only pay musicians $0.00069 per play. If an American musician wants to rely on YouTube playback to reach the minimum monthly salary in the United States, he needs to achieve 2.133 million monthly playbacks on the platform.

Musicians, especially independent musicians/DJs, are eager to find an alternative source of income.

That's exactly what the company behind Volta , a game music engine solution from the UK, is trying to solve Question, Block Rhythm had the honor to interview Mitchell Bayer-Goldman, the co-founder of Volta, trying to clarify an issue that musicians are very concerned about and even crucial to the music industry, that is, "In addition to income from streaming media and live performances, looking for growth in the music industry What are the possibilities?"

What is Volta?

Volta's music game engine allows anyone to create an extended reality concert scene, the full name is Volta XR , as the name suggests, XR is Extended reality, which refers to the combination of reality and virtual environment and human-computer interaction equipment, calculated by computer technology and wearable devices, where X is a variable, which can be current or future spatial computing technology , including Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR).

Black Eyed Peas XR Performances Series

Volta allows musicians to customize 3D extended reality live performances, providing fans with an intimate, interactive and immersive online viewing experience.

For Volta, first of all, it brings an immersive and immersive music experience to the audience; second, it is interactive, and the "gamification" mechanism improves the sense of belonging and deep participation of audience fans. Actively explore the application of NFT in the performance industry, look for the possibility of "in-app purchase" in the live music industry, and explore the growth points of monetization.

Volta's original game music engine solution allows musicians/DJs to DIY create a unique immersive stage experience based on a simple graphical interface with just a simple drag and drop, and supports real-time synchronous output to Twitch , YouTube, Mixcloud or live broadcast on social platforms such as TikTok.

Volta GUI

This means that musicians can not only output their real-time dynamic 3D portraits to The on-site LED projection wall, 360-degree full-angle projection maps the entire performance venue. In addition, the live body movements of the musicians, the real-time music rhythm and the on-site LED wall screen can interact in real time in a trinity.

Visual effects captured in real-time dance movessource

In addition to the cool stage visual effects, for fans, no matter in live or thousands of miles away online watching the performance, you can participate in the live performance/music festival in real time. For long-tail musicians/club DJs, Volta provides music fans with options for identity expression, deep participation, and in-depth experience of live performances, and generates "in-app purchases", making musicians/DJs sustainable Revenue models become possible.

To sum up, there are three main points of Volta innovation:

1) Volta adopts the freemium model, which liberates Productivity. Volta makes its original mixed reality music game engine available to all, which will unlock a new market, the mass long tail market with 99% market share, including emerging musicians/producers, bedroom musicians/producers , Bedroom DJs, regular club/resident DJs, and everyone who wants to make a living in the music industry. Previously, such mixed reality experiences tended to be limited to the 1% of big-name musicians/producers due to budget, hardware, and lead-time constraints. Volta only charges a certain percentage of the revenue generated on the platform, including payments generated by fans, copyright fees for template use (templates on the Volta platform can be reused, and fees need to be paid when using them), and NFT casting fees.

2) Learn from the successful experience of the game industry, focus on excavating monetization scenarios generated by interactive experiences for remote live broadcast audiences, and explore live broadcast industry monetization growth points. Activate user self-expression and interaction by providing users with the ability to influence and create metaverse environments. At this time, audience fans are no longer passive watching, but can interact with performers/other viewers in real time, looking for monetization possibilities for musicians/DJs online performances.

3) In theory, music can fit into any industry. Volta started with music, but it doesn't stop there. It hopes to expand to all pan-entertainment industries, e-sports, fashion, etc., and become a brush tool for extended reality. Whether it is the economy of scale based on traffic or the fan economy based on loyalty, this will have full room for imagination.

Mixed reality music game engine, targeting the mass long-tail market

Volta cuts in through its original game music engine, and its target market is the long-tail musician market, which accounts for 99% of the market share.

Before Volta, this kind of stage effects experience was often limited to big-name musicians.

This is because this kind of mixed reality stage visual experience not only has complex hardware requirements, but also professional technical requirements, in addition, there is a delivery time of 6 months. Therefore, for musicians, in order to create such a performance experience, they not only need to invest in professional audio-visual tools, but also need to hire professional technicians, which often requires an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Generally speaking, only top DJs and big-name musicians can afford this fee.

Volta wants to break this situation. In the words of Mitchell Bayer-Goldman, "Volta hopes to democratize the stage visual production of the entire live show industry by releasing free technical solutions."

Without any professional background and completely free, this Meaning that the cool stage visuals that were previously only available to big-name DJs and musicians due to professional barriers and budget constraints can now be accessed and used by ordinary DJs and musicians, Volta is targeting a mass long-tail market that accounts for 99% of the entire market .

"We're not targeting big names like Beyoncé or Justin Bieber, but club DJs who aren't that big, budding bedroom producers, bedroom DJs, average club DJs, emerging producers, club DJs Resident DJs, and everyone who wants to make a living in the music industry. And those are 99% of the market, we're targeting a mass market."

Note: As the name suggests, the so-called bedroom DJ/producer/musician refers to the DJ/ producer/musician . Unlike traditional DJs who just mix and play ready-made works, most "bedroom producers" in the electronic music field are both creators and DJs. They create and produce their own music works, upload them to online platforms to gain listeners, and then perform at electronic music scenes, thus becoming a new generation of electronic music stars. Behind the rise of "bedroom producers" is the popularization of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, such as Ableton Live, FL Studio, Pro Tools, etc.) and the rise of UGC music platforms represented by SoundCloud. The dual transformation of tools and communication channels allows ordinary music lovers to complete a series of processes from creation, production to communication at home.

"There is no high technical threshold, which means that there is no need to understand code, and it is completely free, which means that there is no cost budget limit, which can liberate the problems faced by small musicians in the current market due to budget constraints."

Volta is currently Apply for a patent for this original game music engine, and provide free XR visual creation tools for public long-tail musicians by adopting the Freemium free model.

Instead of one-to-one expansion of musician users, Volta's early growth strategy was to reach more musician users from "performance venues" and "organizers". Judging from the effect, these promotion strategies are also effective. At present, Volta has captured the use of musicians such as BONOBO, Jamie Jones, TSHA, etc., and has made many appearances in well-known clubs such as Glastonbury Music Festival, Brooklyn Mirage, Amnesia Ibiza, and Boiler Room.

Say The reason why Volta can convert musician users so effectively, Mitchell Bayer-Goldman said, "On the one hand, we provide a new productivity tool that makes the performance experience that was originally limited by the threshold accessible to mass musicians, and it is still It is free, which can liberate the problems faced by small musicians in the current market due to budget constraints. Of course everyone is willing to try." "On the other hand, Volta focuses on the function of "interactive experience between audience and performers", which can bring musicians A new income stream is the most direct motivation for attracting most musicians to our platform, and it is also one of our income models. ”

The so-called "audience and performer interactive experience" function is the most worthy of research in this product of Volta.

Gamification mechanism and NFT casting experience to motivate fans to interact
"Interactive experience between audience and performers" means that, unlike one-way viewing of live performances, Volta allows musicians /fans/even remote Internet audiences output two-way, and collaborate and interact with musicians/DJs and other audiences at the performance site, and even control the live real-time performance experience.

Volta's music game engine enables real-time rendering of 3D virtual worlds. This means that live viewers, whether watching live or remotely, can control any object in the virtual environment for personal expression.

Fans can enter specific keywords (preset by musicians, organizers, labels, etc.) into the chat window or the live broadcast application of the music festival to trigger specific virtual effects, and change the scene of the stage according to different keywords, Lighting, stage effect textures. For example, fans can add a 3D palm tree as a background to the scene, and even enter their own names on the scene to display on the screen with specific motion effects. These special effects can be broadcast in real time to the live LED screen wall and live screen, and can be seen by all audiences (whether live or online).

Volta also allows musicians to customize a trigger event. Once a certain threshold is reached, an on-site interaction can be automatically triggered, which can effectively drive fans to actively participate and collaborate. For example, a musician can set keyword special effect conditions "if there are 100 live input ball ", "a beach ball with a bouncing special effect and a logo will appear on the screen". Unlike passive viewing of live broadcasts, such an interaction is not only about group collaboration and interaction, but can also directly affect real-time live broadcast events.

By adding a gamification mechanism, Volta tries to improve the viewing experience of music live broadcasts. It is no longer passively watching live broadcasts, but active participation, expression of personal appeals and even consumption. In the process, Volta tries to explore the performance industry new consumption scenarios. By providing fans with preset interaction options, musicians can earn fees from fan interactions, for example, if visual effects can be set to charge a $2 fee, if they want to enter specific text content (such as fan name) can be set to charge $100.

In addition to the consumption scenarios generated by interactive experience, Volta is also actively exploring the possibility of a tokenized economy. Interestingly, in the Volta music ecology, NFT does not exist as a music ontology, but is cast and owned as a music experience, Mint NFT as Music Experiences, which allows users to watch live performances At the moment, choose the live moments that are meaningful to you to cast and have a unique live music experience.

I believe that anyone who has watched live performances will not deny the charm of the scene. For music fans, every performance they participate in is unique in nature. As an experience at this moment, the performance scene has only one time, and it takes place in a specific time and space (time and place), no matter for fans or musicians. That is to say, it is a unique existence.

Similarly, in the virtual live broadcast scene, each live performance is unique in nature, and it is a virtual scene jointly cast by the musicians and all the fans present. This is precisely the application that best represents NFT. Each irreplaceable NFT asset represents the current moment of each live performance, and has unique emotional meaning and value for every fan who participates in person. Volta will allow fans to choose to mint/own an experience of that show in the form of an NFT at any live moment. It can be said that what fans cast is not the music itself, nor just a visual picture in jpeg format, but a live experience of a music fan, including metadata, music, and the actual experience itself. Mitchell Bayer-Goldman said the feature will be available within four months.

For fans, this NFT has a specific meaning. You can treasure it or sell it. If it becomes a classic moment, it may even become a future museum collection.

How big is this market?

When asked “How big is Volta’s target market?”, Mitchell Bayer-Goldman admitted , for issues such as Volta's target market size, I can't give an exact figure. However, a potential market size can be estimated by comparing the market size of the game industry.

Data shows that the total market value of music in the world is 30 billion US dollars, compared with The global market capitalization of the gaming industry is $300 billion, While the games market is 10 times the music market, music as a medium is consumed 3 times as much as games.

Mitchell Bayer-Goldman states, "While people consume more music than games, music is monetized 10 times less than games. This means that there is huge room for monetization growth in the music market , this is Volta’s opportunity.”

The reason for this is due to the current payment structure of the music industry. At present, most streaming media adopt a single subscription model. The one-time payment prevents most musicians from obtaining a continuous and stable income stream. Moreover, as a traffic center, streaming media adopts a market-oriented income distribution model, that is, a certain The income is allocated based on the proportion of the song's playback volume to the total platform playback volume. This has caused the online income of most musicians to be very worrying except for top traffic musicians.

Spotify can only bring musicians $0.005 per play, and YouTube is even worse. In 2020, YouTube will only pay musicians $0.00069 per play. If an American musician wants to rely on YouTube playback to reach the minimum monthly salary in the United States, he needs to achieve 2.133 million monthly playbacks on the platform.

Note: In this market-oriented revenue distribution model, the value of each music play is the same; while in the user-oriented system, the value of a single song depends on the total number of individual subscribers. How many songs have you listened to.

In contrast, studies have shown that the key to the success of the game industry lies in the loyalty and interactivity of game players. The improvement of these two indicators can effectively promote in-game purchases by game players.

Volta hopes to learn from the game design method and apply it to the music industry to enhance the presence, fun and initiative of watching live performances, build tools and experiences that allow fans to participate deeply and interact intimately with musicians/other audiences, and enhance The frequency of user payment breaks the current single income model of the music industry, and explores new growth points for monetization beyond subscription payments.

In addition to changes in the growth monetization model, Volta is targeting new user groups and exploring new incremental markets.

Facing the new incremental market—remote live broadcast audiences, exploring the growth points of the performance and live broadcast industry

Volta is not only aimed at live audiences, but a wider range of Internet online users, that is, Internet remote live broadcast audiences. It can be said that Volta has opened up a brand new incremental market.

Different from ordinary live broadcast events, Internet viewers not only passively watch the live broadcast, but Volta allows viewers to control the entire club in real time, and even control the entire music festival by inputting keywords, which means that in addition to physical ticket income, musicians also get New incremental market revenue from remote internet viewers.

For example, the venue of the Glastonbury Music Festival can actually accommodate 100,000 spectators, but there are actually those spectators who wanted to go for various reasons but failed. Adding an additional income stream on the basis not only adds more sources of income for musicians, but also brings an imaginative incremental market to the entire music industry.

Mitchell Bayer-Goldman said, “Live viewers not only see people having fun in nightclubs, but also participate in it themselves. Here, the interaction between music fans becomes part of the experience itself, creating stickiness and a sense of belonging, thus Derived from purchase and consumption behavior. This is the same as the in-game purchase system, due to interaction, high-frequency purchases in the app are generated.”

For new users - long-tail musicians

< p line="MQwU" ql-global-para="true">On the other hand, Volta adopts a free model, providing an in-game music engine for all musicians, making the 99% of long-tail musicians who were previously unavailable directly accessible Creating a show visual experience solution, too, unlocks a whole new market segment.

The market-oriented, single-scale economic model based on absolute traffic distribution revenue is no longer applicable to all scenarios. For long-tail musicians, the best way to monetize is the fan economy. In other words, as long as there are a certain number of die-hard fans, there is no problem in achieving income and living.

Maybe you have heard Kevin Kelly's 1000 True Fans Theory:

"Kevin Kelly It is believed that for creators, such as artists, musicians, photographers, craftsmen, actors, animators, designers, video producers, writers, etc., anyone who is original and delivers positive energy only needs to have 1,000 "Hardcore fans" can support themselves.

The so-called "hardcore fans" refer to: no matter what works you create, they are willing to pay for it. They'll drive 200 miles to hear you sing; they'll repurchase your ultra-luxury HD set even if they already have your tapes; they'll keep an eye on you; they'll buy your out-of-print collection . ”

But actually, for most musicians, you don't even need 1,000 followers, according to the latest data from Tracy Chan, VP of Music at Twitch, to achieve an annual income of more than $50,000,only needs 183 fans on average Die-hard fans.

Talked about how artists on Twitch make money. The number of artists making $25,000 on Twitch has grown 16x since the pandemic began. For those earning more than $50,000 a year, the average rating was 183 followers.

Mitchell According to Bayer-Goldman, the transaction market generated by the interaction in the game has reached a market worth 97 billion. In theory, if the gamification mechanism is used well enough, it theoretically represents an upside of 120 billion US dollars.