It was a technological feat that made history, stunned audiences, and brought a dead rapper back to life. In April 2012, at the Coachella festival in California, Tupac Shakur took the stage with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. He had been dead for 16 years, killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
But this was Tupac the hologramfoul-mouthed and realistic, acting before a “surprised then amazed” crew.
Ever since humans first reveled in the sound of music, technological advances have made musical expression immortal. Throughout history, innovators have strived to create performances that are original, accessible, and timeless.
As engineering knowledge developed, advanced musical instrument design. Many classical composers introduced pioneer instrumentations in his sheet music, adding depth and color that broadened the listening experience.
Accurate notation systems matured, offering music an essence of immortality through the printed manuscript. In 1853, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville phonautograph pioneered a audio recording technique.
In 1912, WC Handy composed memphis blues, a song that captivated the United States and influenced the development of popular music. Released on paper, it was hugely popular in dance halls and soon every band in America was being asked to play it. This public demand was recognized by a budding record industrywhich soon bloomed.
Technology = creativity
A major advance in the quality of music capture came with the advent of HiFi and stereo presented by Yamaha. Those who artistically embraced technology were able to transport a realistic performance experience into the homes of the masses. One of the biggest bands of the 70’s and 80’s, Swedish supergroup ABBAadopted this technology, pioneering recording techniques, which are still used as a standard today.
Behind this technology was the creative genius that produced millions of record sales and performances that dominated the 1970s and beyond. After the group’s apparent demise, Benny and Björn branched out into the theater genre, composing musicals. His interest in emerging technology sowed the seeds to recover and reinvent the ABBA machine 40 years later.
May 2022 sees the latest technological advances in musical immortality as ABBA returns to the live stage after a 40-year absence. But this time they return as humanoids: the digital hologram “twins” of the original global phenomenon.
george lucas Light and Industrial Magic has holographic look-alikes created who interact with a live band in a purpose-built theater in East London. Benny, Björn, Frida and Agnetha provided the pre-recorded voices and captured motion that will then be played by the digital avatars.
The doppelgängers are younger in appearance, around thirty, when they were at the height of their fame, which poses an interesting conundrum about ABBA’s human mortality versus his newfound immortality in the metaverse.
ABBA’s music is undoubtedly timeless; simple melodies with incredibly complicated structures attract millions. The “ABBAtars” are a reinvention for a new audience, but will they continue beyond the lifetime of their originals, with new creators pulling the strings?
In addition to ABBA and Tupac, there are other cases where “digital twinning” has been identified as a key strategy to generate money. the digital band gorillaz 2006 performance at the grammys mixed perfectly with that of Madonna; and the hologram of Richard Burton accomplished on a world tour war of words in another 2006 performance.
music in the metaverse
3D avatar customization has become a unique way for artists to create virtual brands across various digital platforms. They can virtually connect with fans and increase loyalty and engagement while fans can interact, express themselves and experience new things.
This can now be achieved using artificial intelligence software to make holograms, as MIT researchers have shown. in an experiment that created holograms almost instantly.
ziva Dynamics, A pioneer in real-time character creation and simulation, it uses AI-powered synthetic avatars to create complex, autonomous motion simulations based on real muscle, fat, soft tissue, and skin contact.
In April 2021, in a project called Lost Club Tapes 27, of Google magenta AI it was even used to compose songs in the styles of musicians who died at the age of 27, including Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Amy Winehouse.
These technologies have the potential to create realistic, synthetic, and AI holographic representations of deceased artists, allowing them to continue creating, influencing, and performing for future audiences.
epic gamescreators of the phenomenally successful Fortnite, predicts that digital twins will be combined with the metaversean emerging network of fully immersive digital worlds.
Disruption in the music business
While live tours are time consuming and expensive for new artists, an inexpensive metaverse “tour” could be a new way for music lovers to see live performances. virtual performances of Justin Bieber, DeadMau5Y Weekend they have already become popular recently.
In this emerging branch of the music industry, record labels and marketing companies could be replaced by decentralized autonomous bodies. DAOs are online organizations that function as cooperatives and make all decisions jointly.
The DAOs are already revolutionizing the music business—along with NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which are a way of transferring property between people online. In October 2021, PleasrDAO, a collective of decentralized finance leaders, early NFT collectors, and digital artists—paid $4 million for Once upon a time in Shaolinan album by New York hip-hop legends the Wu-Tang Clan.
While the album’s release predates the rise of NFTs, PleasrDAO now owns the rights and has placed strict restrictions on duplication, distribution, or public display. A music-focused DAO like Pleasr can procure concert tickets in bulk, finance, and organize events. and manage fan-owned record labels and marketing agencies to secure investable products like first-issue LPs, artwork, and instruments. This has the potential to benefit fans, new music genres, and artists alike.
This creates a new, decentralized route to the artist market free from corporate interests or individual producers, building a fairer landscape for the future. With digital avatars likely to be at the center of this new avant-garde, it will be fascinating to see how it plays out in the coming months and years, and whether it will be enough for music audiences.
Theo Tzanidis He is a full professor of digital marketing, University of the West of Scotland; Y Stephen Langston is the leader of the performance program, University of the West of Scotland. This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.