x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

news

Year of VR continues with new WMG concert venture

Warner Music has partnered with VFX company Digital Domain to film and produce virtual reality concerts, starting with Ronghao Li in Beijing

By IQ on 23 May 2016

Li Ronghao, KKBOX Music Awards 2015, Gene Wang

A Beijing show by Ronghao Li will be the first VR concert produced by Digital Domain and WMG Taiwan


image © Gene Wang

Visual effects (VFX) studio Digital Domain has entered into a strategic partnership with Warner Music Taiwan that will see the two companies co-produce a series of virtual reality (VR) concerts.

It is the third such partnership announced this year, following tie-ups between Universal Music and iHeartMedia and Live Nation and NextVR, and comes as VR technology becomes increasingly popular among the international music industry’s major players. VR headsets were also handed out at AEG Live’s Coachella festival in April.

The first project from the new Digital Domain–Warner Music alliance will be a pre-recorded VR highlight video from a Beijing show by Chinese pop singer Ronghao Li, from his An Ideal world tour.

“We look forward to combining our technologies and developing quality original content to tap the Greater China VR market and explore the vast potential in the global music market”

Daniel Seah, CEO of California-headquartered, Hong Kong-listed Digital Domain, comments: “With Warner Music’s abundant music and celebrities [sic] resources globally and, in particular, the Greater China region [China and Taiwan], we look forward to bringing premium music content through the combination of our technologies and developing quality original content to tap the Greater China VR market and explore the vast potential in the global music market.”

Warner Music Greater China CEO Sam Chen adds: “This project marks the first milestone in the alliance between Digital Domain and Warner Music. We look forward to integrating the world’s leading visual effects and VR technologies from Digital Domain into our high-quality music content and rich portfolio of artists, bringing an elevated audiovisual experience.”

In issue 64 of IQ Magazine, industry figures, including representatives from Exit Festival, Tomorrowland and Sziget, gave Richard Smirke their predictions on how VR technology will shape the live music sector in coming years.