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Tash Sultana promotes new album with Fortnite map

Australian singer-songwriter Tash Sultana is promoting their newly released album ‘Terra Firma’ with a new Fortnite map based on its cover art, designed by renowned Melbourne-based artist Pat Fox.

The custom map, designed and built by Lootmate, allows Fortnite players the opportunity to explore the album’s ‘visual world’, discover easter eggs, and win the in-game currency V-Bucks by sharing themselves inside the map.

A livestreamed map launch took place earlier today on Twitch, hosted by Australian gamer and internet personality Loserfruit, which marked the first time an Australian artist has had a custom map inside the game.

As part of the album promotion, Sultana also performed some tracks from the album during week two of the Fortnite Championship Series OCE, presented by The Australian Open.

Sultana is the latest in a long line of artists to appear in the Epic Games-developed Fortnite, which is the most successful free-to-play video game of all time.

Fortnite hosted its first-ever in-game concert with RCA-signed DJ Marshmello in February 2020 – a ten-minute show which attracted more than ten million people.

Travis Scott trumped that in April 2020 with the premiere of Astronomical, which drew more than 12 million players and, across five shows and two encores, is believed to have attracted around 45.8 million viewers.

Tasha Sultana is the first Australian artist to make custom map inside Fortnite

While Reggaeton superstar J Balvin delivered a special performance as part of Fortnite’s Halloween-themed event, Fortnitemares 2020: Midas’ Revenge.

Roblox is also an increasingly popular destination for artists to promote their music and has hosted highly successful events with double Grammy award-winning rapper Lil Nas X and global pop star Ava Max.

Last September, Max promoted her album ‘Heaven & Hell’ with a virtual launch party in Roblox, in a space dubbed the ‘Sky-High Dance Floor’.

During the launch, Max answered questions from participants before performing some of the songs from the album. The event also featured a merch store and in-game quests. The highest concurrent player peak reached 166,620 people.

Interested in the intersection of technology and live entertainment? Register for ILMC to get access to all-new conference and content platform PULSE and the sessions: New Technology PitchesSweet Streams – Best in ClassThe Livestreamers Guide to Live MusicThe New Fan ExperienceThe Business of Live Tech.

 


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Lil Nas X delivers one of the most viewed in-game concerts

Lil Nas X has garnered over 35 million visits for his in-game performance in Roblox, marking a hugely successful debut concert for the online gaming platform.

The double Grammy award-winning rapper behind worldwide smash ‘Old Town Road’ delivered a free-to-access concert experience which was aired three times across the weekend (14 and 15 November).

The in-game performance featured a set of stages inspired by Lil Nas X’s songs and videos – created using the latest shadowing, lighting and physically based rendering (PBR) facial recognition technologies available on the Roblox platform – and was preceded by a Q&A with fans.

The show, which took place in partnership with Nas’s label, Columbia Records, rivalled Travis Scott’s record-breaking in-game concert in Fortnite in April.

The in-game performance featured a set of stages inspired by Lil Nas X’s songs and videos and was preceded by a Q&A

According to developer Epic Games, the premiere of Astronomical drew more than 12 million players and across five shows and two encores – four more showings than Nas’s Roblox concert – is believed to have attracted around 45.8 million viewers.

Scott’s record-breaking feat trumped Marshmello’s 2019 Fortnite concert which saw 10 million players tune in to watch the electronic music star’s in-game performance. Both Fortnite concerts were free to access.

Other notable videogame shows this year include J Balvin in Fortnite, Gorillaz and Beck in Animal Crossing and several festivals in Minecraft, while 2019 saw Korn play AdventureQuest and the Offspring World of Tanks, among others.

While Nas’s concert was Roblox’s first, the platform’s existing moves in the music space include a partnership with dance music label Monstercat and a recent album release party for singer Ava Max which was attended by 1.2m players.

Roblox is a collection of more than 50 million user-created video games (sometimes compared to YouTube, but for games rather than videos). The platform’s popularity has exploded this year, particularly among children, and now boasts more than 150m monthly users.

 


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J Balvin to headline Fortnite’s in-game Halloween event

Reggaeton superstar J Balvin is set to deliver a special performance as part of Fortnite’s Halloween-themed event, Fortnitemares 2020: Midas’ Revenge.

The online video game, developed by Epic Games, hosts Fortnitemares every spooky season in the free-to-play Battle Royale mode in which weapons are disabled.

Each year, players have the chance to complete Fortnitemares challenges which provide players with season XP and different cosmetics including sprays and loading screens.

This year’s Fortnitemares will take place between 21 October and 3 November and will feature a performance from J Balvin on Battle Royale’s main stage on Halloween.

The Afterlife Party will take place on 31 October at 9 pm ET, with rebroadcasts available to watch the next day on main stage or with friends on Houseparty, the group video app.

Since launching last year, Fortnite Battle Royale has become the most successful free-to-play video game of all time

Users who attend any of the Afterlife Party showings in a Party Trooper outfit, available to buy in the item shop, will unlock an exclusive J Balvin style.

Fans can also drop into Fornite Creative from 25 October to 31 October to visit La Familia, an island made by community members Iscariote and Davidpkami where you can play minigames based on songs from J Balvin’s latest album.

Fortnite hosted its first-ever in-game concert with RCA-signed DJ Marshmello in February – a ten-minute show which reportedly became the most-attended ‘concert’ in history to date, with more than ten million people tuning in.

Since launching last year, Fortnite Battle Royale has become the most successful free-to-play video game of all time, pushing developer Epic Games’ valuation to nearly US$15bn as the number of Fortnite players – most of whom pay real money (or ask their parents) to buy in-game skins and other cosmetic items – soars over 200 million.

In May 2020, Epic announced that Fortnite had 350 million registered accounts with players spending 3.3 billion hours in-game during the month of April 2020.

 


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