Why study Virtual Reality (VR) within the Music Industry?
One essential part of the music experience is the moment of interaction with the artist. Musicians communicate explicitly and implicitly through symbolic messages, on and off the stage, and are interpreted by their audience. These messages are conveyed through their music, lyrics, behavior, appearance and speech, for example. For this reason, the experience of “being” near a musician that one admires can be so remarkable and long lasting.
Moreover the Music industry also provides other forms of experiences in which the interaction with individuals from a similar or different group of interest comprises its essence. Music festivals are a great example.
But either attending a musicians’ rehearsal, concert, festival or specific events required the “physical presence” of the audience. However, VR has provided new possibilities of experiences, enabling audiences to reduce the barriers of the “physical presence”.
This has opened the doors to numerous new possibilities of income streams for music stakeholders and audience co-creation. Thus, VR applications within the music industry and influence on the perception of individuals is an essential and timely area for research!
Articles Discussing Music and Virtual Reality
Current and Previous Studies
The main aim of MusicStats.org is to develop behavioral studies involving Virtual reality. At the moment (August 2016) there are two studies being conducted, involving Virtual Reality (VR) and the Music Experience:
- The Influence of VR on the Pre-Purchase Stage of Music Concerts: A Cross Generational Comparison
- Virtual Reality and Seating Location Choice
- Virtual Reality and Service Scape Perception
Future Research
At MusicStats.org we are interested in addressing the following areas of research:
- Cross-cultural comparison of VR Music experience
- VR use in different Music genres
- Music experience recollection through VR
- Multi-concert experience through VR
In case you are interested in any of these topics, CONTACT US!