Encore, a new live performance app co-founded by Kid Cudi that officially launched for artists and fans last month, is further proof that virtual artist shows aren’t going anywhere. Fellow co-founders Jonathan Gray (now CEO) and Ian Edelman had begun discussing the concept for the app back in 2019, but it wasn’t until the pandemic kicked virtual performances into high gear that things really got off the ground.
“Artists have to give away their time and attention on social media for free all day, to hope to get some streams and then go on tour or sell some merch,” says Gray. “This was always about creating a new lane for artists that’s still mobile, and is still short and simple, but adding in microtransactions and gamification, and taking some things from the gaming industry that could be applied to music.”
Gray shares that at the beginning of the pandemic, Edelman had been working with Kid Cudi on a movie, which eventually led to the three of them forming the founding team for the company — and the timing couldn’t have been better. The world is now embracing Web3 universes and virtual performances like never before, and fans are eager to connect with artists on a deeper level (and vice versa).
Importantly, Encore enables artists to get paid directly by fans through claps, which cost 10 cents apiece. “‘Music is art, art has value’ is one of our big rally cries,” says Gray. “The music industry is undersized — it’s essentially $9.99 a month for all music, and that's something that doesn't really work for most artists.”
Everything on Encore costs one clap. Fans clap to gain entry to a show, to send a chat, to vote in polls that artists put up during their performances, and at any other point during the concert to show their enthusiasm. The app starts users off with free claps, after which you can purchase additional packages, starting at 10 claps for $0.99. Encore splits profits from shows 80/20, with 80% going directly to the artist.
“We think that a 10-cent clap can revolutionize the music industry, because it's very important to have discoverability in music,” explains Gray. “If what you're selling are $20 Pay Per View concerts, you're not going to get a lot of discovery. But if what you're selling is a 10-cent, 15-minute show that is really intimate and allows you to interact with your audience, it's an amazing experience. We really tried to play into the things that artists are good at and the things that music fans want to see.”
Kid Cudi hosted his first live performance on the app this week, performing both old music that he hadn’t performed live in years, as well as new, unreleased music, to the delight of the over 13,000 fans who clapped in. Before a show, fans can join the event lobby and begin chatting and hyping each other up. By the start of his show, Cudi had already received over 1.2 million claps, and by the end of it, he had garnered a total of more than 1.4 million, which equates to over $140,000.
“Encore shows are very much ‘choose your own adventure’ — you don't really know what's going to happen,” notes Gray. This was certainly the case for Cudi’s performance, during which he put up several polls throughout the show, allowing fans to vote for which song they wanted to see next. He also invited surprise guest King Chip to join him for a song, with fans lighting up the chat the entire time.
Towards the end, Cudi invited the three fans with the most claps to join him on video to say a quick personal hello. “These are really amazing moments that drive the desire for fans to be at the top of the leaderboard and get the notoriety and recognition from the artists they love,” adds Gray.
He also emphasizes that Encore shows are meant to be a completely different offering than traditional live shows or live streams. “These aren't concerts,” he notes. “I call them pop up shows, Cudi calls them mini shows. They're short, simple mobile shows that can be produced on mobile devices from anywhere, which is way more repeatable and scalable for the artist. And something that starts at 10 cents that you can view on your phone and takes 10-15 minutes is very scalable for the fans as well.”
Whether artists want to debut a new single or are looking for feedback on something they’re working on, Encore provides a monetized channel to do so that’s specifically built for music, unlike platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The newly launched Encore Studio app also puts more power in artists’ hands by allowing them to produce a show from anywhere, complete with AR capabilities.
“I think what's so powerful about AR is that it's a major democratizing technology,” says Gray. “All of a sudden, I can be in a basement and make it look like Kanye’s Glow in the Dark tour. Ultimately, I'm much more limited by my own creativity than my budget or my access.”
Encore is now available in 13 countries besides the US, including the UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, and Japan, and hosts performances by different artists every week.