Digital music experiences have been adopted by the masses and experienced huge growth throughout the last two years, and they continue to hold the interest of artists and fans alike as the metaverse expands. Stars like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande have held concerts on Wave and Fortnite, respectively, and have allowed fans to join immersive 3D worlds and engage with interactive elements from their desktops.
AmazeVR is charting a slightly different path in this exciting space by pursuing full-on virtual reality, and, perhaps more interestingly, will be having theatrical releases for the shows it produces. Its first immersive concert, featuring Megan Thee Stallion, will be launching later this spring, and the company announced yesterday that it has raised an additional $15 million in bridge funding as it prepares for its Series B round, which is also coming up soon.
This most recent round included participation from Partners Investment, Smilegate Investment, Quantum Ventures Korea, ABC Partners, Everrich Group, and GS Futures, and it brings AmazeVR’s total funding so far up to $40.3 million.
AmazeVR co-CEO Ernest Lee explained in a statement that this funding will be used in part to continue growing the AmazeVR team and make strategic hires. “In 2021, we tripled our team in Hollywood and Seoul,” he said. “We’ve been able to attract top talent from the industries we touch. This puts us in an ideal position to take full advantage of VR and the metaverse’s growing popularity, as we deliver breathtaking VR concerts from major artists, first to theaters, then to homes worldwide.”
When Megan Thee Stallion’s VR concert hits theaters, fans will be able to experience the performances with full VR headsets and haptic motion chairs for full immersion (the experience will be playing in select AMC theaters outfitted with these types of chairs).
The experience will then become available to at-home headset owners, the same way movies now come out on streaming services following their theatrical run. AmazeVR plans to massively scale its operations and release new VR concert experiences every week by 2024.
“You really need to experience our VR concerts to get a full grasp of how impactful they are. VR can finally blow all 2D experiences out of the water. Thanks to our tech, we can evoke a real sense of presence you can’t get from a screen, the feeling that your favorite artist is right there, face to face with you,” added Lee. “This opens up a new dimension for music, one of the first new ways for artists and fans to connect since recordings appeared. We’re thrilled that investors are grasping this and are supporting us as we innovate and grow.”