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Assembly Blog. ( 2020, Nov 9 ). When AR Meets Music, They Can Create These Magic Retrieved from  https://blog.assemblrworld.com/augmented-reality-in-music/

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Ever realized that the way people enjoy music is always evolving? As a matter of fact, it apparently always follows the trends and technology which were invented!

In the late 17 th century, for example, people experienced the first music concert ever in several European universities. Now, music concerts are developing along the way with more immersive technologies to enjoy.

Fast forward to today, we see that the development of musical technology is getting more intense. Now, artists and singers are looking for more technologies to complete their musical experience. And... augmented reality is one of the possible answers!

How does AR change the way we perceive musical experiences? Well, just sit tight and relax, as we'll give you coverage about it. Check them out!

1. Music concerts & festivals

We all know that singing along and jumping energetically to your favorite artist's songs in the concert is already more than fun. But, how about combining these experiences with a visual that becomes a feast for your eyes? 👀

You might wanna see this legendary U2's Experience + Innocence concert in 2018.

Apparently, they incorporated augmented reality during the opening, in which Bono sang and appeared on the stage. Yet, the fans who held their phones could see Bono in a much larger form on the top of the crowd. It surely does thrill them, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, music festival also doesn't want to be left behind. The 2019 Coachella surprisingly turned one of its stages into a magical AR land. By pointing any on-the-go devices into the stage, people could see a real-time space-themed experience above them. It's another feast for your eyes. 😉

However, we know that the music industry has faced a problem recently. Due to the pandemic that's happening around the world, the trend of a live concert is decreasing.

But... thank God, there's AR! This technology allows you to have a musical performance from your favorite artist in your own home.

No, you're not reading it wrong. It's real, and it's happening.

The Changcuters, a rock-and-roll band from Indonesia, brought the virtual AR concert experience to their fans. As the first-ever Indonesian band who had a virtual AR concert, The Changcuters wanted people to feel their stage presence anywhere, including from their homes. It's also a way for them to promote their latest single in the midst of the pandemic.

Well, apparently, they're killing two birds with one stone!

2. AR music video

Imagine you're watching a music video, but it's actually shot in the form of AR technology. Well, the fun fact is, it's already happened.

Let's take an example from John Mayer's Heartbreak Warfare music video in 2009.

Claimed as the first-ever AR music video, Mayer was actually the one who proposed the idea to create this innovative video.

Using a marker-based AR, people can scan it and enjoy Mayer performing the song in front of them. Obviously, it's a new way to jam along with your favorite artist's video, which unbelievably looks real! 😉

3. Music marketing

Creating successful and viral marketing has to be meticulously done. It also has to be unique and creative, so that people can relate to your product.

Marketing the music also works the same way too. And we believe that AR can be applied to promote an artist's workpiece as well.

From posters, album packaging, or advertising your products - everything can be done with AR!

Sam Smith, for example, made use of AR recently to promote his latest single Diamond on Spotify. People can simply scan the QR code on Smith's song cover using another device, and they can see Smith dancing on the top of it.

And not to forget-music posters can be fun too. Check this example out from the late Michael Jackson's album entitled Michael Jackson Scream in 2017.

People who bought the album got a bundle, including a scannable AR exclusive poster. By scanning the poster using their devices, they could see a spooky visualization from MJ's face that matches a Halloween concept.

4. Music learning

Want to learn musical instruments, but you've got no tutors?

Chill out! AR can be your tutors.

Nowadays, the development of AR music learning application is real. One of them who has successfully launched the application is Music Everywhere.

Through this app, you can learn how to play the piano or keyboard with AR. Just simply point the camera on your device into the musical instruments, and there'll be blocks appearing to help you play along with a musical piece.

Simply put, it's like playing Piano Tiles, but with a combination of technology and reality. Cool, isn't it?

Anddd... that's it about our coverage! For our team, these are just the beginning of AR development in the musical industry. And we believe there'll be more to unveil!

Later on, probably you can watch concerts casually from your own homes with more immersive visualization.

Or maybe there'll be Sungha Jung as an AR hologram, teaching you the fingerstyle guitar technique. 🎸

Well, whatever the development is, we're just excited to see more cool stuff happening in our music industry with AR. Let's patiently wait until the day comes! 😎
In Assemblr, we believe that all people - including you - can create and present your own AR experiences. With an easy-to-use application, Assemblr empowers people to implement AR in any occasion. Interested to unveil more possibilities of AR? Download Assemblr now, available in App Store and Play Store!1

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How Augmented Reality Can Be Implemented for the Music Industry

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Ever realized that the way people enjoy music is always evolving? As a matter of fact, it apparently always follows the trends and technology which were invented! In the late 17 th century, for example, people experienced the first music concert ever in several European universities.

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Anthony Katz. ( 2017, Mar 30).  Four Ways Augmented Reality Could Change the Music Industry. Retrieved from      https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/03/30/four-ways-augmented-reality-could-change-the-music-industry/?sh=41fa91a70daf

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In 2016, streaming was positioned as music's savior. For the first time in almost two decades, the industry saw a growth in revenue thanks to services like Apple Music and Spotify. Yes, streaming has made music more accessible than ever, but if we are truly going to "save" the industry, we need to offer listeners engaging, emotional experiences through digital technology. That's where augmented reality comes in.

We've all read statistics about millennials preferring to spend on experiences, like this Harris study that says 78% percent of them would rather put money into experiences and events over a desirable object, and another 72% say they want to increase the amount they put towards experiences over physical objects in the coming year. It's more than just creating memories and selfies, though. Experiences need to have real value.

As an example, let's look at another segment of the entertainment industry: film. Studios bet big on 3D technology bringing people back to theaters. While revenues have gone up on major blockbusters, 2016 was the worst year since the 1920s in terms of tickets bought per U.S. adults. The takeaway is fewer people are spending more money on inflated prices. The novelty of 3D is wearing off because the experience is transactional, not transformational.

As an industry, we need to face the music: Record labels and marketers have been sorely lacking in ways to engage digitally native generations. AR is the use of technology to overlay digital information onto the physical world, largely through mobile devices. Virtual reality is different in that it is completely immersive. And it has real value - Apple CEO Tim Cook described it a s having as much potential as the iPhone.

The most popular, mainstream examples of AR would be Pokemon Go and Snapchat. The former capitalized on millennial nostalgia to earn $10 million per day at its peak, while Snap Inc. has followed in the footsteps of the ill-fated Google Glass with the Snapchat Spectacles, a sunglass-camera hybrid that CNet describes as, "world's hottest training wheels for AR."

The industry has a potential hit on its hands with augmented reality. Having a decade of experience in digital music marketing and publicity, I know from experience that opportunities like this do not come along often. Audiences are already primed and familiarized with the technology; we just need to make sure we don't miss the beat.

Here are four ways AR could change the music industry forever:

As far back as 2010, Rihanna and David Guetta partnered with Doritos to create an AR experience for the video to their track "Who's That Chick." With YouTube paying the music industry $1 billion in 2016, attracting viewers to videos has never been more valuable. AR can empower musicians to bring the video to their audience and even make the listener part of the video. Imagine a world where it appears as though the artist is performing the song directly in front of you, as viewed through your smartphone or special spectacles.

AR has a proven track record when it comes to marketing. Case in point: One restaurant in New York City increased business by 75% through a strategic use of Pokemon Go. As Inc. notes, AR can bridge the human and virtual worlds. While technologically impressive, virtual can be hard for audiences to connect with. Picture a world where fans could hunt exclusive content from an artist's upcoming release, similar to Pokemon Go. Innovation has word-of-mouth and public relations value as well; if you're the first to do something, people will talk about it.

Training and educating the next generation about music could be hugely impacted by augmented reality. In fact, it's already happening: A Japanese company has already produced a hologram that can teach people to play the piano. AR is a tool for the music industry to meaningfully and emotionally connect with younger audiences. Music's biggest influencers could become its biggest educators, passing on their expertise through experiences and turning enrichment into engagement. Picture Elton John teaching millions of piano pupils through a hologram or Sia demonstrating writing songs on the page right in front of you.

The possibilities for altering physical experiences like concerts and events with AR are limitless. As I mentioned earlier, AR has the potential to bring the concert to fans in their own environments. Better yet, imagine if the entire audience could connect to AR technology for an entirely new concert experience via AR. Imagine seeing lyrics flying through the air or the feeling of being inside of your favorite music video while the artist is singing live.

Ultimately, no one technology can "save" music. However, augmented reality has the potential to become the new reality for the industry. Song identifying app Shazam just launched the world's first scaled augmented reality solution for brands. As a tech entrepreneur and digital music marketer, I can spot the difference between a trend and something that will fundamentally transform the way fans connect with artists.

Augmented reality is not going to be a one-hit wonder. We need to start understanding how to leverage AR technology to create experiences that will give audiences what they want, and not just what labels need to sell more records.

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Council Post: Four Ways Augmented Reality Could Change The Music Industry

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In 2016, streaming was positioned as music's savior. For the first time in almost two decades, the industry saw a growth in revenue thanks to services like Apple Music and Spotify. Yes, streaming has made music more accessible than ever, but if we are truly going to "save" the industry, we need to offer listeners engaging, emotional experiences through digital technology.

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O'Brien, Ciara. ( 2022, Mar 3).  KidtechAugmented reality, voice commands, and the future retrieved from https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/kidtech-augmented-reality-voice-commands-and-the-future-1.4815236

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Kidtech: Augmented reality, voice commands and the future

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HoloToyz and Soapbox Labs understand march of technology and power of children

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Samantha Hissong. (2021, Sep 21 ). On the Set of Fox’s Trippy New Reality TV Show, Which Turns Singers Into… Aliens?

Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/alter-ego-singing-competition-augmented-reality-tv-show-virtual-avatars-1228045/

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Human pop stars? That's so pre-pandemic.

I was skeptical, a few weeks ago, as I approached the doors to a taping of Alter Ego, Fox's new singing competition with a high-tech twist, but it felt the same as entering any old sound stage - at least for the first minute or so. On Alter Ego, which premieres this Wednesday night (September 22nd), the contestants don't perform on stage, but rather behind a curtain whilst donning motion-capturing suits that control their own highly fantastical, augmented-reality avatars.

In typical music-TV fashion, the winner will get a cash prize ($100,000), as well as mentorship opportunities from celebrity judges: willi.i.am, Grimes, Alanis Morissette, and Nick Lachey. But the judges, along with host Rocsi Diaz and in-person audiences, watch the performances on eye-level monitors placed strategically around the room - so as to appear as if they're looking centerstage. Moreover, the judges won't learn the true identity of the winner until they've already won.

To film, Alter Ego relies on 14 cameras, eight of which use advanced camera-tracking technologies. "It's not something that's done in post," creative producer Michael Zinman - who previously partnered with Fox on The Masked Singer - tells Rolling Stone on the still-empty studio floor. Above our heads, thousands of Infrared Reflective (IR) markers - one-inch-by-one-inch silver squares that, essentially, create a map for these cameras - twinkle like a mini galaxy.

"You have to go back to your five-year-old self, play pretend, and talk with your imaginary friend"

The smart cameras then communicate with Unreal Engine, a video-game design software, to render the avatars in real time. (A company called Silver Spoon, which was responsible for creating virtual crowds for Major League Baseball in 2020, designed the 3D models in advance with creative input from the contestants. An augmented reality company called Lulu helped with the stage-plotting.)

Avatar data - things like eye color, height, and special effects - motion-capture data, lighting data, and camera data all meet in a hub of servers next to the mini stage behind the actual stage. "Then, if it all goes right, it spits it out and you see the composite," Zinman explains. As the host, Diaz is the only one who really has to act, as she's tasked with standing "next to" the avatars when they're critiqued at the end of their performances: "You have to go back to your five-year-old self, play pretend, and talk with your imaginary friend," she says. "It's actually a lot of fun."

Such a mixed-reality spectacle isn't something production companies could've pulled off five years ago. "You probably could've done it last year, but it wouldn't look as good," Zinman says, adding that it could take up to six months to get through the filming process - as opposed to the three weeks required for this show. "We, collectively on the Fox side, spent at least a year developing the technology. To say that it's even supposed to happen right now... We're all blown away."

Not only have graphics evolved significantly, but these latest versions of different tech pieces were not designed to interact with each other - and that's what Fox really had to figure out fast to be ahead of the curve. The result: Avatars that can cry if and when the person cries, avatars with shadows and reflections that follow them appropriately, avatars that can appear brighter or darker depending on the lighting they're in at the moment, avatars that can brush their hair out of the way and blush.

While the limited elasticity of the avatars' faces can sometimes make it look like everyone just got the same bad Botox job, the show is still miles ahead of anything that's ever successfully been done before. In watching the first episode, it's easy to forget that the avatars aren't actually on stage.

One of director Sam Wrench's biggest priorities was making sure the competition still had "the visual language of a traditional show," Wrench tells Rolling Stone in the cavernous control room, which smells faintly of pizza. He wanted to shoot it "like a normal entertainment show - just with this added technology - and not let the technology prohibit that."

"There are a bunch of nuances as to why that's harder to do, mainly because the character must always exist on the front of any image," he says. "You can never have them stood behind anyone or anything. So, just before they move behind a piano, we make sure a certain camera cuts at exactly that frame at that time to make sure it aligns accurately. Because, if he stepped back, he'd actually appear in front of that piano." The same live blending issue presents itself with low-lying fog, he points out.

Alter Ego 's capabilities have attracted singers with a variety of reasons for being closed off - and believing they couldn't make it as a performer until now. Some have stage fright, some don't look like models, and some have already been sent packing by record executives. "Imagine changing the life of someone who just cannot perform on stage because of a disability or mental block," Diaz urges, as a beauty team hovers around her, checking to make sure all sequins and such remain intact. "This is going to change the music game."

One contestant, Matthew Lord, was once a baby left in a dumpster in Compton, California. These days, he's a big, balding 60-year-old who sings opera. (On a dare and a bet, he auditioned for Juilliard Opera Center: "And the bastards let me in," he says.)

Lord was on tour with his band, The Three Redneck Tenors when Covid hit and he was forced to find a new line of work. Before talent scouts for Alter Ego convinced him to come out to L.A., he was driving an 18-wheeler cross-country. When they called, he was sleeping in the back of his truck at a Campbell's Soup factory in Alabama. "I wanted to be the next Johnny Vegas when I was younger," he tells Rolling Stone in the green room on set.

Instead, he became a blue, chihuahua-sized werewolf named Wolfgang Champagne. "I didn't know what an avatar was," he says. "I've never seen the movie. When I did the first audition, I kept calling it an emoji. But, yea, Wolfie very much has my personality; he's just young and thin with a full head of hair." He goes on: "I'm old. There's not a place in this world for people like me. And that's not being maudlin; the TV and music industry is an industry for young people. This show gave me a chance to be relevant."

As a plus-sized woman, Yasmin Shawamreh says she "got overlooked and rejected" while trying to make it in the music industry on her own. Shawamreh, who's half Palestinian and half Jewish, is from the West Bank but was raised primarily in Chicago. Growing up, musical theater was always her anchor and guiding light no matter how hard she struggled with feeling misunderstood. "I'm a child of war," she says of naming her avatar Siren. "I've survived that, I've survived Chicago, I've survived the opioid crisis. I write music about heavy things. I go there in the music that I write. My avatar encompasses being a strong warrior."

Dasharra Bridges - another one of the four contestants Rolling Stone met this summer - always loved singing R&B, gospel, and pop, but she put her dreams of a career on pause to become a mother at 18. "I didn't know if I could focus on music because I had them, but this show helped me get to a place where I could do both," she says, adding that her daughter helped picked her name, Queen Dynamite. (Her kids are now 12 and seven.)

Anthony Flammia was also an R&B singer, but he's realizing now that he might not want to be in that genre after all. "You could guess what I was going to sing by looking at me," he says. Flammia, who goes by Lover Boy on Alter Ego, started playing around with rock more on the show, and something shifted in him. "Actually, my voice sounds even better with rock. You don't expect the grunginess."

But recording contracts often center around putting aspiring stars into a marketable boxes: Flammia used to have a deal with Republic Records, who connected with him as he was making beats for 6ix9ine - even though he'd already been trying to "make it" with his own music for more than a decade. "I got signed in 2018 and dropped in 2019," he says. "They asked for 10 songs, I gave them 20. I got my skydiving license so I could shoot a video in the sky. I produced all my own music too. But I realized that, if the record label doesn't have that green button that makes you famous anymore, then they don't want [you]." Once again, he was on his own.

Really, the crux of Alter Ego's premise is quite simple and almost overdone at this point: Find America's next musical star without prioritizing image. Most obviously, The Voice does this - but as soon as a judge turns his or her chair around, after they've already chosen their vocally equipped fighter, the mystery is lost. And when the winner of The Voice enters the music biz's ecosystem of record-label rollouts and marketing plans, it's harder to push off the urge to blend in.

But if sheltering at home during the Covid-19 pandemic taught us anything it's that little must be done "IRL" these days. Like it or not, we now live in a world that breeds digital superstars.

CGI-based influencer Lil Miquela, for example, boasts three million followers on Instagram and a quarter of a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Arguably, it was she who clawed open the floodgates when she first went online in 2016. But following the offline world's shutdown, Warner Music Group invested in Spirit Bomb, a virtual artist label, in 2020 - as well as Wave, a virtual entertainment company, and Roblox, a video game that hosts virtual concerts, in 2021.) Of course, livestreaming was a huge trend during the pandemic: Even the behemoth that is Live Nation acquired a company in this realm, the Benji and Joel Madden-run Veeps. And one-off shows inside games like Fortnite are no longer uncommon. In theory, the winner of Alter Ego could go on to fill their calendar with shows without ever having to be seen in the flesh.

But tech developers are also looking at ways to outfit an in-person concert team with all the necessary tools to handle a proper tour for a digital artist. While this isn't on the immediate horizon, it's not as distant as one might think. Zinman says, as a result of pandemic-related downtime, the hurdles Fox cleared in one year should've taken three. And in a piece for Rolling Stone about the future of concerts, which ran this spring, concert designer and mixed-reality specialist Cory Fitzgerald said that the creative developments he expected to go mainstream in his field in two or three years instead happened in months.

"I think in the future, we'll be using something like a Google glass - wherein the audience wears the tech, and they see through it while it renders the actual avatar," Zinman says, unknowingly echoing similar statements made by Fitzgerald and another concert tech expert, Silent House CEO Baz Halpin, for the earlier piece: "Augmented reality in that way is going to be our future," Halpin said, urging readers to imagine wearing glasses while Lady Gaga performed "Rain on Me" with virtual, colorful rain falling above and around the crowd. (A lot of this will depend on the speed at which 5G becomes commonplace, and that doesn't feel too far off.)

When Alter Ego is over, executive producer Matilda Zoltowski says that "the four judges will mentor the artist at different levels to help them put out their first record." When asked for more details about what that entails, Zoltowski says Fox is "not exactly" sure yet, explaining that the idea came from the judges: "There are endless opportunities and options, and it hasn't really been done before, so we're still talking about how we're going to do that."

Grimes, one of most tech-savvy judges, declined to comment for this story, but will.i.am tells Rolling Stone that, after watching the Alter Egos, he sparked up about the possibilities of developing Metaverse-level talent and how to keep working with the avatars post-show, regardless of who wins. He says he's "musing" about how he could map out the specifics during the next few months as the episodes unfold.

So, while experts continue to plot the future of touring, and the savviest of the savvy attempt to navigate the still-unfolding grey area, will things like social media, new streaming options, virtual-concert platforms, and in-game opportunities provide enough juice to turn a TV show-winner into a career artist? Therein lies the real experiment.

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On the Set of Fox's Trippy New Reality TV Show, Which Turns Singers Into... Aliens?

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Human pop stars? That's so pre-pandemic. I was skeptical, a few weeks ago, as I approached the doors to a taping of Alter Ego, Fox's new singing competition with a high-tech twist, but it felt the same as entering any old sound stage - at least for the first minute or so.

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Salka, Fayez . ( 2019, Dec 2 ).  AR PIANO – A NEW LEARNING PHENOMENON retrieved from https://www.thomann.de/blog/en/ar-piano-a-new-learning-phenomenon

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AR Piano - A New Learning Phenomenon | t.blog

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Augmented Reality for piano players and piano enthusiasts? It's here! Read this article to learn more...

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Tin drum. ( 2018, Nov 26 )  Incorporating Virtual and Augmented Reality into Your Release Strategy retrieved from https://artists.spotify.com/en/blog/incorporating-virtual-and-augmented-reality-into-your-release-strategy

vember 2

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Incorporating Virtual and Augmented Reality into Your Release Strategy – Spotify for Artists

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Shaw Walters, CTO of production company Tin Drum, on why pushing technical boundaries when it comes to presenting your music is a no-brainer.