The last several years have made the act of livesteaming essential, especially as global events caused more and more people to trade IRL experiences for the comfort and safety of their homes. But for many, this is a welcomed innovation in the live music space that gives access to those who might not normally be able to witness many events. Whether it is physical conditions, mental health, financial obstacles, or just proximity, livestreaming allows more people to participate in live music than ever before, truly meeting the audience on their own terms.
Among those leading the charge in this space is Amazon Music, who last weekend made their first endeavor into Mexico as the exclusive partner of Vive Latino. Vive Latino is one of Mexico’s premiere music festivals, differentiating itself with its emphasis on home-grown talent, rock bands, and international touring forces. It’s a partnership that goes beyond reaching fans already immersed in Latin culture, especially as Latin music has become mainstream pop culture over the last several years. It has never made more sense than to bring artists like Maná and Belanova to living rooms around the world and should signal the beginning of similar global reaches from streaming giants.
On the ground in Mexico City, the livestreaming infrastructure stretches to both the festival grounds and backstage. A compound next to the Amazon Music stage played host to artist interviews and exclusive content that punctuated the broadcast. While the viewers tune in to relatively seamless steams of performances and interviews, backstage, it can often be a surprise to see which artists pop in to chat after their set, with hosts Pame Voguel, Gerudito, Nicole Horts, Leos, Maria Letona, and Miguel Solis all ready for whoever and whatever comes their way.
One of the coolest aspects of the streaming endeavor, and one that I hadn’t witnessed before, was through the partnership with JBL, where attendees could be loaned out headphones and tune into other stages for the livestream. If you were enjoying the VIP cabanas and didn’t want to give up your spot to catch Future Islands on the other side of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the livestream provided an accommodating middle ground, giving an attendee access to stages without having to move an inch. It was the first time that I’d considered livestreaming being not just for those who couldn’t attend Vive Latino, but also a resource for those on the grounds.
Of course, Amazon Music isn’t the only major player in this space. YouTube has made Coachella home viewing an annual event, where now nearly any music fan can have a take on today’s hottest artists without having to navigate the literal heat of the Coachella Valley. Lollapalooza recently partnered with Hulu to give their festival a home presence. And one can only imagine that other streamers will find their way into the same game, with events that pair well with their audience.
On Amazon Music’s side, they’ve already made serious headway into the space, with broadcasts including Vibra Urbana in Miami USA, Primavera Sound in Barcelona and Madrid, Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, and Coachella’s country cousin, Stagecoach Festival. And the move into Latin America is a significant one, as artists from the region have become some of the most recognizable not only in the US but around the world. And with a number of ways to meet fans where they are — the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, Prime Video, or on the Amazon Music app — livestreaming a music festival has never been more intuitive.
Will livestreaming take a bite into the IRL experience of going to festivals and concerts? That feels hard to imagine, especially as you witness the massive audiences that turned up for artists like Fito Páez and Hobres G on the festival’s biggest stage. Anecdotally, Coachella has never had a problem with attendance despite years of livestreaming, with this year’s slower sales coming more from a talent standpoint than accessibility. Nothing really compares to seeing your favorite artists in person, surrounded by similar-minded fans, singing along as loud as possible. But livestreaming isn’t trying to recreate that. It provides additional access points for people who need them. It’s allowing fans a taste of an event that they might try to actually visit the next year. It’s using the capabilities of massive tech companies in innovative ways so that music spreads as far and wide as possible.
Uproxx was hosted for this story by Amazon Music and Vive Latino. They did not review or approve this story. You can learn more about the Uproxx Press Trip policy here.
Twitch continues to be an enticing place for celebrities that want more interaction with their fans. We’ve seen folks like T-Pain, Mike Shinoda, Snoop Dogg, and more on the platform. Now, the multi-talented actress and musician Keke Palmer, who starred in Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed film Nope, is the latest celebrity to hop on the streaming train.
If there’s one thing Palmer knows how to do, it’s stay busy in her creative life. While only 29 years old, she’s been a working Hollywood actress for almost two decades. She first appeared in 2004’s Barbershop 2: Back in Business and followed it up two years later with a starring role as Akeelah in Akeelah And The Bee.
Since then, she’s done everything from long-running television shows, Broadway productions, and music albums, most recently starting her digital platform for Black content creators looking to showcase their work, KeyTV.
After announcing her pregnancy in late 2022 on Saturday Night Live, Palmer began filling her time off from acting by catching up on playing video games, especially Sims 4. On her Twitch bio, she talks about this briefly, “i got on here because i got preggers and started spending more time at home which got me back into playing the sims. my followers wanted to see my game play and now we hereeee.”
Before starting her Twitch channel, she’d dabbled in live streaming her gaming exploits on Instagram. On her IG, Palmer began going live and narrating the ridiculous antics her Sims got into on her most recent play sessions. Palmer has a keen eye for creating viral moments on social media, something that translates well to what she hopes to help other Black creators do with KeyTV.
Quickly, clips from her streams went viral on Twitter and other social media platforms, showcasing the funny hijinks she got into with her characters. After a large push from her fans, Palmer set up a Twitch channel in February of 2023 and began streaming.
On Palmer’s Twitch channel, simply called “Keke,” she streams everything from video games she plays (mainly Sims but other titles like Tekken and Detroit: Become Human), karaoke, cooking, and general hangouts to catch up with her audience. She writes more about this in her bio, “i like role playing obvi, i like fighting games, i like decision based games too.. but im into many things outside of gaming because i get bored v easily haha. i like trying new things, diy stuff, karaoke, stand up(light weight haha), reviewing reality tv, reviewing movies, documentaries, conspiracies!”
Palmer’s streams are lowkey and fairly irregular given her busy schedule, but when she does go live, you can expect a no-holds-barred look into who she is as a person when she’s not on the silver screen. On one of her most recent broadcasts, she streamed the narrative, choose your own adventure game Detroit: Become Human which centers around the various lives of androids who are becoming sentient in a future Detroit.
https://m.twitch.tv/videos/1789587125
The infectious charm and wit she brings to her characters on screen are given a different light on stream. In her Detroit: Become Human live stream, chaos quickly ensued as Palmer and her partner, Darius Jackson, ate takeout while trying to figure out how to play the game which features complex button inputs.
What’s interesting about Palmer’s streams is how her immense knowledge of acting and direction comes through in how she engages with the games she plays. As if on cue, Palmer and Jackson fall into character while playing Detroit, giving their own voice acting to the cinematic scenes. A particularly hilarious moment occurs as Palmer controls her android character, dodging an assailant while she gets more and more on edge trying to keep up with the button prompts.
This is shown even more when she plays the Sims 4. Palmer creates in-depth storylines for all of the characters she creates that highlight insanely funny situations you’d expect in an evening sitcom. “This is the storyline,” she says to the viewers before telling a detailed backstory about the messy relationships her characters have. Upon giving the setup for the predicament her characters are in, she proceeds to voice all of them in their respective voices to an absurdly funny extent.
It’s rare that audiences get such an intimate look into the life and persona of their favorite celebrities. While we are certainly living in the age of over-stimulation and social media fatigue, watching Palmer on stream is a much different experience than seeing a clip of a post on a social media platform. Palmer’s Twitch streams further confirm what her on-screen performances already suggest — she is one of the world’s best at blending humor with drama today, no matter the medium.
During the NFT boom in music a few years, regular Uproxx readers might have noticed that I’ve always been a bit skeptical of the things. As popular as NFTs became in the recording industry, some of the products being offered up felt more like ways to extract money from invested fans without offering anything much of value. The Bored Apes, the artist profiles on DSPs, the “collectibles” that vanished into thin air as the exchanges hosting the various blockchains supporting them folded or crashed… they all seemed to justify initial skepticism — and that of some of the artists who were being asked to join the party.
However, there was one brand whose offering was intriguing — and seemed to actually give its holders something in the way of value. Rolling Loud, the traveling festival that blew up out of the Miami underground and rapidly expanded to outposts as far-flung as Toronto, Portugal, Thailand, and more, tried something a little different. Its Loudpunx NFTs were billed on the company’s website as “VIP passes to all future Rolling Loud festivals.” Fans could only cop them with Ethereum, but holding them grants access not just to the festivals but also to special VIP lounges and other exclusives within the festival.
As Rolling Loud co-founder Tariq Cherif noted via Zoom, the program has been successful so far largely because of the cutting-edge nature of hip-hop culture itself. With fans of Rolling Loud already among blockchain enthusiasts — hip-hop fans more likely to adopt and adapt to new trends — there was already a market for the product. But fans are also getting their cryptocurrency’s worth with Loudpunx. Cherif says this is only the beginning, and there’s much more to come.
How did the opportunity to create the Loudpunx platform and Loudpunx NFT concept come up, from conception to execution?
In 2018, I start getting into buying crypto. I started with Bitcoin, and then later, Ethereum, and then later, some Altcoins. I wish I got into crypto when I first heard about it in 2009 or 2011. I don’t remember what year it was, but it was when it was a dollar for a Bitcoin. But someone pitched it to me that the use case was, “Oh, you can buy drugs on the Silk Road,” and I was like, “Well, I don’t need or want to buy drugs online, so I don’t need this digital currency.”
I found out about it from that movie Dope, and I was like, “Oh, yeah. That makes sense,” but it just never occurred to me that people would do a stock exchange on it. Like, “Oh, yeah. Dang, dang.”
Fast-forward to 2020, Bitcoin got pretty low. I bought some more Bitcoin in March 2020, and then I start seeing NFTs in 2020, and I’m like, “Oh, this is cool.” Then I see NBA Top Shot, and I’m like, “Oh, this is really cool.” I originally was going to try to rush out Rolling Loud’s version of an NBA Top Shot. It was going to be randomized packs of moments iconic to Rolling Loud history, so you buy a pack and then have different levels of rarity moments in the pack. But I started working on that, and I realized I shouldn’t rush that out. I should really put my head down with our team and figure out what we can do.
Prior to the NFT boom, I had been just playing in my head, and doodling on whiteboards and pieces of paper, trying to figure out how we could best create a loyalty program for our fans. I was studying credit card companies and airlines, and just trying to figure out, “How do we create some type of point system or reward system with tiered gold, silver, bronze?”
I started seeing more and more people in NFTs talking about utility, and what you can do for holders that hold an NFT. That’s when it really clicked, like, “Oh, we should create our loyalty program,” or at least one of our current loyalty programs. I’m sure we’ll do other things in the future, but our current loyalty program is this Loudpunx thing. We started working on it, and we took our time. We took so much of our time that we ended up dropping it after the bull market of NFTs, but I kind of like that, because I don’t want us to be perceived as a cash grab or anything like that.
Why were NFTs the right way to go for your loyalty program?
At the end of the day, we don’t need to sell NFTs. We do perfectly well selling concert tickets, festival tickets in a Web 2.0 Way, but the main purpose of the Loudpunx project is to provide that value to our core fans. One of the biggest drivers of this is that I would see, and my team would see, tweets and Instagram posts and Instagram comments, and DMs and whatnot, like, “I’m going to my 10th Rolling Loud,” or, “I’m going to my third Rolling Loud this year.” As in, they went to three in one year. There’s probably a few thousand people that go to a lot of Rolling Louds. Most fans probably go to one Rolling Loud a year, but there’s some fans that literally fly around the world with us, and I was like, “That’s cool. We should give these people something.”
That’s what this Loudpunx project is. One purchase and boom, you’re locked in. You can go to every Rolling Loud for life, VIP, access to the exclusive Loudpunx lounge within VIP, and just have a great time. It’s easier on your pocket, and when you’re done with it, you’re free to sell it. We love the frictionless nature of Web 3.0. You could do a Web 2.0 solution for a lifetime pass, but then your name would be attached to it. Then if you were done with it, and you wanted to sell it, it would just be a hassle. Whereas harnessing the technology of Web 3.0, it’s just like boom. You buy, it’s yours. Boom, you don’t want it anymore? You sell it, it’s gone.
How has the response from Loudpunx’s users been? What have they said about the program, and how has that worked out for them so far?
It’s been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve had great turnouts. We sold just over 2,000 of these Loudpunx, and about 800 of them came to the LA Show, and 300 and something of them came to the Thailand show. I’m expecting a good amount of them to come to the Miami show this summer, and a decent amount of them to come to our Europe show this summer. The usage of it is high, as far as taking advantage of the utility. The biggest thing I see from our holders is, “Oh, this is the best utility in Web 3.0. I’m actually getting something, and I can redeem it on a consistent basis.” I don’t remember if it was January or February, but we launched Q1, and within Q1, we gave that utility immediately in our first festival of the year in LA.
As far as the challenges of executing something like this, what have they been and how have you overcome them?
I think one of the biggest challenges is with our accounting department wrapping their head around it, government regulation, gray area on how this all needs to work. It’s a little bit wild, wild west. I think that’s been the main challenge, but we got through that. We figured that out, and we’re moving forward.
Do you see yourself, or Rolling Loud, getting involved in advocacy for Web 3.0? Because you’re absolutely right, it’s the wild, wild west. We saw with Ticketmaster, how Congress is starting to get involved. We clearly need new rules and new protections for the spaces, for the artists, for promoters.
We’ll be vocal when it’s merited. We’re fans of Web 3.0, especially when it comes to ticketing. I think that Web 3.0 is great for ticketing, and I think in the future we’ll see more of that. I think Web 3.0 is great for independent artists looking to monetize their craft directly with their fans. I think it’s great for being able to charge royalties, both for promoters like ourselves and for artists.
I think we’ll be as vocal as needed, but we also aren’t some company that’s trying to be out here taking a stand. We are here to represent hip-hop, we’re here to champion hip-hop, and just bring happiness to millions of people while preserving/nurturing hip-hop culture. That’s our mission, and that’s what we’re here to do. Web 3.0 is a tool to help us do that, but our primary focus is promoting hip-hop culture, not promoting Web 3.0, right?
There you go. I always like to ask this question, because as a journalist, I do a lot of interviews. I have to ask a lot of the same questions, and I know my subjects maybe get a little tired of hearing and having to answer the same questions, so this is me inviting you to compose your own question for yourself. Something that you’ve always wanted to talk about that you never get to talk about.
I’d say the biggest misconception about Rolling Loud from people that haven’t been here with us from the beginning is that we’re opportunists, is that we’re Culture Vultures. I would just say, if you look around, what exists now didn’t exist when we started. We started promoting hip-hop shows in Florida in 2010. Nobody was booking at the scale that we are. Rock The Bells had gone out of business, and they were at the golden era of hip-hop festivals. They weren’t dabbling with the new school, nobody was dabbling with the new school.
We were there early, we were nurturing artists early. We started in 100-cap rooms, 200-cap rooms. We cut our teeth doing so many small shows and building relationships with artists. We’re just a part of building this scene up. That’s the biggest thing I would like people to know: We helped build this, and we’re still working on building this and maintaining it and nurturing it, and trying to make it the best that it can be. Because at the end of the day, we’re fans.
We love this music. We love what hip-hop represents. The lyrical element, the social commentary element, the fun element, the trend-setting culture element. We love all of that, and we love to push that forward. We’ve been here for a long time doing it, and we’re excited to keep it going.
The relationship between a fan and an artist is always evolving. Before social media and the internet, that relationship was mostly made up of live performances and interviews in magazines or on the radio. But now in the digital world there are endless avenues to connect with your favorite musicians. While the relationship between fans and artists has always been special, there is something more personal about fan interactions than ever before, and that is due in large part to the intimate nature of today’s content. The Calm app has only elevated this idea. Initially known for its sleep and meditation content, Calm has more recently started collaborating with artists, creating a new way for fans to experience their favorite musicians.
In many ways, an interaction with your favorite musician on social media elicits a similar feeling to making eye contact at a concert. Fans just want to feel like the artist knows and sees only them in a crowd of thousands of other people and posts. The intimate nature of Calm’s content fosters that same feeling. Drifting off to sleep while listening to Harry Styles’ Sleep Story, “Dream With Me,” feels like a very singular and unique experience, regardless of how many others have or will listen to it. Perhaps a bit differently than other fan experiences, Calm’s content is specifically made with mental health in mind. The addition of music has only supported that. Calm’s Chief Content Officer, Greg Justice, explains that they’re, “on a mission at Calm to support everyone on every step of their mental health journey, and we’re mindful of the transformative effect music often has on one’s mood and mindset. Thus, it made perfect sense to complement our existing library of meditations and Sleep Stories with music to help users focus, fall asleep, or simply relax.”
While this is something that users of Calm have benefited from, Justice says that, “many musicians often have these same goals in mind. The addition of music to Calm has afforded us the unique opportunity to align with artists on authentic collaborations across a range of genres and formats, whether that be an ambient album with Moby – our first-ever release in March of 2019 – or, more recently, an ASMR-themed Sleep Story with Camila Cabello.”
Calm’s most recent collaboration with Cabello falls directly in line with that sentiment as her ASMR-themed Sleep Story “The Beauty Of Winding Down,” was inspired by her love for it. ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response, is meant to trigger a tingling sensation in your body that sparks relaxation or sleepiness, and that is the intended goal with Cabello’s Sleep Story. “While we’ve dabbled with ASMR in the past, this is the first time we’ve partnered with an artist on such an experience,” Justice says. “Camila Cabello often uses ASMR as a tool to fall asleep, so it was natural to collaborate with her on *whisper this next part* her very own…ASMR…Sleep Story…’The Beauty of Winding Down.’” For fans of Cabello not only do they now have a new way of connecting with her, but also a tool to help them calm down and achieve deep rest.
I know when I was a teenager I would often fall asleep listening to music, though One Direction’s song “Moments” wasn’t necessarily created for that purpose, as it would play the next, more upbeat song as soon as it was over. Calm’s Sleep Remix series — created in collaboration with Universal Music Group — ensures that won’t happen. The meditation and sleep company partnered with UMG during the pandemic for a first-of-its-kind reimagining of well-known pop songs for bedtime. The series includes Kacey Musgraves’ “Golden Hour,” Ariana Grande’s “breathin,” and Post Malone’s “Circles” among many others. “Rather than the standard radio edit, the series includes hour-long, dreamlike compositions designed to help listeners fall and stay asleep,” explains Justice. This collaboration provides fans with a new take on some of their favorite songs, that also just so happen to be great to listen to as you fall asleep.
Calm’s Sleep Story collaborations are another subset of their sleep content that has both helped the app garner a new audience, and provided fans with an entry point into bettering their mental health and sleep. “For example, many fans of Harry Styles shared that his Calm Sleep Story served as the perfect entry into our wider set of mental health solutions that genuinely benefited their wellbeing,” Justice says. “Prior to our partnership in 2020, Harry had opened up about his personal experience seeking therapy – sharing the positive impact it had on his own well-being as well as encouraging his fans to seek mental health practices of their own.” So when it came time to launch his Sleep Story, “Dream With Me,” the response from fans was so overwhelming that the app crashed for several hours.
Similarly Rosé from BLACKPINK collaborated on a Sleep Story with Calm that had major success. Rosé has also “helped destigmatize the mental health conversation by opening up about her own mental health journey and daily commitment to reconnect with herself through rest and relaxation,” Justice says. “Last December, we released ‘Grounded with Rosé,’ a 30-minute Sleep Story that includes breathing exercises and meditative guidance from Rosé intended to help superfans and everyday listeners alike drift off to dreamland.” Fans are receptive to these collaborations because of how honest the artists are willing to be.
That notion seems to ring true across all of their collaborations. One in particular is Kehlani’s soundscape that was specifically created for people with tinnitus – a condition in which people experience ringing or other sounds in one or both ears, that have no external source. Kehlani found the recommended treatment of ambient noise to be helpful and thus collaborated with Calm on curating, “Ocean Waves For Tinnitus,” a soundscape specifically designed to help others with the condition. While Calm’s soundscapes help Kehlani with her tinnitus, they prove to be beneficial in other areas of her life, as well. “Soundscapes especially help me with my tinnitus, but also helps me when I need to soothe my child, when she needs to go to sleep, when I need to cool the energy down of the house, when I need to take a drive,” says Kehlani. From a fan’s perspective though Kehlani’s curated soundscape is a way to connect with her on a deeper level, regardless of whether or not they have the same condition.
In a sense, consuming Calm’s content is an immersive experience. In an online or print interview, fans would only be able to read about Kehlani’s tinnitus, but with Calm, not only can you read about it in their interview with her, but you can then have a sonic experience that helps you to understand what she goes through while also achieving a level of mindfulness apart from that. Fans are able to connect with her while also taking care of their own mental health.
At the core of Calm is the mission to support people in bettering their mental health through achieving restful meditation and sleep. Through their artist collaborations, they’ve been able to both attract a new audience within different fandoms, and also open up the conversation surrounding mental health through a vast catalog. Calm sleep expert, Dr. Shelby Harris, says, “There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. If you find something that helps improve your sleep and doesn’t negatively impact any sleep quality or quantity, then go for it.” So whether you’re Camila Cabello’s biggest fan or you just need some help getting more rest, Calm’s artist collaborations will both help you connect with your favorite artist in a more personal way, while also supporting your mental health. Seems like a win-win.
As streaming services adjust to the perils of capitalism – grow at all costs, acquire subscribers at all costs, return profits for shareholders at all costs – the media that keeps these entities profitable becomes less valued. Spotify’s mission seems to be a dominance in audio in the most general sense possible, which has only highlighted the work of its rival, Apple, which has seemingly put premium focus on creating a user-listener experience that rewards devoted fans of music. Sure, Apple Podcasts exist, and at the end of the day, Tim Cook’s sole responsibility is to keep Apple as the world-beating behemoth that it is, but the emergence of two recent incentives from the digital music pioneer has situated Apple Music as the go-to service for people who want to listen to their favorite music and discover new artists. With the arrival of Apple Music Classical and Dolby Atmos, Apple Music is drawing a line in the sand that its main initiative is to attract as many music devotees as possible. It is a powerful statement in the face of its chief rival continually getting dogged in the press for its low payouts (it’s not like Apple streams will make the average musician rich, though). Apple seems to have found an opportunity to exploit the mistakes of its competitor and built a number of apps and features that make it a truly desirable home for music fanatics.
I first began growing intrigued by Apple’s pivot towards music devotees when they introduced Dolby Atmos — also known as Spatial Audio — to wide audiences. After all, there might not be a marketing and audio initiative more antithetical to modern music consumption than the only draw being “this music sounds better.” It seemed remarkably backward-thinking from a company that was always ahead of the curve. Sure, the technology is phenomenal and fascinating, but music has become clipped, shortened, and commodified as more and more discover music via apps like TikTok and popular playlists across the major streaming platforms. While the measure of Spatial has been dictated by statistics an Apple representative has given me, it’s clear they’re making a push for it to be the go-to way for audiences to consume music on the app. According to a representative, “Since launch, the number of monthly Spatial Audio listeners has more than tripled, with more than 80% of worldwide subscribers enjoying the experience, while monthly plays in Spatial Audio have grown by over 1,000 percent. Currently, 79% of the Global Daily Top 100 are available in Spatial.”
As you can see, these statistics can mean a number of things — Apple doesn’t clarify how many of those subscribers actively seek out the experience; and almost 80% of songs being available in Spatial has more to do with their progress on the development end than the success of the program. After all, the songs are also available not in Spatial. Apple’s commitment to higher fidelity audio is an initiative with little financial gain for the company. It comes free with certain iOS updates. Between the advancement of Apple’s Spatial technology and its newest initiative, Apple Music Classical, it has become clear that Apple’s desire to dominate the music audio landscape is a boon to audiophiles everywhere.
Apple Music Classical is another free app for subscribers to Apple Music, which is remarkable considering the work it took to get the app up and running. Because of the number of recordings, versions, orchestras, and variations that accompany each piece of classical music, the SEO required for the app itself is much different than modern music. To learn more about the development of the software, I spoke with Veronica Neo, who founded Primephonic, whose mission was to “bring classical music into the digital age.” Now, with Apple’s team supporting her vision, the dream has finally become a reality. Neo, who is now head of data and operations management at Apple, explained the initiative and desire to get Apple Music Classical up and running. “We started our data process at the source, and then we did endless iterations to ensure that the catalog information we were receiving matched our classical repertoire database as much and as accurately as possible. As we discovered new works in recordings, we added these to our ever-growing classical repertoire database.”
This was a time-consuming, expensive initiative, and it’s hard to imagine Apple Music would dive into such an operation if there was little financial gain for this wing of Apple. While Atmos feels like more of a pet project, it appears as if Apple Music may have found a market inefficiency. Perhaps they’re looking to accrue a number of new subscribers who never before utilized digital streaming services. Regardless, Neo sees the app as useful for classical novices and experts alike. Much like Apple Music, the service offers tons of information and recommendations from editors.
Being a classical music novice myself, I found the app easy to navigate and informative. I am not opposed to learning more about the genre, and Apple Music Classical made the subject matter engaging. For someone curious, it’s a more than suitable introduction to the genre. “For beginners, there is a broad variety of playlists, for instance essentials per period or per genre. Browsing by instruments is a unique feature that is available on Apple Music Classical that allows listeners who know the sound of an instrument they love to get started and create their own classical music taste profile as they explore,” she explains. We also have works descriptions for many classical works that provide a much more enriching listening experience as they learn about the story of the composition.” These works descriptions are what I found so enticing, which illuminated the context and tradition around these monumental compositions.
Aficionados, too, will find the app appealing according to Neo, and I bet this is where Apple sees dollar signs. The amount of classical lovers who listen to digital music has to be minuscule, based on how long it took Apple to accumulate the proper SEO keywords to populate their catalog. It was simply a bad listening experience before the app came along. “More advanced listeners can easily go beyond the usual suspects through Composer Undiscovered Playlists and Hidden Gems. Lifelong fans can search by composer, work name, opus number, album name, artist name, or even in their local language, and find exactly their favorite recording instantly,” Neo says. “We also have Related Composers and Related Works that bring recommendations beyond what they already know.”
This is the future of Apple Music, which may not be the first name associated with streaming but has positioned itself as the music listener’s service. Its new initiatives and technological innovations are antithetical to the click and move on factory-like behavior that playlisting and algorithmic listening fosters. It’s a bold bet, and I’m not certain Apple will have patience if these programs lose money or fail to attract wide swaths of the market, but as a music devotee and someone constantly looking for a less insane way to consume music, both Spatial Audio and Apple Music Classical make it clear that I’m not the only one searching for alternatives.
Instead of six feet tall, Post Malone towers over at what feels like ten. Because, in this universe, anything seems possible. His eyes follow, no matter where I move in the arena. During his concert, he also brings out special guests, including The Kid LAROI for “Wasting Angels” and Fleet Foxes for “Love/Hate Letter To Alcohol.”
In a move that would only be potentially possible at a major festival, I can easily jump to a Foo Fighters set — being front row, to some degree. And it’s for free.
I am only reminded that I am a cartoon, a mere avatar, when I hear another figure — a woman — standing beside me. She starts to cheer for Dave Grohl playing “This Is A Call,” the band’s lead single from their debut album. “I was JUST thinking of this one earlier,” she exclaims, as I’m surprised more by the fact that I can hear other people, just like I could at a typical show… Or, anywhere in the general real world.
This is my first encounter with concerts in what many have called the “Metaverse.”
Meta, the umbrella company behind Facebook, Instagram, and, most recently, the Meta Quest VR headsets, have been working with prominent musicians and companies like iHeartRadio to bring crystal-clear experiences that users can attend right in their living room. While the company doesn’t own the Metaverse, but merely occupies a part of the vast, virtual world, they are also trying to make it a unifying experience between other virtual fans, rather than a solo, isolating one. The goal is to simulate a real-life concert to the best of their ability.
“It’s also about bringing an opportunity to fans to get to experience something together that they might not otherwise get to,” Mina Lefevre, Meta’s Director Of Media Partnerships, explains. “We spend a lot of time thinking about how teens and young adults are using tools to be able to connect with each other, whether you live across the country or in another part of the world.”
“We took feedback from how Post Malone fans were engaging with his concert and applied that to some of our future experiences,” she adds.
And it isn’t just the Post Malone fans who have offered feedback on Meta’s VR experience. While my Foo Fighters watch went off without a hitch, that wasn’t exactly the case when their concert premiered on the platform, as users on social media cited an inability to get into the virtual venue, a lobby that didn’t work, and camera issues.
This issue was largely due to the demand for the band and a free show — as is commonplace for all Meta concerts at the moment. Attendance estimates were also reported by Futurism to be anywhere from 7,000 to 12,000 as a Horizon Worlds VP, Vivek Sharma, cited that “the demand was unprecedented.”
Still, as many concert-goers have experienced throughout the past year, the live music industry has been a whirlwind, with fans of Bruce Springsteen, Bad Bunny, and many more major artists expressing disdain for the way Ticketmaster has significantly skyrocketed prices. And this doesn’t even factor in the bots that buy them for resale purposes. Musicians like Maggie Rogers and The Cure’s Robert Smith have attempted to remedy this through in-person ticket sales and opting out of dynamic pricing.
Yet, it raises the question: Why even go through the hassle when you could attend an immersive experience for free?
The rise in popularity of VR concerts has frequently been attributed to Fortnite, the video game — popular among predominantly younger users — with Travis Scott’s April 2020 concert reportedly pulling in over 12 million attendees. However, he only played for ten minutes, so do with that what you will.
The following day, Minecraft held an immersive concert with Charli XCX and 100 Gecs, which raised over $50,000 for Feeding America. “As far as what we did, anybody could put that together with the right amount of experience and know-how,” 100 Gecs’ Laura Les told Pitchfork at the time. “Hopefully it gets pushed into a direction of more people being aware of it and f*cking around with it enough so that they can throw a party.”
And, with the pandemic being another key player to the growth of VR concerts, as users signed on in 2020 while quarantining at home, the ease of being able to hear your favorite artists’ music was a plus in place of the real thing.
Even after live music has made a significant return in the three years since, this aspect of accessibility also helps bring the feeling of being front row at a high-ticket concert to fans who might not typically be able to attend — whether for financial or other accommodation reasons.
As Malika Quemerais, Meta’s Director Of Artists Partnerships, explains, the filming process can vary in scope, going between “a 180 screen or more versus just the flatness of 2D,” depending on each shoot’s direction.
“I think the biggest difference is in that and the artists knowing how to play with depth-of-field,” she says. “For example, with J Balvin, we played a lot with lighting and the dancers to really give you that depth-of-space experience.”
Meta also works with the company HyperReal, which cites itself as “the future of digital humans and avatars” on their website and has contributed digital technology to Sony, PepsiCo, and more high-level corporations. It’s this partnership that, by working with the estate of the late Notorious B.I.G., they brought the rapper back to life for a special concert. “It’s only in VR where you can have that experience where Biggie’s avatar is interacting with Latto and Diddy,” the team explains.
“Initially, Biggie’s son, in addition to the tons of images and photography they had of Biggie, they were able to use his son to sort of model it a little bit and he looks a lot like him,” Lefevre says. “It really helps if you have the sort of depth of the material that we had because of the Estate being involved.”
In this way, the concerts honor musicians who’ve since passed since the VR filming, as Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins plays with the band in the show.
On the night of certain live events, Meta lets users enter a waiting room before the show starts, building anticipation and giving fans opportunities to talk to each other. As Meta’s reps note, this area might hold more people, while only a few users enter an individual room — rather than the entire waiting room population cramming into one arena.
“We’ve done a lot of work to create that balance of intimacy versus also still feeling like you have the community and social that Malika was mentioning,” Lefevre adds. “Basically, there’s thousands of instances of that same concert, but you yourself would be in there with 10, 15, sometimes 20, depending on which venue it is.”
In terms of the larger impact toward the future of fandom, the company doesn’t just have their sights focused solely on VR, as Quemerais explains about their push to incorporate AR (Augmented Reality) as well. Unlike the experience of putting on a headset to fully be immersed in a realm, Meta’s AR technology brings aspects of a fake reality to the real one — their Instagram filter with LeBron James being an example.
Meta also has plans to expand their Augmented Reality with musician partnerships as soon as later this year, providing fans with even more exciting opportunities to connect with their favorite artists through a digitally unique space.
It might seem strange to think about, considering where social media was at just a decade ago, the future of technology is rapidly advancing, and the Metaverse is just one example of that. While virtual concerts will hopefully never replace the experience of the real thing, they provide another avenue for fan engagement, working with live performances to give fans new ways to experience their favorite artists.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Based on last year’s reported gross sales of vinyl records, it would be safe to assume that vintage music technology is making a coming back. However, this doesn’t seem to be slowing down the industry-shifting moves happening in the metaverse, on Web3, and with NFTs. Big-name acts such as Snoop Dogg, Gorillaz, SZA, Sia, Steve Aoki, Styles P, and Grimes have all raved about the mediums. Some even racked in tens of thousands of dollars in the process. Hell, even music platforms Spotify, Limewire, and the beloved music festival Coachella have jumped on board. But they aren’t the only entities benefitting from these creative havens.
Many technologically savvy musicians, producers, and DJs are no longer seeking deals (recording, publishing, or otherwise) with major record labels. Instead, they’re leveraging their independence to explore the larger financial payouts that the metaverse, NFTs, and Web3 have made possible. For the novice, it is important to define these terms to drive home just how innovative these tech and music intersections are. In layman’s terms, the metaverse is a 3-D virtual reality that exists in tandem with the world we live in today, just without the restrictions of physics or geography. Musicians can host concerts, meet-and-greets, and more for fans across the world in real-time, all for a fraction of the cost.
As for Web3, put plainly, it is a decentralized internet powered by blockchain where the power remains with the individual (who owns the data). The public internet in use today is referred to as Web2. Web3 is the tech container or infrastructure, and in most cases, there is a cost of admission to enter these digital gates. Cash will be of no use to you, you need to pay via a non-fungible token (NFT). Contributing writer Dane Rivera defined them best. NFTs are cryptocurrencies stored on the blockchain. NFTs are self-defined but, most importantly, “valued independently from one another,” meaning the individual creator of the token determines the value. Whereas in the world of tangible currency, for example, the value of the American dollar can fluctuate depending on the global markets.
The NFT and Web3 music spaces are still relatively new in the grand scheme of things. So, when considering rising artists for this list, only independent recording artists were considered. DJs and producers were not considered. Other qualifying criteria included the number of collections available for purchase, total gross income earned from their public collections, and overall impact on the community.
Although they did not make the cut, there are two honorable mentions that are important to list. Firstly, Nigerian-American recording artist MoRuf. The New Jersey native found underground success in the early 2010s with the release of his 2013 project, Shades of Moo. The album birthed the cult-classic track “Homie.Lover.Friend,” which featured singer Jesse Boykins III. Over time MoRuf’s follow-ups became few and far between. However, after becoming a husband and a father, he made a slightly more consistent return to music in the Web3 space with the single “Canal Street.” The success of the track led to a collaboration with Snoop Dogg on his mixtape Death Row Session: Vol. 2 (420 Edition) in 2022.
Next, no list of artists in the Web3 or NFT space is complete with a nod, even if it’s subtle, to Chinese-American alt-pop singer and producer Yunice. The Brooklyn-born, Macau-raised musician has had many stage names in her career, including Eunice and Wobble Wong, but the one thing that has remained the same is her passion for the art. Since as early as 2015, Yunice has kept her head down performing across the city. Eventually, earning sync placements with brands like 7Up and Walgreens, as well as movies such as Hooking Up, starring Brittany Snow and Sam Richardson. In Web3, Yunice has cultivated an infectious blend of emo and pop for the ultimate sad-girl soundtrack.
Continue below to see the full list in alphabetical order according to the artist’s name.
Aly
Aly, previously known as Lackhoney, is a Nashville native with Indian and Pakistani roots. His goal of founding fame in Music City came with a list of challenges, but none of which had to do with talent. Infamously known as the home of country music, the Muslim rapper and producer had his work cut out for him battling racial prejudice, islamophobia, and musical shunning. In nearly a decade since entering the music industry, with a few singles and a project, Sweets to his name, in Aly’s eyes, he hadn’t moved the needle enough both professionally and financially to continue down the entertainment path. Despite having millions of streams on track, such as “Love’s Like Drumming,” financial insecurity was still an ongoing battle. But after discovering Web3 around September 2022, he uploaded his older work. The eager music community immediately sunk their teeth into it, earning him a decent financial cushion to fuel his pursuits moving forward.
During an appearance on Impromptu by Huddln Radio, Aly shared how Web3 has fueled his musical pursuit since transitioning from Lackhoney to what he is now known as. “It was a time when I was at my absolute lowest. There were so many doubts about whether or not I was going to make music in the future — if I was going to give up after eight years of pursuing it. I just had no more gas in my engine at all. I went through every emotion,” said Aly before adding, “Web3 has been the biggest part of why [returning to music with the release of Sweets 2] has been possible.”
In a hip-hop climate hyper-fixated on the culture’s latest subgenre, drill, it would seem that its antithesis, conscious rap, would be a dying art form. However, that won’t be the case if Takoma Park, Maryland native Heno has anything to do with it. Having collaborated with artists such as JPEGMAFIA and Mick Jenkins, the Ethiopian-Eritrean rapper, and producer was well on his way to becoming an underground fixture. But after discovering Web3, Heno was able to expand beyond the underground while doubling down on his goal of creating an impact with his music. Through his music, Heno is bridging together the diaspora from the US to Ethiopia. His latest Web3 release, “Neybors” featuring Elujay and J.Robb, has set a new standard for rap drops in the community.
When talking about his experience with Web3, Heno wrote on Twitter, “What I love about Web3 is the ability to experiment with so many amazing tools to showcase my art. It pushes me to find new ways of releasing in a more intentional way than ever before.”
What I love about Web3 is the ability to experiment with so many amazing tools to showcase my art. It pushes me to find new ways of releasing in a more intentional way than ever before.
In an interview NFTNow, Heno drilled home the same point, “Obviously, I get paid more in Web3 than I got paid for streaming numbers. That’s great, but that’s the short-sighted benefit,” as the musician’s overall goal is to build a self-sustaining community. This is seen in his activism work for several social issues, including police brutality, prison reform, and more. Heno also appeared on Snoop Dogg’s Death Row Session: Vol. 2 (420 Edition) mixtape, which was released in 2022.
Put plainly, Inglewood, California singer and songwriter Iman Europe is one of the most celebrated Web3 music creators. Iman has served as an advocate for other musicians looking to enter the Web3 space. Whether she’s speaking on panels (Essence Fest, SXSW, NFT LA, or NFT NYC) regarding the importance of exploring NFTs and Web3 as a musician or uploading short video explainers on social media, Iman has screamed from the mountain tops to anyone who’d listen since discovering the community in 2021. Iman’s fierce championing for the space has been rewarded in many ways, including being named Dequency’s cohort fellow for Web3 sync licensing.
Iman has seen mainstream success dating back as early as 2018, after songs from her debut album, Nami, were prominently featured on Issa Rae’s hit show Insecure on HBO, the movie Nappily Ever After starring Sanaa Lathan on Netflix, and Disney’s TV series Good Trouble. She’s worked with Dave East, Sango, Zyah Belle, and more. However, despite her visibility, Iman shared that popularity and financial security aren’t mutually exclusive. During an interview with Bloomberg, Iman Europe revealed, “I had one person buy my song for the amount it would have taken a million streams to get.”
Instead of crafting her work to fit into the algorithm on different streaming platforms, Iman has been able to earn well above a livable wage after prioritizing NFTs and Web3 as the mediums for her art. Iman Europe also appears on Snoop Dogg’s Death Row Session: Vol. 2 (420 Edition) mixtape, which was released in 2022.
When you think of Web3 or NFT as it relates to music, the first artist to pop up in your mind should be LATASHÁ. The rapper, producer, and multimedia artist has, through her work as head of community programming at Zora, ushered in a new wave of musical talent. As a veteran musician and prominent figure in the independent New York music scene for the better part of a decade, LATASHÁ knows the ins and outs of navigating a career in music.
The Brooklyn native, now Los Angeles-based talent, has been featured in several viral freestyle cyphers. She held down artist residency at both the Brooklyn Museum and National Sawdust, as well as earned sync placements in Netflix’s Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker starring Octavia Spencer and on Freeform’s Grown-ish starring Yara Shahidi. The Afro-Latina has also been heard in several commercials for Ulta Beauty while being one of the faces of ATT’s Codes of Culture campaign. If that wasn’t enough, LATASHÁ has also appeared on Issa Rae’s record label Raedio’s EP The Bank Roll, all the while racking up co-signs by rap pioneers Lil Kim, Timbaland, and Missy Elliott.
Still, even with all of the success, LATASHÁ battled financial security while feeling restricted by what type of her art would be palatable enough to earn money. However, after diving into Web3, she found that all of her art (abstract visual, video, audio, and more) could live in harmony. She was one of the first artists to bring in over $10k for a music video to blockchain. After turning down multiple record label deals, LATASHÁ has found a lane all her own, without comprising her art while retaining ownership.
“Web3 has completely shifted my existence,” said LATASHÁ during an interview with NFTNow. “I was a struggling artist trying to figure this thing out, and when I got [into Web3], I felt like something healing within me. We’re finding wellness for artists again,” said the musician.
Many artists in the Web3 and NFT spaces had years of experience in Web2 before making the transition. Singer Rae Isla is the complete opposite, coming into her own as an artist while simultaneously navigating NFTs. Although the songwriter’s debut EP, No Longer Blue, was released in 2018, it wasn’t until her follow-up project 2021’s Another Life that Rae started to see a response in turns of career mobility. This was seen in her official music video for the single “Just Because,” earning constant rotation on MTV Latin America.
In just a few short years, Rae has found a way to innovate the way in which she approaches her career. Sonically she blends together country, Americana, and pop influences into her releases. Rae uses this same creative fusion approach in her exploration of NFTs featuring audio work, visual works, and live performances in her collections available for mint. When Rae always aims high, her most ambitious NFT project was to mint over 1,000 pieces of creative works (currently at 600 items minted). Also, after setting out to tour her latest project, the singer incorporated a collectible wallet from each of her tour stops.
During one of her performances, the singer took a moment to explain why the music NFT space is important. In the clip uploaded to Instagram, she says, “This what we’re doing in Web3 — we’re exchanging, we’re not transacting. I don’t need you to buy that song… I need you to buy something. Because I gotta keep the lights. But because we’re being supported in some way, we can share in all ways.”
Reo Cragun is no stranger to the music industry. The musician’s alternative rap and R&B major label debut 2017 single “Inconsiderate” gained traction granting him the opportunity to tour alongside Lil Yachty and Billie Eilish. Even after parting ways with his former label, Capitol Records, due to creative issues, the melodic rapper continued his buzz working with Grammy Award-winning producer Flume. Along the way, Reo even earned a co-sign from the late rapper Nippy Hussle.
Now, in the Web3 space, Reo has tapped back into his creative side, all while racking in high earnings. Reo, as part of the Web3 dream team, consisting of himself and frequent collaborator producer Daniel Allan have pumped out tracks like “Stars” and “Spent.” During an interview on the podcast, Mint (Where Crypto Meets Creators) hosted by journalist Adam Levy, Reo spoke about being introduced to Web3. “David Greenstein, one of the co-founders of Sound.XYZ told me about this idea that he was, ‘[we’re] going to launch [Sound soon]’ and ‘its the future of music,’ and I was like, ‘This is so sick.’ [Web3] is everything that I’ve been looking for.”
Cuban-American country music artist Sammy Arriaga has had his lifelong goal of being a mainstream singer slip through his hands on two occasions. Firstly, after being knocked out of the runnings on season 10 of the reality music competition show American Idol. Secondly, when he was dropped from Sony Records. However, the Miami native did not let that stop him from finding his own way in Nashville.
During his appearance on The New Music Business podcast hosted by Ari Herstand, he spoke about how being dropped from Sony Records worked in his creative favor. “It’s cool because I saw it as a compliment. I saw it as a compliment from above that [God] was saying, ‘Look, Sammy, I’m going to prove to you that you have what it takes to be on those labels. But I’m not going to lock you into a label.’”
After discovering Web3, Sammy became one of the space’s most impactful country stars. In less than two months, his 1500 METAGIRL Digital Hearts brought in more than $250,000 worth of music NFTs. When talking about how Web3 has changed his career, Sammy told Business Insider, “It’s safe to say Web3 is the best thing to ever happen in my music career thus far.”
“Ever since I immersed myself into Web3, I’ve been reignited and re-inspired. I never thought that being introduced to Web3 would impact me and my music career so greatly,” said the musician.
TK is one of the highest-valued monthly trading independent R&B singers in the NFT space. But his value was always recognized. As a Los Angeles-based songwriter and producer, TK has worked on music for Will Smith, Rihanna, The Weeknd, and Justin Bieber, to name a few superstars, but he found that he was being grossly undervalued.
During an interview with the Digital Punks – Der Music NFT Podcast, he said, “Just through being in different sessions with different labels and things of that nature, I started to see how artists and creatives were treated within the music industry. Typically, we are the last to get paid, and we get paid the least.”
After having a stark reality check after his tour in 2020 was rocked by the pandemic, he decided to take control of his financial earning potential outside of gigs. “I immersed myself in learning and Crypto and NFTs,” said TK.
Initially, he thought NFTs were “just Cryptopunks and Bored Apes” but was shocked to learn of the learning secondary music market. An associate of his revealed to him that he “ended up selling four songs for $235,000,” so TK was, as he stated, “locked in” after that. “I dropped my first music NFT on Sound called ‘Heaven On Earth’ on March 1, 2022, and it’s been an incredible ride since then,” TK told the outlet.
TK has gone on to drop several music NFTs projects, including a collection of 700 audiovisual NFTs called Eternal Garden. The singer, songwriter, and producer has quickly become one of the faces of R&B-centered NFT music drops.
Vérité isn’t your typical NFT/Web3 love story. Although the alt-pop singer has shared stories of her time working as a waitress while she was earning her Bachelor of Arts in studio composition at SUNY Purchase in New York, the Brooklyn-based songwriter has consistently worked since 2013, collaborating with R3hab and Pussy Riot along the way. The musician has toured around the globe and has even performed at Firefly Festival and Lollapalooza. Vérité’s NFT journey is more so about keeping your pulse on the changing musical climate. As an independent recording artist, Vérité has been relatively successful, but after stepping into the NFT space, her story has begun to shine brighter.
Back in April 2021, the singer became the first artist to auction master recording rights in perpetuity via NFT for her song. Selling just 3.3% of her song “By Now,” Vérité reportedly earned $33,000, according to Business Insider.
In a piece that she penned for NFTNow, she shared that her goal isn’t much more important than money. “My strategy for access in Web3 is enhancing and rewarding behaviors and participation. Some of these behaviors are monetized (attending a show, purchasing merch, etc), but I believe in the future, we’ll be able to identify baseline participation and engagement, eliminating financial barriers for fans who don’t have means,” wrote the singer.
Violetta Zironi’s journey into the NFT space has been a decade in the making. After finding breakout success in 2013, after finishing third in The X Factor (Italy), the singer was fawned after for her signature use of the ukulele. “At the age of 18, my music career was blooming, and I signed to a major label. It being apparent that the label and I had different goals,” said Zironi in a statement before adding, “I wanted to make music that I deeply, deeply loved. The rawness of real instruments, the craft of hands, voice, and soul. That was what I was drawn to. The label wanted to follow the trends.”
Although the musician felt boxed in by what the label and the public expected from her, Zironi played along. “My work in Italy stopped in 2015, two years after X Factor. I played concerts, released singles, and rode the wave as much as possible. Then I said to myself: ‘I want to try and see what’s out there.’”
Zironi did work for a time as a composer and actress in 2018’s The Magic Flute and 2020’s Rose Island (Netflix). However, her breakout moments didn’t come until two years later. “At the beginning of 2022, everything changed. I discovered NFTs and a door to an unexplored world! I decided to jump in,” says the singer.
With two exclusively NFT albums to her name (Moonshot and Another Life), Zironi’s bet on herself and her creative passions paid off.
Fire up FIFA and there’s a decent chance you’ll hear one of your favorite songs (or something you’ve never heard before but admittedly slaps). Music from some of today’s biggest artists plays a significant role in sports video games, increasingly so as the music and game industries continue to evolve. The relationship between sports games and music is so strong, in fact, that musicians are actually using them to debut new music now: 2 Chainz previewed a new album in NBA 2K21 and Madden NFL 23 featured new songs from artists like Killer Mike and Cordae.
That’s where we’re at these days, but how did we get here, and where do we go from here? Let’s start exploring those questions by rewinding a bit.
Recently, I was reminiscing about the main menu music from 1995’s Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball on the Super Nintendo, specifically about how hard it goes. Show me somebody who’s heard a better video game soundtrack synth solo from the mid-’90s and I’ll show you a liar. At that point, sports games were soundtracked by bespoke music created specifically for the game by in-house composers, not commercially available songs you could hear on the radio or buy at your local record shop.
Nearly a decade after Big Hurt, EA Sports pivoted from its long-running Triple Play MLB games and launched the short-lived MVP Baseball series with the 2003 installment. I grew up playing MVP Baseball 2004 and 2005 on the original Xbox, and what I remember about those games more than anything (aside from maybe the Jacob Paterson cheat) is the soundtracks.
Instead of newly composed music, these games (and many of their contemporaries) compiled soundtracks from songs of the day. Both games had carefully curated and relatively limited tracklists (2004 had 13 songs, 2005 had just nine), which meant I got intimately familiar with those songs. As I browsed in-game menus, tracks like Steriogram’s “Walkie Talkie Man,” Chronic Future’s “Time And Time Again,” The Donots’ “We Got The Noise,” and Hot Hot Heat’s “You Owe Me An IOU” became ingrained in the deepest wrinkles of my still-forming brain. The games and their soundtracks made each other better; those songs make me think about the games, the games make me think about those songs.
Yay, good for me and my childhood fun, but what does this mean in terms of a musician’s relationship with sports games today? Well, for a musician now, playing a role in a sports game is not only possible, but actually a desirable goal, and an attainable one at that.
Here’s an example: a 25-year-old (to choose an easy-to-work-with young-adult age) playing MVP Baseball 2005 didn’t necessarily grow up with sports games. In 1990, that fictitious person was 10 years old and home video game consoles were a relatively emerging market in terms of widespread adoption. There’s no guarantee they and a majority of their peers had strong childhood memories of playing games like Jordan Vs. Bird: One On One for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Furthermore, games like that had original, relatively minimal, composed music, not songs pulled from the contemporary music industry.
Over time, video games became more widespread, sports titles became more robust, and the music in those games played a larger and larger role. Today, a 25-year-old here in 2023 was 10 in 2008, when games featured memorable compilation soundtracks. So, for a modern 25-year-old, there’s a far stronger chance sports video games and their soundtracks — comprised of regular, non-video-game music — were at the center of core childhood nostalgia. A young-adult 2005 musician didn’t grow up with the idea that their songs could be in sports video games, but a young-adult artist today did.
There’s also some level of two-way professional envy between athletes and musicians. As Lil Wayne succinctly summarized it in 2014, “Athletes wanna be rappers, rappers wanna be athletes.” While most musicians will never be able to fulfill their dreams of becoming a professional athlete (props to J. Cole, though), there’s still a way for them to be involved: through sports video games and their soundtracks. While video games once had a reputation of being “nerdy” fare, they’re now a fully mainstream and accepted pastime. Sports video games are cool, so for a musician, having their song in the latest Madden is something to brag about. Having their song debut in the latest Madden, to have a part of their career narrative significantly intertwined with a gaming franchise they’ve perhaps loved for decades, is extra special.
(There are other reasons, of course, why an artist might want their music in a sports game. NBA 2K22, for example, sold over 10 million copies, making it a sizable platform for a musician to promote their work.)
So that’s my take on how we got to where we are now, but what’s next? Trying to predict the future of games and music is like trying to predict what Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons will be up to next week (I’d probably be wrong), but let’s take a crack at it.
One theory is that we’ll see an artist make an original sports game soundtrack. In a way, it’s not completely unprecedented: Japanese Breakfast created the soundtrack of 2021’s Sable. Stewart Copeland of The Police composed the excellent music for the beloved original Spyro The Dragon trilogy on Playstation 1. There are other examples, but to my knowledge, we haven’t seen anything like that in a sports game yet. Perhaps the closest thing is Jay-Z curating the soundtrack and serving as executive producer on NBA 2K13. So maybe that’s something we’ll see next: A major artist going all-in on a big sports game, creating an original soundtrack that both serves the game and stands on its own as an appealing collection of music. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has pivoted to pumping out successful movie scores, so why not video games next?
Beyond that, who knows. Maybe we get something between that idea and the current reality: a game soundtrack composed of all-new music from various artists? Perhaps something else I can’t yet envision? Whatever the future of the relationship between sports games and music looks like, it wouldn’t be surprising to see it become more involved and bright than it already is. Good luck topping the Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball menu music, though.
