Thesis 2023 WIP — the Chapters) How has the emergence of XR Technology in the music industry affected how a Generation Z audience consumes a musical artists work and how did a global pandemic accelerate this change.
Abstract
In March 2020 — The global music industry had to cease all live music events due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. This created disruption and a paradigm shift in how an audience consumes a musical artists work. More specifically how a Generation Z audience consumes a musical artists work.
Generation Z had already began to explore new ways of connecting with musical artists, discovering work and experiencing live and immersive music events several years before the pandemic struck.
The pandemic gave technology companies such as Epic Games, Facebook (Meta) , Tik Tok and many more a strategic opportunity to affect how Generation Z consume a musical artists work and invent a new highly profitable market place.
Generation Z are the worlds first truly digital native generation, who’s lives are intertwined with a myriad of XR Technology. Generation Z are consuming and experiencing musical content in new and radical ways, which are completely different to the Millennial generation which came before them.
This once in a generation paradigm shift enabled a new market for immersive music based content to be launched with concerts taking place in virtual video game worlds such as Travis Scott in Fortnite, and for companies such as Facebook, one of the most valuable companies in the world to re-brand as Meta, such was the magnitude of the change in the market place — The age of the Metaverse has arrived.
Whilst the Metaverse and the role of the music industry within it is an evolving and yet to be clearly defined market place for the music industry. This evolving nature means that their is limited academic research available, and so this thesis explores focused aspects of the wide and varied research field.
Using a Netnographical exploration of the XR music scene as a core methodology for capturing research, the reader will be presented with first hand and experienced accounts into consuming music through XR technology and through first hand experience of attending immersive live music events in the Metaverse.
The findings of this Netnographical exploration are presented in this thesis so that we can better understand the cultural and social shift that is happening with Generation Z and how they consume a musical artists work and why they do it this way.
The way music is consumed will affect future generations to come, and will also impact Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer music consumers.
As a by-product of new market forces and new performance spaces in the metaverse arriving, a new kind of digital and music based artist appears.
Represented as a digital avatar, across multiple social networks and 3D worlds (Metaverse) this new artists musical talent and ways of working can only be achieved by creating in a virtual off world space, and who’s fan base will only exist inside the Metaverse, and who’s existence is communicated by media that exists only to be shared within the Metaverse space, and as generation Z are the worlds first true digital native generation, it will be this generation that is the primary creative force here.
I present examples of ‘Metaverse first’ music artists discovered via the Netnographical exploration of the VRchat Rave scene, which demonstrates that a community with its own culture and shared creative musical scene is being both created and consumed inside a Metaverse space, in a way not seen before in human history.
The age of the metaverse has arrived.
Chapter 1 — Who Are Generation Z
Chapter 2 — What is XR —
Chapter 3 — Covid — The World goes online, everything, everywhere, all at once?
Chapter 4 — Counter Culture and the on-going escape from reality — Hippies, Zippies, Cyberculture, Jarod Leniar, Douglas Rushkoff — LSD, TRIPS, early internet culture — 20 years of corporate internet (Amazon, Facebook) — then Discord culture…. Gen Z digital natives have arrived.
Chapter 5– 5 ways Generation Z have affected the Music Industry
5.1 — Digital Native to Virtual Native — Gen Z, digital Identity, digital community's and sub cultures / fandom / tribes / Social media (Tik Tok etc)
Richard Bartle and Henry Jenkins, Douglas Rushkoff mention here
Interview Sean Whitting REC ROOM (Connected SXSW 2023)
5.2 — VR Chat Rave Scene
5.3 — NFT’s and the Music Industry
- WIP — https://markashmorefrsa.medium.com/wip-2-how-has-the-emergence-of-nft-technology-in-the-music-industry-affected-how-a-generation-z-e2dba8f55b60
- Video — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWO4zHafiGA&t=5s
5.4 — Video Game’s become concert experiences or are they music videos? defiantly immersive?
5.5 — Avatars become the stars of the Future — From Nostaligia (ABBA) to Arana Grande the avatar music game star etc
5.6 Summary
Chapter 6 — Netnography — the researchers journey — 2 years of lockdown online music events — interviews, additional research — my lived experience
I attended — Lost Horizon — this replaced Glastonbury, Various Fortnite but will talk about Arana Grande, and Virtual reality VR Chat Rave scene.
Chapter 7 — Summary and conclusion and looking to the Future — AI?
