VR fund looking for artists who can adapt stagecraft to new reality

VR headsets have gone from a $12,000 investment to self-contained consumer devices in the $430 range – without the need for a computer or a mobile phone.

Thanks to COVID-19, headset sales rose by 500% globally in September and October last year.

But the major problem, said Darren Vukasinovic, founder of Melbourne-based live 3D virtual reality streaming platform Inverse, is that there’s not enough VR content in the market.

For Australian music, Vukasinovic said, this is really frustrating. Firstly, because it can be a direct channel for acts to reach a global audience, and secondly, because it stops fans from experiencing concerts in a different way.

“The biggest challenge for us is that people who have access to the technology understand how different it is as an experiential channel,” he said.

“We’ve seen big A-listers like John Legend and Billie Eilish having VR concerts. What we haven’t seen is accessibility for broader-based music concerts and festivals in VR. That’s very much where Inverse is positioned.

“I’m impressed with what we’ve seen. What we’re about is to get scale, and create a broad base of Australian musicians to step into that space, into the new frontier.

“People can look forward to going out every Thursday night with VR as opposed to one or two headliner gigs every three months.”

Inverse, Music Victoria and the Victorian Music Development Office have launched the first-of-its-kind Music VR Backers Fund to initiate interesting immersive technology music content.

It offers Victorian musicians and performing artists from all genres a total of twenty grants.

Each successful applicant receives a $2,500 grant to live stream in virtual reality a bespoke performance from the made-for-VR venue in Melbourne’s inner city, Project Redstone, and other venues.

Each performance will be live streamed through Inverse’s Virtual Reality platform around the world during the inaugural Beyond Boundaries VR Festival, to commence in April.

Applications begin on March 3 and close on March 28.

“We want to find those artists who really want to change their performance stagecraft, and find new ways to get to their fans,” explained Vukasinovic.

“What we’re hoping to get out of the Backers Fund is for it to act as an accelerator and help create different fan experiences to what they would get through a traditional digital channel or live event.

“It’s definitely an export music play and definitely a fan engagement play. It’s good for the music industry and it’s good for the technology industry.”