$20 Million Bet on Digital Music Stars Could Take Avatar Concerts Around the World

A British entertainment technology company has secured $20 million in funding as it prepares to develop a new generation of concerts featuring hyper-realistic digital versions of music stars. Unit1 wants to combine virtual performers with real musicians, physical sets, lighting and sound, creating shows that could eventually travel between venues and countries rather than being tied to one permanent location.

The investment, worth around £15 million, comes from backers including Balderton Capital, Mercuri and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness. Unit1 plans to use the funding for further development of its technology as well as licensing and agreements needed to work with artists, music catalogues and estates.

The possibilities extend to living musicians who may no longer want to undertake conventional tours, while the technology could also be used for performances involving artists who have died. That second area inevitably creates questions about permission and representation, with Unit1 placing artist and rights-holder involvement at the centre of its approach.

KT Tunstall has already created a digital version of herself

KT Tunstall has already worked directly with Unit1 and become an Artist Ambassador for the company, giving the technology a recognisable music name at an early stage of its development. The singer participated in performance capture that allowed Unit1 to build a digital counterpart capable of recreating a performance from earlier in her career.

Creating that virtual performance involves considerably more than generating an image of a famous singer. CGI, performance capture and real-time rendering are combined with the conventional elements of a concert, including musicians, staging, lighting and sound, before the digital artist is presented using high-resolution display technology.

That combination is important to Unit1's pitch because it positions the technology as part of a live show rather than a replacement for everything audiences normally experience at a concert. Human musicians and production teams can remain part of the performance even when the artist audiences have come to see is appearing digitally.

Could avatar concerts become much easier to tour?

ABBA Voyage has already demonstrated the audience potential for concerts built around digital versions of established music stars, but the London production has its own purpose-built arena. Unit1 is pursuing a model designed to work with existing venues, potentially removing one of the biggest barriers to taking elaborate digital productions elsewhere.

If that approach works at scale, avatar concerts could begin operating much more like conventional touring productions. A digital performance could potentially move between cities and countries, while the physical musicians, staging and production surrounding it provide the live element of the show.

Unit1 has not announced which major artists could be involved next, but the $20 million investment means the company now has significant backing to develop the concept further. The bigger question is whether audiences who have embraced one spectacular digital residency will also embrace virtual performers when they start arriving at ordinary concert venues around the world.