A blueprint for future music venues
“Isn’t this whole ‘metaverse’ idea that everyone’s talking about now basically like the MMORPGs we used to play?” Tsai jokes. Of course, things change with time, and with today’s higher bandwidth and better resolution, along with the real-time transmission of virtual images, digital experiences are now more realistic than ever.
Although things like performing together remotely and attending virtual performances have not yet become particularly widespread, online concerts, born of the need to adapt to the pandemic, have become popular and have changed the ecosystem of the pop music industry.
You may wonder, what makes online concerts different from “offline” ones? Once the pandemic eases, will these online concerts vanish back into the ether? B’In Live, which has a wealth of experience in event management, is well aware of the major differences between the two. “An offline concert is a social event—being in a space with other people, the feeling of the sound, the smell, the atmosphere, it all comes together to create a shared experience of pleasure. This kind of thing can’t easily be replicated online,” says B’In Live producer Lola Wu straightforwardly. “Online concerts involve a whole different way of thinking, because they’re free of the limitations of space and geography,” adds Gas Tan, B’In Live’s technical director.
The most striking example is from the end of last year, when there were very few Covid cases in Taiwan. Even though New Year’s Eve activities went ahead as usual, the band Mayday still held both online and offline concerts. To reinforce the difference between the two, the production team used frequent transitions and gorgeous camera shots, coupled with a strong spatial atmosphere, to highlight how online concerts are not limited by physical venues, hoping to ensure that both online and offline audiences were satisfied.
Unconstrained by time and space, the virtual exhibition halls of “Conation” were open 24 hours a day, and were able to accommodate and screen all participating works at the same time. (courtesy of Tsai Tsun-hung)