Universal Music Germany debuts YOUniverse Berlin virtual world

Tens of millions of people are spending a lot of time in Fortnite and Roblox: hence all the excitement about the metaverse in the music industry.

Will fans also flock to a virtual world that looks like, well, a major label’s offices? Universal Music Germany is about to find out.

It has launched ‘YOUniverse Berlin‘ as a browser-based environment to hold listening parties, virtual performances, DJ sets, meet’n’greets and other music experiences.

It’s a partnership with startup Rave·Space, but also ropes in other startups including Ready Player Me (which provides the avatars), Styngr (which handles the music) and twelve x twelve (which will do blockchain ticketing for events).

There will also be physical and digital merch drops with an integration of UMG’s Bravado store, and a ’50 Years of Hip Hop’ virtual exhibition.

It’s good that it’s browser-based, to remove barriers to entry, but clearly the biggest scale for metaverse music activations will come from building them in the platforms where fans already are.

Still, by launching its own, UMG at least has a space to experiment with those activations, and then use those lessons elsewhere.

Source