CAN BRAND LICENSING BRING CONCERTS BACK TO THE FUTURE?

Yes.? Yes it can.?

Anyone at ABBA Voyage in London would understand.?

Musical acts have found ever-innovative ways to monetize their I/P through new consumer experiences.? Corporations are buying legacy acts’ libraries with eight- and nine-figure fees.? Not just to manage future streaming, but to create brand licensing executions reminding future generations how happy the music and its artists made their original fans.

My daughter and I saw the inventive ABBA Voyage in mid-August.? You have to love ABBA for this one.? If so, this is a concert for the ages.? It can quite literally run forever.

Despite thousands of screaming fans, it wasn’t really a concert.? Except it was.? Let me explain. ?Because any brand licensing professional can brainstorm to infinity on what this means for the future.

Live Music Combines With Virtual Reality

ABBA Voyage features a live band with vocalists in the background. At center stage for two hours, ABBA with its original four artists appear as they did in 1979.? The event used virtual avatars of the four artists to put on a performance that neither my daughter nor I would ever otherwise have a chance to see.? No goggles needed.? This is no juke box Mamma Mia on Broadway.? And it’s not Cirque.? Those events shadow in comparison.

ABBA Voyage played non-stop, featuring costume and set changes only possible in the metaverse.? They joked with the audience about how they always thought a time machine would bring them back to their fans. ?They interacted with each other naturally.? They riffed in an extemporary manner before starting to play.?

And the music.? The music.? The spotlight on the pianist as he quietly played the first chords of “S.O.S.” brought the house down.

Different Generations Can Meet On Stage

The four iconoclasts appeared exhausted as the evening progressed (but not tireless; this is virtual reality); they ended, came back on stage for an encore, and then as a second encore (BIGGER SPOILER ALERT) the four ABBA stars emerged as they exist today, in 2023 attire fitting for their age.? When the (real) audience kept screaming, the (virtual) act backed up, and walked back downstage to take another bow.

The production uses motion capture technology from Industrial Light & Magic, recording the artists again with 160 different cameras.? The choreography was pulled directly from their 1970s act.? As it should be.

Ticket projections anticipate a nearly four year run.? Has any concert tour ever lasted that long?

This Is Not Just An ABBA Business

The expense of the production is estimated at $175 million. ?Not sure it was that high.? But if you believe Moore’s Law – that technology doubles in power and halves in price every eighteen months – you have a concert concept in perpetuity.

I never saw Freddie Mercury appear live with Queen.? This way I can.? I could never imagine duets between Bruce Springsteen from the early 1970s and the Boss in 2023.? Now I do.? I was not in New York City in 1981, when Simon & Garfunkel performed in Central Park – an opportunity to see not only the act, but the New Yorkers that camped out on the Great Lawn to witness it.? I want to go now.? I think that’s possible.

Ideas abound.? The Dead with its original ensemble.? Taylor Swift can easily create an older generation of fans (Generation Z is taken care of, thank you) with a duet concert featuring the young Sinatra.? And charge a lot more than what I paid to see the Eras movie.? Woodstock can be presented again, without the upstate traffic jams and without the rain.

The 50th anniversary of Hip Hop could have brought recording artists from multiple decades, inclusive of those no longer with us, performing the way today’s fans wished they could see them.

And of course, Elvis.? ?Young and old, from original broadcasts to his Las Vegas residency.? Alone with a guitar, supported by a 20 piece jazz band.? Cameos by Ed Sullivan and Ann-Margaret.? I could go on.?

Not Just For One Theater, Not Just For One Location

The technology exists.? The digital construct in theory should make the experience easier to travel across hundreds, thousands of cities.? If concert-goers are paying Broadway theater prices for ABBA Voyage, then the demand and price-insensitivity are there.?

Brand licensing can also just revert pop acts to concert tees and casino gaming.? Checks are still written that way.? But they’re much lower than the money consumers are clearly willing to spend.? And that’s no way to sustain an artist’s relevance.

ABBA Voyage will be a catalyst for these, or stronger ideas moving forward.? Keep your ears open.

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