Billboard (11/07/18) Smirke, Richard

U.K.-based MelodyVR owns the world's biggest library of virtual reality (VR) music content, and has license agreements with both major and independent content providers, as well as plans to live-stream concerts in VR later this year via partnerships with Ibiza Rocks, the O2 arena, Alexandra Palace, Arena Birmingham and Genting Arena. MelodyVR CEO Anthony Matchett is confident that VR music has a profitable future ahead of it as mainstream adoption builds momentum. "What we're seeing now is that more people are getting Oculus Go [devices]," he notes. "Our user numbers are increasing on a daily basis and its growing really quickly." Matchett expects VR adoption to ramp up in the next year, with market research predicting about 350 million to 500 million VR devices in homes by the end of 2021. He says the public's interest in VR music should be stoked by the fact that "music fans really love the unobtainable." Matchett notes, "Giving people the ability to be onstage with a band and have the show happen in real time is really key to our future as a company. If we can also help make VR become a bit of a replacement for secondary ticketing then that's a really good thing too."

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