SXSWORLD

VR camera at work during ACL 2016. Photo by Cameron Gott for Nokia OZO Foals at ACL 2016. Photo by Charles Reagan Hackleman SXSW.COM | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | SXS W O R L D 2 3  Though the technology is still emerging, there is already a recep- tive consumer base. As of January 2016, Google had distributed five million Cardboard headsets. Oculus Rift pre-orders yielded months-long backorder queues. Best Buy stores opened at midnight when PlayStation VR went on sale in October. For many early adopters, the initial lure is VR gaming. But a growing breadth of news, sports and entertainment content is attracting users' attention, too. Recent additions have included presidential debates, golf's U.S. Open Championship and features from the likes of Conan O'Brien and VICELAND.  The Austin City Limits Music Festival aired daily, 360-degree stereoscopic live streams during weekend one of this year's event (September 30 - October 2). Participating artists included Mumford & Sons, The Chainsmokers, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Foals. Sets were broadcast from the Samsung-sponsored main stage and available on Gear VR headsets.  While this was the festival's first year to livestream in VR, its organizers see the platform as a compelling addition to their future plans. "It's an extension of the way to experience the festival, and it could be the future. This is year one of VR—we've been doing it for a few years, but on the public level, it's year one. It's in its infancy, really," said Daniel Gibbs, video director at C3 Presents, the ACL Festival's producer.  Successfully executing a live, high-definition VR event from a public park is no simple feat. "It takes a lot of logistics, a lot of technology, as you can imagine. The pipeline needed for virtual reality is at least 4K video, 30 or 60 frames per second," said Juan Santillan, CEO and founder of Vantage.TV, one of the festival's VR partners.  However, despite the challenges, he finds the results are more than worth the effort: "Virtual reality is basically giving fans who cannot be here a very intimate and unique perspective of their favorite bands. And it's giving them access that you can't even get here—being at the side of the stage, being by the drums, seeing the entire audience."  Future plans continue to evolve, but Gibbs can foresee VR playing a prominent role in the festival's growth. "Fans can't get enough. We have multiple weekends now. For us, VR is an exten- sion. We want to get to the place where there's a virtual ticket, a virtual experience for all the people who can't be here, or are too far, or to reach people who don't even know what the festival is."  It's not just single events like the ACL Festival that are evolving VR plans—it's the entire industry. With multiple and sometimes competing platforms, it is as yet unclear which system(s) will ulti- mately develop the greatest customer base. While co-branding VR concerts with a company like Samsung might help with production, distribution and audience capture, another option is to partner with a vendor that is platform agnostic. This is the route chosen by con- cert promoter Live Nation, which partnered with Citi and NextVR to livestream 10 high-profile concerts over the next year. NextVR says its app will be available on all major VR platforms.  Livestreamed concerts and festivals will play a significant role in the ongoing evolution, but Adi Robertson, reporter for tech web- site The Verge, suggested that such broadcasts don't have to be straight digital ports of traditional events: "I think the most inter- esting experiences would be ones created specifically for headsets, not recordings of a normal physical concert. Things that incorpo- rated interactive or fantastical elements, for example, or that took place in virtual social networks like AltspaceVR, where you could have the experience with a crowd of other virtual participants."  The musicians who already are or will be performing these shows are becoming increasingly comfortable with VR technology. "As an artist, I'm always trying to get my music in front of as many people as possible, so this just seem like a new way to do that," said Willy Braun, lead singer of country-rock band Reckless Kelly. "Having said that, nothing will ever take the place of a live concert. It's something that can't be recreated and it's a feeling and experience that can't be duplicated. If you're in the front row of a Springsteen concert and Bruce looks right at you, he really looked right at you. If that happens in virtual reality, he was looking at the camera."

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