Across the metaverse: pop industry goes virtual | Business

As the beat dropped for his hit song Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff, deadmau5 raised his arms to his adoring fans.

But as the superstar DJ donned his signature mouse head during the performance last December, it would be an overstatement to say the crowd went wild. What looked like a few dozen virtual avatars awkwardly staggered around in front of the stage, one or two waving their limbs around in an unnatural fashion.

Deadmau5, whose real name is Joel Zimmerman, was performing from his living room at the Metaverse Music Festival and the show was projected onto a stage in Decentraland, the self-styled “virtual destination for digital assets”.

Was this a glimpse into the future of the music industry? Or was it just a pandemic