Encore is a new platform aimed at creating a way for new artists to monetize performances without upfront costs. Founded in the summer of 2020 by artist Kid Cudi, CEO Jonathan Gray and president Ian Edelman, Encore aims to democratize live music, and unlike many other pandemic-era ideas, this one has much wider applications now that Covid is in retreat.
Essentially, Encore enables artists to create their own environment to perform in, regardless of where they are in real life. And unlike recent virtual music events, for example, Travis Scott’s concert on Fortnite, creating the AR environment in Encore preserves the link between traditional production designers and the artist, even in the metaverse. For many production designers just starting out, a good path to making it in the industry is to work with up-and-coming bands as they become more successful and launch more involved and expensive tours. In a sense, they grow together as artists. The metaverse, and specifically Encore, offers the same opportunity for growth. For established production designers, the metaverse is an extension of the real world where budgetary constraints are fewer and designs can be adapted easily for each venue or destination to complement concerts in the real world. It is a chance for designers to play without financial risk.
So how does Encore work? Download the Encore Studio app, design an AR environment, or create embellishments that will appear in an existing environment for a live show, perform the live show, and Encore users can join the audience for 10 cents, of which Encore takes two cents. Each time an audience member “claps” after that they pay 10 cents. Not quite the $20 million paycheck that Travis Scott earned from his Fortnite performance, but most artists are not in the same league as Scott. For artists who are starting out, $5,000 to $10,000 is a good paycheck for a 15-minute gig. Encore’s stated goal is to create an artist middle class, and the 20%-80% split also works for performers whether they want to increase the paying audience on a tour or can't afford a live music venue in the real world.
During the pandemic it looked as though livestreaming and hybrid streaming/in-person events would become the norm, but the metaverse offers three important upgrades which Encore’s model demonstrates well.
First, there are minimal technical and financial barriers to participate. No high-speed internet connection or expensive streaming service is required, anyone with a phone can relay the concert to members watching on the Encore app. Second, performers can be anywhere, from Madison Square Garden to their living rooms, but the environment they are performing in is transformed, either by the artist or a production designer. This way the virtual version does not cannibalize the in-person audience; it is a different show, a different experience. Finally, it is still an interactive experience for the audience—read on for Gray's description of those features.
Live Design talked to Encore’s head of xR design, So-Hee Woo, and CEO Gray, about the applications for this platform and the implications of the metaverse for production and lighting designers.
Live Design: So-Hee, your background is in industrial and product design which can reinforce a company’s brand. How does moving into the metaverse impact an artist or designer’s brand?
So-Hee Woo: I think the interesting question here is whether or not someone who performs in the metaverse should really have an inflexible relationship with their brand. At the moment, we are still focusing on getting an artist paid for their art and maintaining a really intimate relationship with fans, but as an artist, any platform gives you a chance to branch out and expand a brand identity. It is a chance to show another aspect of yourself, the way that you might curate photographs for Instagram. You can show the aesthetic version of yourself that is “on brand” or a version that is as different as you authentically want. Encore and the metaverse are a new form of communication. It's about world building.
LD: Is this only aimed at low-key stage shows or could a performer replicate a physical stage design on your platform if they wanted to bring it to the Encore audience? For example, the massive “claw” structure from the U2 360 Tour?
SW: Definitely. The material isn't going to feel the same as a real set, but if artists want to recreate a realistic tour I think they could have some version of that in the digital world. Since there is more flexibility, you might be able to explore specific details of the set or be really close up, where in a real-life production the designer is designing for distance and for scale. You would probably finish the CAD drawings to a higher fidelity and then you can upload that model into Encore and add little details that were not in the original. Encore is not modeling software, it's where you house 3D assets and add layers and effects. If you can imagine the view on your phone is like a window into augmented reality where it is half physical and half digital space.
LD: How easy is it for a real-world designer to transfer those skills to create this new environment?
SW: Using Encore is super easy. Every artist is different and some are more hands on and want to be part of the creation process and others rely on teams like creative directors and stage designers. There is room for everyone. There is a lot of opportunity for traditional set designers and lighting designers to be a part of the process. I don't think this is necessarily always going to be an artist-only creative platform.
LD: Once you have an environment on Encore can the artist perform anywhere?
Jonathon Gray: Yes. We actually have a really cool show coming up in May to look out for! It is part of the vision and mission of the company to make live music accessible. Live shows are actually pretty expensive and typically are in big cities. There are a lot of people who can't afford to go or don't live in the areas that live music happens. Every show on encore costs only $0.10 so you can see a lot of shows for a very small amount of money.
LD: How is the experience of watching the show on the Encore app?
JG: When you go to a live show, there are intimate venues where you can sometimes be upfront but most of the time you are not, and there are many venues that are so huge the audience is a long way from the performer. You're seeing this little figure on a stage far, far away. With Encore, the artist is always right in front of the camera and it's more like a front row experience for all fans. It's interactive, so fans can vote in polls on what the artist should play, and chat in real time. It is a shared experience. The artist can choose different environments for each venue or even each song, or let the audience choose. This has to be set up beforehand but you can change the environment in real time.
LD: Where does the feed come from for the live performance? Does the artist need a crew for this?
JG: Encore is all phone and iPad based. The person holding the iPad can be from the artist’s team or even a friend and can be onstage or in the front row [and capturing the show from different perspectives.] We also have a feature called Backstage Pass, which is like FaceTiming with the artist. The artist is in the main video but they can bring up fans who are on the app and they are in the picture and other fans can hear them participate. A lot of times we use this feature after the show, the fans come on and ask questions to the artist. The 10 cent model scales so well because it is gamified. In most shows, the top three clappers get the Backstage Pass and there's a leaderboard that shows who is clapping the most so you are competing with the other fans to win the pass. Some super fans really want to get recognition from other fans and the artists and clap thousands of times but at 10 cents per clap that is still a fairly affordable backstage pass.
LD: If an artist is performing and moving around on a multi-level set, presumably the virtual environment has to reflect that?
SW: There are two ways that augmented reality works in general. Mixed reality, where you are seeing the real world and you're laying on top of that virtual things. And immersive AR, which is a totally encapsulating environment, hiding all of the real world. There you have a little more flexibility but you would want to make sure that there are lines to the actual floor so that it makes sense for people's brains and the person is not suddenly floating in mid-air.
LD: What does this mean for lighting, especially if the artist doesn't have a lighting rig where they are performing?
SW: If you look at [some of these clips] there is strobe lighting, and you can design where light hits the environment, create shadows, and change the color of the lighting and how bright it is.
It's not necessarily just the person you are lighting. There are spotlights and aerial lights and you can go in and start creating shadows that make the augmented reality feel more real. The concepts that you learned in physical lighting still apply here, and the augmented reality feels like it has a lot more depth if you have that knowledge.
LD: Can the performer interact with the environment? Can you include visual gags?
SW: In terms of touching objects, such as interacting with a bouncing ball, the performer would have to rehearse ahead of time.
JG: One of the features of the app is that you can output it to video on a screen using just an HDMI adapter, so the artist could see a monitor of the show in Encore as it is happening. They could get a feel for where virtual things are and interact with them. It can be pretty funny. They can- also see the leaderboard and who's clapping, or polls in real time, so if they are chatting in between songs they can talk to the person who picked the next song or say the names of the Backstage Pass winners and say “I’ll see you backstage in two minutes.” It is very interactive.
LD: So the artist can see how engaged the Encore audience is, unlike a one-way stream?
JG: They know if fans are really engaged in a show. They are going in the chat and doing polls and everything is high energy.
LD: Why should production designers and artists look at Encore versus other areas of the metaverse?
JG: The artist is not in some motion capture suit in a studio with no fans and no fan engagement. Fans don’t want to be in a VR headset and they want to see the artist. For me, the best virtual shows are the ones where the artist is performing into the camera because all of a sudden I'm getting an experience I can't get that anywhere else. I'm no longer just an observer.
SW: For Encore shows there are usually three people as a minimum: there's the artist, somebody who is in charge of the camera, and somebody who is doing live mixing of the video. We have all of these effects to change visual stuff like the colors, the objects that appear, the environment itself so you can put the artist in the sky or have sparks fly out of the floor.
JG: The whole point of Encore is creating more accessibility for bands and fans. It doesn't require anything other than a phone and someone in your posse to hold it. It could be your best mate with a beer and iPhone. It actually works off an LTE cell connection, so it doesn't require a ton of bandwidth.
LD: And there are no upfront costs? So there is no risk for a designer to start experimenting for a band on there?
JG: Everything is free for the artist. We've never charged an artist anything. It is a very, very egalitarian platform.