SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 15 — Few centenarians follow trends quite as much as radio. After moving into podcasts, the medium is now turning to the metaverse. The goal: to reach new audiences while helping to shape the musical experience in this virtual universe.

‘Metaverse’ is the word on the lips of all Silicon Valley’s tech giants, ever since the Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg, announced plans to rename his company Meta. For its most avid supporters, this concept is destined to replace the internet as we know it. Used to technological revolutions, music professionals are increasingly wondering about the place that music will occupy in this virtual universe.

The streaming service Audius has taken the lead by launching the first FM radio tower in DeFi Land, a farming simulation game that aims to teach gamers the principles of decentralized finance. This facility allows Audius subscribers to listen to a variety of music while cultivating their land and tending to their farms. They currently have access to six different radio stations: hip-hop, rock, electronic music, jazz, LoFi and one dedicated exclusively to the most popular songs on Audius.

For now, only a few testers are able to use DeFi Land to acquaint themselves with decentralized finance, the concept that offers an ecosystem of financial services without intermediaries. The game will be available to more gamers and amateur traders in the coming weeks, as DeFi Land announced via its Twitter account.

Rethinking the musical experience for the metaverse

Audius is not the only music industry player to invest in the metaverse. French startup Stage11 recently raised €5 million in funding to re-imagine how people listen to music in virtual worlds. The company led by Jonathan Belolo has already partnered with artists such as Garrix, David Guetta and Snoop Dogg to offer music lovers new ways of experiencing the art.

"Stage11 will harness gaming technology to deliver music experiences that are cinematic, playable and social. Audiences will be able to explore the creative minds of their favourite artists and live inside their favourite songs, to get closer than ever to the musicians they love,” the firm explains on the company blog. "They will discover interactive NFT collectibles which they can use to create unique content-alone or collaboratively with friends-reimagining iconic performances and even placing themselves onstage alongside their favourite artists.”

Universal Music Group is betting on avatars of big names in music to make its mark in the metaverse. The company has partnered with Genies, "the world’s largest avatar technology company,” to create virtual characters of its artists. The US startup had already forged a similar partnership with Warner Music Group in April, proving just how integral music will be to the metaverse. — ETX Studio