AmazeVR Goes Global As VR Concerts Enter New Phase

Christian Hetrick

Christian Hetrick is dot.LA's Entertainment Tech Reporter. He was formerly a business reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reported on New Jersey politics for the Observer and the Press of Atlantic City.

AmazeVR Goes Global As VR Concerts Enter New Phase
Photo courtesy of AmazeVR

Virtual concerts took off in 2020 when the coronavirus forced musicians to cancel or postpone in-person shows. The looming question is whether the tech startups that raised a ton of cash during the pandemic can keep the momentum going as concerts in the real world return.

It may be a while before that question can be definitively answered. But a new deal struck by West Hollywood-based AmazeVR signals that the music industry is still very interested in virtual shows, especially those that take place in the much-hyped metaverse.


AmazeVR has teamed up with K-Pop juggernaut SM Entertainment to produce VR concerts for the South Korean label’s roster of artists. The Seoul-based joint venture, called Studio A, allows AmazeVR to expand its concert production globally by sourcing from some of the most popular Asian music stars. The deal also broadens AmazeVR’s content delivery, as concerts will be distributed exclusively through its music metaverse service along with SM’s VR service.

Founded in 2015, AmazeVR has been on a tear lately, raising $15 million in January and recently completing a VR concert tour with Megan Thee Stallion. Interestingly, those shows brought fans together in 10 U.S. cities much like a traditional tour. Instead of having people tune in from home, fans gathered in movie theaters, strapped on VR headsets and watched the rapper perform a pre-recorded set.

That approach was partly aimed at introducing VR to fans who may not own a several-hundred-dollar headset, AmazeVR co-CEO Ernest Lee previously told dot.LA. In March, Lee said the 40-person company was bullish on the future of at-home virtual concerts, believing they’ll become a meaningful revenue stream for artists.

Others in the industry are less certain. Although the technology behind virtual shows has improved, there are still limitations that prevent them from feeling truly immersive. Artists, for example, can’t feed off a crowd. While fans flocked to see stars like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande in virtual shows, it remains to be seen whether musicians with smaller fan bases can capitalize. Live performance startup Encore, based in Culver City, recently launched a new studio iPhone app with mid-tier artists in mind.

It’s important to note there’s a wide rage of “virtual shows” these days, from live-streams on laptops to online 3D worlds that turn artists into cartoonish characters. AmazeVR’s concerts are of the high-production VR variety. The firm pre-records 3D, live-action videos of artists like Megan and inserts them in computer-generated worlds post-production.

Meanwhile, real life shows are rebounding. Beverly Hills-based Live Nation reported that its first-quarter revenues skyrocketed from $290.6 million in 2021 to $1.8 billion this year. But SM’s deal with AmazeVR marks a meaningful endorsement of VR shows as in-person concerts return.

Launched in 1995, SM is one of South Korea’s largest entertainment companies and helped popularize the now global phenomenon of K-Pop. Its roster of artists and groups include Girls' Generation, Red Velvet, Exo and Aespa—a new pop girl group that just reached a partnership deal with Warner Records and played their first U.S. live show at Coachella this year.

“We’ve had a great interest in this market and see the opportunity for our artists in the metaverse,” Lee said in a statement. “AmazeVR shares the same vision for this next generation of music.”

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How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms

Lon Harris
Lon Harris is a contributor to dot.LA. His work has also appeared on ScreenJunkies, RottenTomatoes and Inside Streaming.
How the 'Thrift Haul' Boosted Secondhand Ecommerce Platforms
Evan Xie

If you can believe it, it’s been more than a decade since rapper Macklemore extolled the virtues of thrift shopping in a viral music video. But while scouring the ranks of vintage clothing stores looking for the ultimate come-up may have waned in popularity since 2012, the online version of this activity is apparently thriving.

According to a new trend story from CNBC, interest in “reselling” platforms like Etsy-owned Depop and Poshmark has exploded in the years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. In an article that spends a frankly surprising amount of time focused on sellers receiving death threats before concluding that they’re “not the norm,” the network cites the usual belt-tightening ecommerce suspects – housebound individuals doing more of their shopping online coupled with inflation woes and recession fears – as the causes behind the uptick.

As for data, there’s a survey from Depop themselves, finding that 53% of respondents in the UK are more inclined to shop secondhand as living costs continue to rise. Additional research from Advance Market Analytics confirms the trend, citing not just increased demand for cheap clothes but the pressing need for a sustainable alternative to recycling clothing materials at its core.

The major popularity of “thrift haul” videos across social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok has also boosted the visibility of vintage clothes shopping and hunting for buried treasures. Teenage TikToker Jacklyn Wells scores millions of views on her thrift haul videos, only to get routinely mass-accused of greed for ratching up the Depop resell prices for her coolest finds and discoveries. Nonetheless, viral clips like Wells’ have helped to embed secondhand shopping apps more generally within online fashion culture. Fashion and beauty magazine Hunger now features a regular list of the hottest items on the re-sale market, with a focus on how to use them to recreate hot runway looks.

As with a lot of consumer and technology trends, the sudden surge of interest in second-hand clothing retailers was only partly organic. According to The Drum, ecommerce apps Vinted, eBay, and Depop have collectively spent around $120 million on advertising throughout the last few years, promoting the recent vintage shopping boom and helping to normalize second-hand shopping. This includes conventional advertising, of course, but also deals with online influencers to post content like “thrift haul” videos, along with shoutouts for where to track down the best finds.

Reselling platforms have naturally responded to the increase in visibility with new features (as well as a predictable hike in transaction fees). Poshmark recently introduced livestreamed “Posh Shows” during which sellers can host auctions or provide deeper insight into their inventory. Depop, meanwhile, has introduced a “Make Offer” option to fully integrate the bartering and negotiation process into the app, rather than forcing buyers and sellers to text or Direct Message one another elsewhere. (The platform formerly had a comments section on product pages, but shut this option down after finding that it led to arguments, and wasn’t particularly helpful in making purchase decisions.)

Now that it’s clear there’s money to be made in online thrift stores, larger and more established brands and retailers are also pushing their way into the space. H&M and Target have both partnered with online thrift store ThredUp on featured collections of previously-worn clothing. A new “curated” resale collection from Tommy Hilfiger – featuring minorly damaged items that were returned to its retail stores – was developed and promoted through a partnership with Depop, which has also teamed with Kellogg’s on a line of Pop-Tarts-inspired wear. J.Crew is even bringing back its classic ‘80s Rollneck Sweater in a nod to the renewed interest in all things vintage.

Still, with any surge of popularity and visibility, there must also come an accompanying backlash. In a sharp editorial this week for Arizona University’s Daily Wildcat, thrift shopping enthusiast Luke Lawson makes the case that sites like Depop are “gentrifying fashion,” stripping communities of local thrift stores that provide a valuable public service, particularly for members of low-income communities. As well, UK tabloids are routinely filled with secondhand shopping horror stories these days, another evidence point as to their increased visibility among British consumers specifically, not to mention the general dangers of buying personal items from strangers you met over the internet.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

How to Startup: Mission Acquisition

Numbers don’t lie, but often they don’t tell the whole story. If you look at the facts and figures alone, launching a startup seems like a daunting enterprise. It seems like a miracle anyone makes it out the other side.

  • 90% of startups around the world fail.
  • On average, it takes startups 2-3 years to turn a profit. (Venture funded startups take far longer.)
  • Post-seed round, fewer than 10% of startups go on to successfully raise a Series A investment.
  • Less than 1% of startups go public.
  • A startup only has a .00006% chance of becoming a unicorn.

Ouch.

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From The Vault: VC Legend Bill Gurley On Startups, Venture Capital and Scaling

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer Rascoff serves as executive chairman of dot.LA. He is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, dot.LA, Pacaso and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. During Spencer's time as CEO, Zillow won dozens of "best places to work" awards as it grew to over 4,500 employees, $3 billion in revenue, and $10 billion in market capitalization. Prior to Zillow, Spencer co-founded and was VP Corporate Development of Hotwire, which was sold to Expedia for $685 million in 2003. Through his startup studio and venture capital firm, 75 & Sunny, Spencer is an active angel investor in over 100 companies and is incubating several more.

Bill Gurley in a blue suit
Bill Gurley

This interview was originally published on December of 2020, and was recorded at the inaugural dot.LA Summit held October 27th & 28th.

One of my longtime favorite episodes of Office Hours was a few years ago when famed venture capitalist Bill Gurley and I talked about marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will continue to accelerate business opportunities and his thoughts on big tech and antitrust.

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