Rock group KISS concluded the last show of its “End of the Road” farewell tour as digital avatars who performed the encore tune “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” to mark the “withdrawal of the flesh and blood group” and usher the band into an era of virtual touring. The KISS avatars were created by Industrial Light & Magic and facilitated through a partnership with Pophouse Entertainment, a Swedish company known for music and entertainment brand extensions as well as a lead investor and production partner for the ABBA Voyage virtual concert residency. Pophouse says the KISS avatars will perform for fans “for decades to come.” Continue reading KISS to Go Fully Virtual with Avatars from ILM and Pophouse

Tonight’s performance by the Dave Matthews Band in Jacksonville, Florida will mark the first in a partnership between Yahoo and Live Nation to provide free, live streams of a different concert every day for a year. The idea is to draw attention to Yahoo’s video site Screen, which the company sees as an eventual competitor to Google’s YouTube. For Live Nation, and the music industry, the effort could lead to a new franchise for online concerts, which have yet to catch on with consumers. Continue reading Yahoo and Live Nation Partner to Live-Stream Music Concerts