“Twenty One Pilots is a band that has spent their entire career figuring out how to reach the most people possible,” Eshleman said in a statement. Roblox and WMG worked in partnership with the band’s longtime creative director, Mark Eshleman, and Symbol Zero, a development studio focused on gaming and virtual experiences which also developed Lil Nas X’s Roblox show. “They’ve been looking for a canvas to bring Dema and all these things they talk about to life in a more cohesive way, and they know that Roblox can deliver that for them,” Vlassopulos says. Twenty One Pilots’ long history of creating lore to engage its fanbase - such as the fictional city of Dema, which serves as the setting for 2018 concept album Trench - made them the perfect fit for Roblox’s next era. “The second one is all about interactivity and participation, and pulling in all of these other worlds across the platform.”Ī peek at the portal experience inside 'Ultimate Driving.' Courtesy of Roblox “The first era was when these concerts were a spectacle,” Roblox global head of music Jon Vlassopulos tells Billboard. Roblox partnered with the developers behind three of the biggest games on the platform - Ultimate Driving: Westover Islands, Creatures of Sonaria and World // Zero, which collectively have over 400 million visits - to create quests which unlock merchandise as well as portals leading their players into the Twenty One Pilots world, promoting deeper engagement and extending the concert’s lifespan. This time around, the show will play even deeper into two of Roblox’s biggest strengths: The fact that users can create their own games, contributing to more than 20 million on the platform and the platform’s reputation as a social space where a community of 42 million daily active users hang out as avatars. “Fans are looking for an integration into artists’ lives in a way that’s really social, interactive, consistent and authentic.” “You’ve seen us do a number of things in Roblox over the last year and that’s because it’s not just about one-offs,” WMG chief digital officer & executive vp, business development Oana Ruxandra tells Billboard. But the Twenty One Pilots concert marks only the second time Roblox has turned an act into an avatar, following Sony Music signee Lil Nas X’s concert last November, which drew 33 million total views.
So far, WMG has signed up acts like Why Don’t We, Ava Max and Royal Blood for Roblox “launch party” performances, where the artist beams in on a video screen. The concert marks the latest output from Warner Music Group’s (WMG) January investment in Roblox, as Twenty One Pilots is signed to WMG record company Elektra Music Group under the Fueled By Ramen label.
Roblox's Music Play: 'Hundreds' of Daily Concerts, Building a Digital Vegas & NMPA…