Warner Music Group – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

October 23, 2020

Create Games With Your Voice Inside the Anything World Beta

Creating videogames for virtual reality (VR) or non-VR purposes has never been a simple process but as the industry has grown so have the tools to smooth development. And this is where Anything World steps in, a new platform designed to help creators build 3D worlds using features such as voice commands, with an open beta now available.

Working in conjunction with Unity – Unreal Engine support is planned for the future – Anything World has several key features which should interest those building videogames, apps or other digital content. Integrating with 3D libraries such as Google Poly or Sketchfab, the cloud platform can pull these stationary assets in and then animate them automatically all by using your voice.

Using a combination of AI, natural language understanding and computer vision, Anything World’s custom machine learning can recognise a model, whether its a cat or a car and then animate it accordingly, you can even ask it to perform certain actions like carrying something or jumping. And because Anything.World already has access to over 500,000 3D models (and growing) there’s plenty of accessible content, reducing iteration times in the process.

This doesn’t simply apply to singular models as you can verbally request a whole zoo full of animals or squadron of planes. Anything World can also build environments for these to populate, all without the need to code.

Based in London, UK, Anything World was founded in 2018, holding a £500k GBP pre-seed round earlier this year which Warner Music’s Boost Fund was a part of. Since then the platform has garnered some major interest from companies such as Ubisoft, Facebook, Preloaded, Nexus Studios and more. The team is currently working with Ubisoft on an augmented reality (AR) app called Rabbids Playground powered by Anything World.

“I’m excited about the power that their technology allows within the immersive space – it creates exciting new opportunities for our artists to express their creativity and engage with their fans through 3D worlds and objects,” said Oana Ruxandra, EVP Business Development and Chief Digital Officer, Warner Music Group in a statement.

The Anything World beta is available to sign up to now, plus you can also request a demo. For further updates on the platform and how its aiding content creators, keep reading VRFocus.

October 23, 2020

Create Games With Your Voice Inside the Anything World Beta

The Anything World beta is available to sign up to now, plus you can also request a demo. For further updates on the platform and how its aiding content creators, keep reading VRFocus.

July 17, 2017

Sony Music and MelodyVR Agree Licensing Deal

MelodyVR, a virtual reality (VR) music content platform which is a subsidiary of EVR Holdings PLC, has announced a new licensing and distribution agreement today with Sony Music Entertainment. This will give MelodyVR the right to produce and distribute VR content created with Sony Music artists.

Sony Music’s current roster of artists includes both local musicians and international superstars, alongside a vast catalog featuring some of the biggest recordings in music history. It’s also home to Columbia Records, Epic Records, Legacy Recordings, Masterworks, RCA Records, Sony Classical, Sony Music Latin, and Syco Music.

Anthony Matchett, CEO of EVR Holdings, said in a statement: “I’m incredibly pleased to announce our global partnership with Sony Music for Virtual Reality content creation. We are thrilled to be working more closely with the Sony Music team and with their exceptional roster of talent, I look forward to us creating even more amazing content together.”

MelodyVR

“Over the last two years our company has worked tirelessly to secure the necessary licensing and rights for the creation and exploitation of Virtual Reality content with the world’s most recognisable, musicians and artists. The completion of our negotiations with all three of the world’s major record labels – Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and now Sony Music Entertainment, is an extremely significant milestone for our company and in my opinion, provides significant validation in regard to our market leading position, our on-going success and the long-term value of our business.”

The deal is a worldwide, multi-year agreement, which will enable VR content created with Sony Music artists to be available first on MelodyVR’s upcoming platform followed by a period of joint-exploitation by both parties.

This is the third major distribution announcement by MelodyVR, with the first coming in December 2016 after revealing a partnership with Warner Music Group (WMG). The second came in March this year, bringing Universal Music Group on board.

“Now that MelodyVR has secured the record label agreements needed to facilitate the global launch of our VR music platform, our focus is to expand upon the distribution network for the MelodyVR app and to increase the size and scale of our potential consumer base at launch,” continued Matchett. “Having recently announced a global partnership with Microsoft, that will see MelodyVR made available to over 500,000,000 Windows 10 consumers, we now seek to enter into further agreements with leading VR hardware and smartphone manufacturers such as Facebook, Samsung, Google, HTC and Sony PlayStation amongst others, further increasing the breadth and reach of MelodyVR.”

The MelodyVR app has yet to launch, with registrations open for the beta. While there’s been no official confirmation on when the app will become available, with this third deal in place it’s possible that MelodyVR will be a one-stop shop for the latest immersive music content. Most VR headset platforms will be supported, including Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, Samsung Gear VR, Google Daydream, Google Cardboard and iOS.

For any further MelodyVR updates, keep reading VRFocus.

December 22, 2016

MelodyVR and Warner Music Group Partner on VR Music Experiences

MelodyVR, a virtual reality (VR) content platform specialising in music has announced a new partnership with Warner Music Group (WMG) to release hundreds of cutting edge experiences featuring artists from the company’s roster.

Over the course of 2017, MelodyVR and WMG will release a number of exclusive experiences via the MelodyVR app, designed to bring fans closer to some of their favourite artists, such as being on-stage at a sold out concert, backstage in the dressing room or in the recording studio.

MelodyVR

WMG, is one of the largest music companies in the world, home to a number of successful record labels including Atlantic Records, Parlophone Records and Warner Bros. Records. The VR experiences will include a library of content created with Warner artists throughout both 2015 and 2016.

Anthony Matchett, Co-Founder and CEO, MelodyVR, said in a statement: “We’re incredibly pleased to be working with WMG to create revolutionary content. MelodyVR was founded with the vison of providing music fans with a new and immersive way of engaging with the artists that they love. Whether we’re providing a fan with access to an exclusive one-on-one performance or a VR live-stream of a sold out concert, I’m pleased that our vision is also shared by Warner Music. I believe that our recent licensing agreement cements WMG’s commitment to virtual reality as well as their dedication to supporting new technologies. We look forward to working even more closely with Warner Music artists over the coming years and to creating even more compelling experiences for their fans.”

“Warner Music Group is constantly exploring new avenues for connecting our artists with their audiences, and virtual reality presents tremendous, forward-thinking possibilities for heightened musical experiences and new forms of storytelling. MelodyVR is a trailblazer of its industry, and passionate about what it does, and we can’t wait to show fans what we’re able to create together,”
said Ole Obermann, Chief Digital Officer & Executive Vice President, Business Development, WMG.

The MelodyVR app is due to launch next year across a number of platforms including: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Gear VR, Android and iOS. The companies are expected to announce further details as well as a release schedule for live performances in early 2017.

For any further updates from MelodyVR, keep reading VRFocus.