With companies such as Cisco Systems driving hard to cut corporate travel and the greenhouse gases it produces by holding meetings virtually, a similar opportunity for consumers would make sense
CEO Sibley Verbeck envisions a 24/7 music festival on Facebook
The Electric Sheep Company is eager to provide it. The virtual worlds creator said late Tuesday it is preparing a virtual concert service for Facebook that will let devotes watch live music without leaving home.
CEO Sibley Verbeck says he envisions a 24X7 festival that people could visit when they want. Viewers would assume an avatar and navigate a virtual concert hall to interact with others, even dance.
Steam Jam is still in early development and features, such as social games and activities, have yet to be added. It uses Adobe’s Flash and is browser based, meaning that a software download is not needed. The company hopes to have hundreds of events lined up by the spring and, by summer, permit concert producers to set up shows on their own without the need to contact Electric Sheep engineers.
Eventually, the company sees the opportunity to charge for tickets (says, $1) and sell virtual goods, such as a band t-shirt.
There also is an initiative to attract retailers and brand marketers to create non-musical events of their own. “We’re doing that for hire,” Verbeck said during a presentation at the Dow Jones VentureWire Technology Showcase in Silicon Valley. But “I’m personally focused on the music industry.”
The company sees Facebook as an avenue to the mass-market adoption of virtual-world events. If successful, gathering online could help make a dent in global warming, since travel to and from concert halls would be avoided.
But Electric Sheep doesn’t seem to be primarily motivated by a do-good climate-change ethos. “It’s a way to get more fans (to) live events,” whether across the country or the world, says Verbeck.
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