Are virtual concerts history? The opportunity for brands and music in virtual worlds

Since the advent of streaming, the artist-fan relationship has grown more distant. The physical act of purchasing a record from an artist you love is not as common as it once was, but virtual worlds like Roblox, Fortnite and ZEPETO are offering an evolution of this.

The likes of Ariana Grande, BLACKPINK and Elton John have tapped virtual worlds to showcase their artistry, with exclusive content and early access to tickets and unreleased music enabling them to forge new links and provide more value to their fans.

Eminem headlined Fortnite's live event, The Big Bang, in December 2023, and the event saw about 11.6 million concurrent players, according to TechCrunch. So we've taken a look at the different routes music can take to capitalise on this communications vertical. So, what are they?

The virtual concert

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual concerts provided a necessary way for artists to connect with their fans. Ariana Grande's appearance on the Fortnite 'Rift Tour' saw over 25 million Fortnite players attend her concert, while Travis Scott's attracted over 45 million.

Virtual concert experiences allow artists to host regular shows within their own experience for a limited period of time. With album cycles and world tours disrupted by a succession of lockdowns, it provided a means for artists to get new music in front of audiences in new territories. And for younger musicians like Lil Nas X, platforms like Roblox allowed them to be present in spaces that their fans were already active in.

But how did this change in a post-pandemic world?

In 2022, GEEIQ subscriber Elton John elevated the virtual concert by creating a Roblox experience that would 'preserve his legacy far beyond his farewell tour and real-world retirement', which was primarily a destination for a virtual concert series across its opening weekend.

Taking it one step further than a standalone concert, 'Beyond the Yellow Brick Road' licensed five songs into rhythm mini-games within the experience, and the community was able to purchase digital wearables and take part in interactive challenges. According to GEEIQ's Elton John case study, it is the highest-rated concert in Roblox history, and as of August 2023 it had over 2.6 million visits with an average engagement time of eight minutes per session. The 'Heart Skip' emote became the best-selling branded emote on the platform.

The integration

Virtual concert experiences are labour-intensive. They require long-term, data-led thinking; in-game economics and merchandise strategies, plus player loops that incentivise repeat visits and extended time spent in the experience. What's more, the experience must align with the artist's overall vision and aesthetic.

Integrations into existing experiences reduce labour and expand reach. Take Bebe Rexha's integration in Roblox's Harmony Hills, an experience which had over 10 million visitors in the months after launching in February 2023.

This integration used a common tactic to drive traffic to the game: user-generated content (UGC). Users who joined the experience could earn 'Bebe Rexha hair' for their avatar by completing a task, and the 'Bear Puppy' by watching the concert in full. These were completed 227,000 and 247,000 times, respectively. On July 29th 2023, the day the free UGC was dropped, Harmony Hills attracted +500,000 total visits.

While some artists opt for persistent experiences in which to digitalise their persona, integrations into existing experiences like Harmony Hills are a strong tool for specific campaigns like album launches, where the aim is to use existing communities to get as many eyeballs as possible on your offering.

The 'Queen of Christmas', Mariah Carey, aligned her December 2022 integration into Roblox's Livetopia with the release of her live CBS concert from Madison Square Garden. Over the four days that the virtual concert took place, there was an increase in daily visits to Livetopia. December 24th saw a growth rate of 0.22% on the previous day, which is significant for an experience with over 4 billion total visits.

Heavy metal legends Metallica went one step further by integrating into five Roblox experiences from April 14-16th 2023 promoting their latest release and driving nearly 21 million visits across the period.

But brands are also recognising the impact of bringing music into their own experiences. When GEEIQ Enterprise subscriber Walmart hosted 'Electric Fest' in its Roblox experience, Walmart Land, in October 2022, GEEIQ tracked an uplift in visits and growth rate.

Working with artists with Gen-Z heavy audiences, such as YUNGBLOOD and Madison Beer, Walmart recognised the value of tapping artists with loyal communities to drive engagement with their own experience.

Manchester City F.C. also tapped TXT for its Roblox experience Man City Blue Moon. While Samsung teamed up with Charli XCX and Crocs hosted K-pop girl group Aespa across both its Roblox and ZEPETO experiences.

The immersive fan hub

Persistent fan hubs are the evolution of both the virtual concert and the artist integration. Musicians can not only host a virtual concert in these spaces, but they can create an environment that allows their global fandom to connect in one, immersive space.

TWICE Square, a fan hub created by K-Pop girl-group TWICE (and GEEIQ subscriber Karta), had over 70 million visits in its first ten months after launching in January 2023, an average of 2 million weekly visits. Players can trade TWICE-themed items, play an escape room that encourages collaboration with other fans, accessorise their avatars and take part in trivia.

Immersive fan hubs in virtual environments are providing new routes for artists to forge deeper connections with their fans, while facilitating a greater sense of community among their often globally dispersed audiences.

Musicians have a unique opportunity in virtual worlds. Traditional brands rely heavily on tactics like player loops and UGC to ensure repeat visits and engagement with their experiences. These are still important considerations, but musicians can also offer a different kind of value. If an immersive fan hub can make fans feel closer to their favourite artists (through exclusive content, pre-sale tickets, early access to unreleased music and the ability to hang out with other fans), they will generate repeat visits.

Where virtual concerts stand now

Large in-game concerts have continued since 2023. On 30 November 2024, Fortnite's Remix: The Finale connected sets from Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Ice Spice and Juice WRLD. Epic reported more than 14 million concurrent players and called it a record for an in-game concert, as covered by Music Business Worldwide.

Roblox staged its own headline concert on 17 January 2026, when Bruno Mars performed inside the hit experience Steal a Brainrot. The set peaked at 12,862,161 concurrent users, according to Roblox, as reported by Music Business Worldwide.

Both figures are platform-reported peak concurrency, meaning the most players present at a single moment. Each platform measures this its own way, so the two numbers should be read separately and never ranked against each other.

The Bruno Mars set matters for brands because of where it ran. It sat inside an existing hit experience, which is the integration route covered above. The audience was already there when the artist arrived.

How brands should judge a virtual concert

At GEEIQ, we treat peak concurrency as a headline. It tells you how many people were present at one moment, and little about what the concert achieved for the brand behind it.

We judge a concert by what happens around it. Start with visits to the experience before and after the show, and time spent per session. Item and UGC claims show active participation: Bebe Rexha's two Harmony Hills tasks were completed 227,000 and 247,000 times. Repeat visits in the following weeks show whether the audience stayed.

Each of those numbers needs context. Benchmark them against comparable activations on the same platform, because Roblox and Fortnite report activity differently. That is how a concert becomes a result you can defend to stakeholders.

The evolution has kept going. GEEIQ's Media & Entertainment in Virtual Worlds report tracks 789 activations from 217+ media and entertainment brands since 2020, with music and audio brands making up 14.7% of the category. The format mix has also shifted: in 2025, integrations into existing worlds reached 58% of the owned-versus-integrated mix.

Standalone concerts and music integrations into existing experiences are tried and tested methods of engagement, but as these platforms evolve, so must the strategies of the brands entering them. The music industry is no exception, and the emergence of the immersive fan hub that puts the fans front and centre shows that the industry now treats these spaces as a communications vertical in its own right.

About GEEIQ

GEEIQ is the data platform and expert team behind brands and gaming, and the data partner to Roblox, Fortnite and ZEPETO. With eight years of tracked brand activations, we help brands including Walmart, L'Oréal, the Premier League, BBC and Warner Bros. Discovery decide if, where and how to show up in virtual worlds, then prove that it worked.