Ultra Music Festival To Launch Interactive Virtual Coverage

Can’t make it to Florida for the unquestionably epic Ultra Music Festival in March? Well, this might ease the pain just a little bit.

Alongside its third announcement of acts overnight, organisers have announced that they’ll be introducing some serious interactive and technological grunt to their website come festival time on March 15-17 and March 22-24.

As Billboard reports, a “cutting edge virtual environment” will be available on the Ultra Music Festival website during the festival, where users from around the world can check out live feeds from the festival’s many stages, and interact with each other.

The initiative has been started up by Ari Evans and his Electronic Dance Music-focused business LessThan3. The business is now expanding its capabilities after previously operating as a record label, and a site with blogs, videos, reviews, and other features.

“For the past couple of years, the music industry has seen declining track sales but increasing live event revenues,” he said.

“However, physical events are limited in space, and now major festivals like Coachella and Ultra Music Festival that completely sell out are searching for ways to provide an engaging experience to a wider audience.”

Evans and LessThan3 are promising technology and features “to match the magic of being in person at the event”. Along with accessing the content, fans may be able to do things like setting off virtual fireworks, lighting effects, and fog machines – or hoisting their country’s flag.

While the features have not been confirmed for Ultra, they are possible under the platform, and could be introduced as separate pay-per-view features, opening up a virtual revenue stream.

“The platform does provide paid opportunities, including the ability to ‘shout out’ a loved one on the big screen and other such premium room manipulations: ‘VIP’ camera angles and behind-the-scenes footage, and more,” Evans said.

More information on Ultra Music Festival 2013 can be found at the festival’s official website.

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