UK startup snares $20m to recreate gigs with ‘hyper-realistic’ digital avatars
Source: The Guardian ·
Unit1 hopes to offer cheaper version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venueThe former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars.Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment…
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The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. Unit1 was set up last year by Barney Wragg, an entertainment executive who ran Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Cats-to-Evita empire for five years from late 2011. It has secured the $20m in funding from a group of investors, including tech backer Balderton Capital through its partner Daniel Waterhouse, who made early investments in Spotify. The company hopes to stage concerts fronted by the “hyper realistic” digital avatars of living artists who are no longer touring and by recreating existing performances from dead musicians. In the latter case, it will develop the avatars through a mixture of archive footage and hiring actors and musicians who either look or play like the departed star, before blending the footage together. Unit1 has tested the technology with Scottish…