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Where and how does music and esports overlap and what conversations and brands are sitting at the intersection of both?
Hello! Thanks for your question about music and esports. The short version is that esports and music are overlapping during live esports events, at gaming cafes and through special experience centers like EMX. The main brands at the intersection of the both are ROGUE, Nvidia and Esports Arena. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
DEEP-DIVE
The industry of eSports and music are collaborating to bring in more audiences. This can be seen in many instances. For example, in Africa, although 150 000 viewers watched eSports tournament on Twitch, very few actually attended the live events. Therefore, eSports events like Injustice 2 South African Cup and VS Gaming are inviting prominent hip hop and rock acts like Fokofpolisiekar and Jack Parow to draw in the crowds. In many cases like Jack Parow, the musicians are themselves avid gamers.
Another instance of such collaboration was seen at the ESL One New York 2016 esports event held in New York which featured a performance by the band Krewella. The idea was that the audience demographics of both esports and music are the same and both the business work in the same way in terms of marketing, production and merchandising using social media.
According to a recent research, almost 35 percent of esports enthusiasts in the US have a Spotify subscription, making the amalgamtion of eSports and music a very lucrative venture. Many musical acts like Metallica, Imagine Dragons and Zedd have taken advantage of this by performing at eSports event like League of Legends Worlds Championship and Blizzard’s 2014 Blizzcon which draw as many as 40,000 live and 30 million online audience.
The 2017 League of Legends championship held in Hong Kong featured international esports players alongside top K-pop idols. Peter Lam Kin-ngok, a board chairman, highlighted the gaining popularity of esports amongst the youth and said that the aim of the event was to “combine key elements such as e-sport, music and gourmet food to bring fresh experiences to the younger crowd.”
BRANDS
* In October 2016, DJ Steve Aoki bought a controlling interest in esports team ROGUE which has fielding teams in CS:GO and Overwatch events. According to the ROGUE press release, Aoki would act in a “supportive role in the Overwatch team’s continued success,” and help develop the CS:GO team. He would also assist with “strategic management and brand development.”
* Many eSports companies are concerned about providing the most immersive gaming experience to their players. To achieve this, they use special gaming headphones, such as Sennheiser’s PC 333D feature 7.1-multichannel sound software, which allow players to communicate via the inbuilt microphone which listening to music. Technology companies like Nvidia are taking advantage of this opportunity by combining the gaming experience with high-quality music.
* Esports Arena, the host of the largest Super Smash Brothers competition called “Civil War”, announced a new type of eSports event that combines Esports and electronic music. According to Tyler Endres, COO and co-founder of Esports Arena, “We’re not forcing a DJ in between games..... We’re building relevant music programming that esports followers and fans of these artists can simply enjoy after the competition throughout the weekend.” The event will include music industry veterans such as William Morris and Dirtybird.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, esports and music are overlapping during live esports events, at gaming cafes and through special experience centers like EMX. The main brands at the intersection of the both are ROGUE, Nvidia and Esports Arena. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!