Think of it as all the fun of an outdoor music festival without
the crowds—or the outdoors.
In late September, nearly 3,000 people logged on to their
Minecraft accounts and got ready to party. The world-building video
game has been often used to create larger than life sculptures,
buildings, and artworks, but internet-collective Thwip Gang had
bigger ideas.
After hosting a Minecraft-based "Birthday Party" for one of
their members back in May, the Thwip Gang got to work organizing a
full-scale concert completely within the gaming platform. With no
more promotion than a few tweets on the organizers' personal
Twitter pages, Coalchella drew in 27,000 listeners over its 8 hours
across various streaming platforms. ("Coalchella" because in
Minecraft one mines coal, among other minerals. Just go with
it.)
Credit:
@nolongerkai
The free festival required nothing more than a Minecraft account
to attend and drew some big name headliners like ANAMANAGUCHI and Electric Mantis. The musical lineup
came together somewhat serendipitously—in an interview with
the blog Melting of Age, one of Coalchella's creators
and Thwip Gang collaborator, Umru Rothenberg said, "It was a very
random process of just asking whatever friends came to mind or
saying 'this person would be cool' and checking if anyone was
mutuals with them."
After entering, festival goers arrived at the stage of their
choosing -- REDBLOCKS or BEDROCKS -- and tuned into a livestream on
the broadcast audio website Mixlr. Just like IRL, when the
performer's avatar took the stage, the crowd of block people burst
into life and the music started. The digital attendees then started
dancing and the in-game chat flooded with commentary about the
concert.
Here's a first-person view of the scene:
As if a full-scale two-stage concert "venue" isn't enough, the
Thwip Gang also scattered brands and logos thoughout the virtual
site. An IHOb restaurant, a giant Bass Pro Shops Pyramid, and an
overhead IKEA blimp were among those featured. Only there was a
catch: None of the brands knew their logos were being used for the
event -- they were mostly plastered around Minecraft as cultural
touchstones.
Ad Age reached out to some of the brands referenced in the
festival. Stephanie Peterson, head of communications and
merchandise at IHOP said, "We're thrilled that our fans got in on
the fun and took it to a new level, creating an epic virtual IHOb
restaurant in Minecraft." A spokesperson for Bass Pro Shops added,
"Virtual worlds are interesting but our primary goal is to inspire
everyone to get outside and connect with nature."
At this stage at least, the advertisements are mostly
tongue-in-cheek—but having actual sponsor messages is not
completely out of the question—and now they have
proof-of-concept.
"What will always be most important to me is…that
[brands] are not influencing, openly or otherwise, what I am
experiencing in any way," says co-organizer Robin Boehlen, "We can
coexist with brands without them becoming controlling."
Co-organizer Braden Wolfe adds "preserving that [grassroots]
presence is really important to what we're trying to accomplish;
creating a universally accessible music event free of region or
monetary restriction."
None of the artists actually paid (or were paid) to play. "All
of our impressions were purely organic and the results are a
testament to the importance of putting forward unique, inclusive
ideas," explains Max Schramp, one of the festival's organizers.
Here's a sample of some of the buzz surrounding the event:
Rothenberg was thrilled by the response and contributed the
success of the event to the Internet's ability to bring people
together, both physically and virtually. "Most of us grew up with
the internet as a major part of our lives and personally some of my
best friends are people I met on Soundcloud and Twitter. An event
like this where so many of us from all over the world could hang
out together alongside our favorite artists in a virtual space is a
literal dream for this kind of community."
