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It's a pretty short reference to Melody in the article. It says :
'The high-end output of MelodyVR whose customers don headsets to watch gigs in virtual reality, makes it well equipped to step up during the crisis according to founder, Anthony Matchett. The company has worked with more than 600 artists including Liam Payne, Emeli Sande, Frank Carter and The Streets.
"It is challenging to ask people to pay to watch you perform in your kitchen, but it's probably not as challenging to watch what is basically a show-level production." says Matchett.
"In a world where people aren't touring, you need to deliver as high quality output as possible and there is the appetite and interest from artists" he adds. "Not in the immediate short-term, but certainly as the year progresses and we come out of more isolation based restrictions. It's going to be a while until tours get back on the road so the appetite is definitely going to grow as the year progresses"
This may not be the news everyone wants to hear but I can understand the logic. So many artists are live streaming for free right now, Melody would not stand to do well if it offered low quality content at a premium price.
It sounds to me as though the restrictions mean that they are not currently able to produce content that fits their business model and will, therefore, wait until such a time that it is for the necessary staff/infrastructure to be in place before attempting to do so.
Why did they mention these 3 venues? How does that fit in with the above? I think that's quite hard to say. I can't see a way that a carousel of artists performing at a fixed venue in London is compatible with current government guidelines.
It is likely to be quite a while before concerts in stadiums restart. It looks like Melody have identified a sweet spot between then and now. Too soon and the production value won't be what it needs to be. Too late and they'd have missed a great opportunity to assert themselves in the market. From Matchett's comments, it sounds like he's expecting a significant enough window between the initial restrictions (end of May?) and the full resumption of concerts (2021?).
For anyone who thinks this is not the right way to go, I'd be curious to know how Melody could be in a position to generate high quality content with the current restrictions.
I hope I'm proved wrong about the 3 venues but I don't imagine any artist will be able to perform from them until the current restrictions are lifted.
You may not know the appeal of live electronic music BrownAdder but it is one of the only genres where live sets are currently broadcast to people all around the world (though not yet in VR).
Boiler room has been going for almost 10 years now and some of their content gets millions of views - https://youtu.be/vy-k0FopsmY
Melody was at the closing party at Space with none other than Carl Cox (as featured in the video above). It's definitely a good idea to not underestimate this genre as the kind of people who'll be at these parties will be the early tech adopters Melody can expect to splash out on one of the premium headsets for the ultimate experience
Great find Sharebuy. Interesting to see the O2 logo on one of the images. That could be in relation to the O2 arena or maybe it's a nod to the fact that O2 are the telecoms company that Melody has said they're working with.
@Parislee, that is not a google cardboard logo. That image is what needs to be clicked in order to toggle between the 360 video and VR. The FAQs state that a range of mobile viewers can be used (not just a google cardboard):
'With a mobile viewer such as Destek, Merge VR or Google Cardboard, you can turn 360 degree video into an even more immersive virtual reality experience!'
Viewers will be able to watch the content like they'd watch a normal video or tap that icon and it will switch to VR. To get an idea of what I mean, watch this clip that Melody produced a couple of years ago on a mobile - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8zGYocbHIw. You should see the same icon which will switch you from flat mode to VR mode.
Two extra little clues that don't seem to have been picked up on. Not necessarily hugely significant but worth pointing out nonetheless.
Firstly, we can see from the now broken link that it will be a beta app that will be released. Whilst the FAQs look as though the mobile app will be pretty feature rich, it's worth remembering that what we're about to see will be in a constant state of evolution over the next few months. What we're about to see could be limited in some way like the Oculus app. The fact that live is explicitly mentioned in the faq makes me think that's just around the corner. It would make sense to wait for mobile before going full throttle with live.
The second observations may be more interesting. If you read this passage carefully, you'll see it mentions new mobile applicationS'. Will there be one for theatre and one for music?
Couldn't that all be done through one app? What do they have up their sleeves?
https://twitter.com/cavemanlc/status/1140713708877955073?s=09
Without meaning to be condescending, I think you may have misunderstood a couple of things so I'll try and explain why I think it's reasonable to be very positive about Melody right now..
Firstly, you mention how sold out shows aren't possible when nobody has heard of MelodyVR. This is your first mistake. The sold out shows aren't sold out to Melody customers. Rather they're sold out in the physical locations where the events will take place. Where Melody comes into this is it is able to offer potentially infinite extra capacity for these events and provide an alternative for those who are not able to attend the show in person.
The fact that no-one you know owns a VR headset isn't anything to worry about. Melody are launching on mobile imminently. We know this because their FAQ page is written in the present tense (https://melodyvr.com/mobile-help-faqs/):
'We are available in full Virtual Reality on our Oculus app, and now we’ve made it even easier to access the artists you love anytime, anywhere with our brand new mobile app, all in stunningly immersive 360.'
AM has previously stated in an interview that he is conscious of the fact that whilst VR is undoubtedly building momentum, there will be a period of time where Melody could benefit from offering their app to people without headsets or only with cheap headsets. This will act as a gateway to bring people to the more expensive, more immersive Oculus/Samsung experience.
To everyone who complains about the speed of progress, it's worth remembering a couple of things. Firstly, Melody is, relatively speaking, a very small company. They have about 75 employees and do not have the financial clout of huge tech companies who can spend millions on marketing. They have very deliberately chosen to hold back their content and marketing. They are saving it for a time when they think it will make the biggest splash in the market.
Everything that Melody has delivered has been top quality. I could understand people being unhappy if they'd tried to launch a product and failed or if a huge advertising campaign had bombed. But the absence of new content is not an accident. They haven't forgotten to advertise the product. These are calculated decisions and are fully justified in my view.
The emergence of 5G internet is going to be game changing for VR. When Sky start broadcasting football in VR, this will do Melody's job for them of bringing people to this technology.
As I see it, no false promises have been made. Timescales have been revised but I'm convinced this has always been for strategic reasons.
I think what some people need to realise is that Melody has created two new markets that didn't previously exist. It's not like they're trying to broadcast sports in VR (sports broadcasting already exists), in broadcasting music and theatre, they're creating two brand new markets and opening up potentially enormous revenue streams.
Patience, patience, patience.
Who knows if there's anything in those rumours.
That being said, the timing for such an announcement would make sense. Festivals don't come much bigger than Glastonbury and Melody has already hinted about a relationship with them in the past:
https://twitter.com/melodyvirtual/status/997509178322235392
Melody has 70+ festival partners that will be revealed at some point in the not too distant future. Soon you won't be able to go to a festival without seeing Melody's cameras there.
Can someone check if the Melodyvr.com page is loading for them? I've tried on different devices and it doesn't seem to working. An indicator of changes to come?
I think the problem with some investors is either a lack of imagination or a lack of understanding about where VR functionality is heading over the next 5 years
The mobile app will only ever be a bridge to what Melody will ultimately deliver. You can see what the content will look like by watching the teasers on Melody's YouTube page. Users will be able to manually move around a video using the controls on screen but the experience will ultimately be pretty similar to watching a regular flat video.
That's not to say that that's not exciting. Boiler room gets millions of streams for its content and it's fair to say that Melody works with some far more mainstream artists then boiler room does. The question is whether Melody's deals with the labels cover what is effectively regular video streaming or whether they will only allow for VR streams.
Anyway, the exciting stuff is really yet to come with VR. With 5G, latency will fall dramatically. This, far more than speed, will radically change the VR experience and make it immeasurably more immersive than it is today.
The size of the headsets will fall as more processing can take place in the cloud and 6dof will radically transform Melody's experiences too.
Melody has launched a product that works and been shrewd with their finances so as to not blow their marketing budget on something that they know is only a fraction of what they'll soon be able to offer.
As the technology advances, more functionality will be added to Melody's app. Why didn't Oculus go all out on advertising for the Go? Why hasn't Sky gone all out for VR sports? Why hasn't Melody gone all out with its marketing/social media? Because there's so much more to come and they're all saving themselves for when the content is really worth shouting about
If people try a VR headset and feel nauseous, they might never try one again. If people buy a headset and are let down by the image quality, they may never buy one again.
The real push to take VR into the mainstream is not far away. But it will only happen when the hardware providers are confident that people's first experience in VR won't be their last.
How long that will be is anyone's guess. But it's coming and Melody are very well placed to be a big part of that.
'Exciting news coming soon making it easy for everyone to enjoy the shows'
We know that mobile is coming in 2019 and I reckon that tweet means it's just round the corner. What a great way to bring melody to the masses while VR adoption continues to gather pace.
The last RNS revealed far more than the headline figures people have focused on and some key elements to what they announced seem to have gone unnoticed.
Let's start with the fact that Melody is working with a telecoms company. Given that they have alluded to the fact that they are looking into a subscription model and that they plan to launch on mobile in 2019, this tie up is worth paying attention to. Could they have a tie-up with, say, vodafone who will offer Melody as part of a bundle in the way they offer Sky/Spotify?
They said that their 'licensing agreements provide for various monetisation models'. This is important as it keeps their options open. We are yet to see what many of these monetisation models looks like but it is important that they have not boxed themselves in with restrictions that could have come about through rushed agreements.
For those bemoaning the lack of communication, they could not have been clearer about the reasons for their patient strategy:
'Where others have scaled operations in anticipation of mass market appeal, our measured expansion has allowed us to conserve valuable cash resources, preserve agility and capitalise on our first mover advantage in this young and embryonic industry.'
If some people on this board had their way, Melody would have splurged all their cash reserves on a TV advertising campaign in 2016. This would have had limited traction in a market that was not ready.
Instead, Melody have so much up their sleeve but know that an expensive false start is not an option.
As the Quest has shown, the technology is moving quickly. Melody's offering is only going to improve and the tech will soon do justice to the strength of their concept.
Melody will reveal the new functionality etc when it is ready. No amount of doom-saying on this board will change that.
My question is what were people honestly expecting from the financial results today?
Melody has barely 10% of the artists its worked with on its platform, has not yet started to offer live streams, the bespoke experiences or any social elements to their app. They have not yet started to benefit from advertising revenues, from launching in more territories or on more headsets.
So all things considered, the revenue numbers are fantastic. I agree with a previous poster that the majority of these revenues are from sponsorship rather than content but that is hardly surprising when Melody has so little content on sale.
As far as I can see, these results are the best anyone could have hoped for and the RNS spells out perfectly the reason for their gradual roll out.
No-one would judge the success or failure of a movie by looking at how much revenue it's trailer generated on YouTube.
We are in exactly the same position. The content currently being offered by melody is such a small fraction of what they will eventually offer, it blows my mind that anyone could have expected more from their revenues this year .
The decision to hold back their full package has been a carefully considered one as they wait for the market and the technology to catch up with them. Their cash reserves are not enough to allow for any false dawns.
Their strategy requires patience but I want the first time that people experience Melody to be truly immersive and for there not to be any complaints about image quality etc. Quite simply, the Go was not the headset that Melody should have staked its reputation on so it used it as a testing platform whilst it held back the majority of its services for future devices.
It's not nice to look at the share price as it is but I will only judge the company's success or failure once it has fully launched, not whilst it's in the embryonic phase.
Scaling up is going to happen this year but it is going to be measured and restrained. There are lots of existing developments on the horizon. Those with patience will enjoy the ride. Those who want to get rich quick might find themselves frustrated.
As much as I'd like Melody's inclusion on the quest to be conclusively confirmed, Sharebuy has posted two sources and neither contains anything that can offer such assurances.
The first is an amateur looking website that could have been made by anyone and the second simply links the first.
I think January's RNS means Melody will at some point appear on the device but it may not be one of the launch apps.
To be clear, I'm not saying Melody definitely won't be on the Quest at launch, I'm just saying that until we have official confirmation, it's worth remaining open to possibly that it might not be.
As much as I'm hoping we get some big reveal at the F8 conference, I don't think that there are any guarantees we'll get one.
On the one hand, Melody's tie up with facebook would make an announcement a possibility but, looking at the schedule, there's nothing specifically mentioned about music and VR. Besty 123's link shows they'll be looking at AR and music rather than VR and, unless Melody features in one of the keynotes, it's hard to see where else it will be scheduled throughout the day. It could be possible that Melody is expanding into AR - it's been hinted at before so we'll have to see.
I'll be watching eagerly but I hope no-one feels too let down if there isn't an announcement. An announcement hasn't been promised and we're really just guessing that one will be forthcoming.
If an announcement does come, I'm hoping it will not only show Melody on the Quest but that it will also feature the new version of the app with the increased functionality that was alluded to in a previous RNS.
As much as I'm waiting with baited breath for the F8 conference like everyone else, I think it's worth considering that the Quest is not exactly likely a mass market device. It will undoubtedly add functionality that can be exploited by Melody but as far as increasing their user base, I'd imagine that cheaper headsets will be more helpful for that.
I can't help but feel there is something else holding things back - maybe Facebook plans to launch an updated video streaming service to their platform that Melody would be part of. I think the F8 conference will be significant but maybe not for reasons we currently imagine....
Seeing Jamie Carragher using the VR headset on Sky sports got me thinking. The technology currently exists for football to broadcast in VR. We've seen it used by the BBC at the world cup with pretty decent results.
So why haven't Sky sports (who are usually at the forefront of technological advances) followed suit? True, they do have a VR app with some limited content but they've held back from broadcasting live games and really committing to VR.
Sound familiar? There's been a lot of talk about the relationship between Facebook and Melody but for the time being, I think we can learn something about what looks to me like pretty similar strategies from Melody and Sky when it comes to the gradual, incremental role out of their VR content. Both are currently only at a fraction of where we all know they will end up at.
So why the wait? Well, I've said it before but I think Zuckerburg, Sky and the MelodyVR team are fully aware that they can't afford false starts. When they really go for it, they don't want people complaining about low resolution etc. I think it makes perfect sense to assume their priority since launch has not been global expansion but rather continued product refinement. We know the product is ready so what else would they be waiting for?
I think the Quest will undoubtedly take the Melody experience forward significantly so perhaps that's what they're waiting for. Both Sky and Melody have the content. They're just waiting patiently for the hardware to catch up before they go all guns blazing. With the F8 conference round the corner, we shouldn't be far away from news. And given facebook's previous commitments to Melody, I think we can reasonably expect Melody to be the non-gaming app at the front and centre when it comes to the launch of the Quest.
My take on the journey of the share price is that it has followed the classic asset bubble pattern.
https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=9035
In other words, the share started around 0.75p for some time before the first 'take off' point that came with the first signing with the major labels. This took the price from around 3.8p to 7/8p and attracted the attention of the media/investors out to make a quick buck. As the hype grew towards launch and the media attention reached a crescendo, the price maxed out at 18p.
I think it's fair to say that whilst there is clearly huge underlying value in what Melody is offering, it is still unproven when it comes to revenue generation. So once investors realised we are at the beginning rather than the end of the journey and that the big payoffs will take years rather than weeks, the bubble burst and put us to where are now.
Put simply, investors have realised they can move their money to other shares that will offer them a quicker return than Melody. It isn't to say that Melody has failed in any way or that it is not going to return to its all time highs (and beyond) at some point in the future - only that, until Melody moves into all systems go, people would rather be making money elsewhere.
Should the current share price matter? Well, it's not nice to look at but Melody should be commended for raising funds whilst the share price was almost at an all time high. You can be sure they will have no intention to raise funds again until we are close/past to those levels. So given that the next raise might come in 12 months from now, that's when I'd be targeting to be back up towards those highs.
Festival season is nearly upon us as is the launch of the Quest. It seems likely that Melody will be featured heavily in the launch of the Quest and that the picture come ~May 1st (Quest launch) will be very different from today.
Sharebuy, the Abba show has been discussed here several times. I am 99% sure that it is nothing to do with MelodyVR.
For a start, the Abba show is not even going to be in virtual reality! There will be virtual hologram style avatars but it will be nothing like the kind of truly VR content Melody has released to date. It is being produced by the BBC and NBC and will be broadcast by the BBC. Look how it's going to work - it has nothing to do with virtual reality (https://www.graphicnews.com/en/pages/38425/ENTERTAINMENT-ABBAs-mysterious-Abbatars-revealed_infographic)
It is going to be a 'global TV event' (not for headsets). The only real connection is that Simon Fuller is behind the Abba project and is working with Melody. But that is a very tenuous connection as he is undoubtedly working on countless projects that are completely independent from each other. I can't see how Melody fits into this.
Lejjb, I think it's hard to judge if the offering has improved because we haven't seen all of it yet.
We've heard a lot about how Melody are working on bespoke VR experiences. There's one with Liam Payne where you can drive in a car with him. They've previously said that these bespoke experiences will make up 50% of the business.
Until we see one of these, it will be hard to judge. From the sounds of things, though, these experiences will be much more 'must watch' than the library of pre-recorded content.
We know that the live streaming worked and was good quality and that they've said they'll be live streaming from festivals this summer. So between now and then, we're going to move from test mode to all systems go.
It feels like we're forever saying that things are just around the corner and I'm as frustrated about this as anyone else is but I can see the rationale behind Melody's actions.
The one mistake I think they made was listing on AIM so early in their journey. It must be so tedious to have small time investors barraging them with emails and spamming their social media channels looking for updates and insights. The large investors have no doubt seen Melody in all its glory. Even Niall Horan seems to have used the mobile app with a Samsung Gear.
The benefit of remaining private is that your investors tend to take a longer term view.
For the rest of us, in the absence of concrete updates, we have a simple choice.
Either judge Melody on the successes they've had so far and the promises they've made for what's to come.
Or
Assume the worst (whatever that may be) and sell.