Samsung XR has teamed up with concert livestreaming company LiveXLive Media to provide live augmented reality and virtual reality music experiences on Samsung smartphones.

The two companies say they want to bring immersive technology experiences to music fans worldwide, taking live performances and enabling people to view them in different ways, including as augmented reality images, 360-degree VR videos, volumetric videos, and holograms.

I got a taste of the technology at Samsung’s recent developer conference in San Jose, California, where Samsung XR general manager Paul Kim showed me some demos. In the Samsung XR booth, Tetavi captured my body using volumetric technology and let me view myself in 360 degrees on a Samsung smartphone. LiveXLive Media and Samsung XR will enable similar experiences.

“We’re focusing on distributing immersive content. We think that’s the future,” Kim said in an interview with VentureBeat.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Samsung XR, which has created an app for XR (extended reality, or both VR and AR) and 360 video, delivers content daily and provides access to a big AR/VR content library. With LiveXLive in Samsung XR, viewers will be able to engage with tentpole music events through exciting next-generation technology, including holographics, volumetric video, and on-site augmented reality.

In addition, viewers will have the opportunity to enjoy original long- and short-form VR and 360 content, including pilots and artist collaborations exclusive to LiveXLive.

“Samsung brings huge global scale, as well as multi-platform content delivery options that set up new opportunities,” said Rob Ellin, chair and CEO of LiveXLive, in a statement. “Our work with Samsung will change the rules of how people experience live streaming music.”

Ten exclusive events captured by LiveXLive using Samsung technology will go live on all LiveXLive platforms, where they will be available through an embedded Samsung player. The XR content will be available across all Samsung XR platforms.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

A next-generation live social music platform connecting bands, brands, and fans, LiveXLive has livestreaming rights for more than 1,500 music festivals and events through exclusive, multi-year partnership agreements with prominent music content providers.

The company has livestreamed premier music festivals worldwide, producing more than 291 hours of live content featuring 233 artists since April 2019, and it has created more than 300 short-form original programming segments comprising live performances, podcasts, artist interviews, lifestyle segments, and show pilots.

Kim said he believes 5G wireless technology will enable seamless XR distribution and viewing.

“5G is going to definitely help. 4G really helped YouTube, Netflix, and other streaming services take off. None of us [has] seen video buffering in years now. That used to be a big problem. Similarly, with immersive content, we think that’s one of the drivers for 5G adoption and vice versa,” Kim said.

He added, “One day, you’ll be able to pull out your phone, do a quick capture, and share to your social network. That [idea] seems to do really well with the audience. Hopefully, we’ll have long-duration standalone volumetric content in the future as well.”