Episode 5: What Happens When Music Meets Games: Redefining cultural experiences for the next generation

Listen to the podcast here

Building on its various innovation-led initiatives of the past 12 months, including its groundbreaking Grow Music partnership with London & Partners announced in July, the BPI is excited to release episode two of its BPI Innovation Podcasts.

In this episode, BPI Innovation Manager and Podcast host, Amalie Briden, interviews George George of Regent St Records, and Nick Fellingham of Condense Reality to explore a visionary new tech company that is putting real-world live content into games platforms.

We hear about how the company started out, what its involvement and interest is in the music industry, and why it is so important to drop real-world content into games platforms. Through exploring case studies developed with Regent St Records, we also discuss how indie labels and smaller players in the music industry can benefit from leaning in to emerging tech start-ups, both in terms of generating revenue, reaching new audiences and providing new types of content, but also remaining relevant and helping to shape the future of cultural consumption. Since recording this episode, Condense have signed a deal with BBC, which has seen them create a New Music Portal, allowing emerging artists to perform live gigs with fans joining as an avatar and engaging in real time.

Nick Fellingham has said of this: "This partnership positions BBC audiences at the very forefront of the evolution of what it means to be a music fan in an age where people all over the world can now come together in-game to experience live music. You can attend a gig with your cousin who lives hundreds of miles away and share a real moment with your favourite artist through the New Music Portal."

Airing fortnightly on alternate Thursdays, the BPI Innovation Podcast spotlights the most interesting, innovative ideas being developed across the music industry today. They will look to highlight exciting new technologies that are powering or are being powered by music and by the innovative record labels and start-ups collaborating successfully to shape the future of our industry.

Hosted by BPI's Innovation Manager, Amalie Briden, and produced by the BPI's Laura Bower, each episode will explore a key issue – and the opportunities or challenges that come with this.  It will bring together record label executives and start-up founders, drawn from across the BPI's community of members and partners, to explore their unique perspectives. 

The BPI Innovation Podcast series is designed for anyone working in, or interested in the recorded music industry and the tech start-ups and scale-ups that are shaping meaningful change in how we discover, consume and engage with music.  Listeners can tune in to hear case-studies and real-world examples of how innovation is blossoming in the music industry, and so better understand the types of partnerships that are flourishing between labels and start-ups.