Virtual idols: The future of music?

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🎤 Virtual Idols: The Future of Music? | How Technology is Changing the Industry  From Hatsune Miku filling stadiums to VTubers dominating streaming platforms, virtual idols have become one of the most fascinating revolutions in modern entertainment. In this video, we explore how AI, holograms, and digital personas are transforming the music industry — and what it means for real artists, producers, and fans.  We’ll break down how Japan pioneered this phenomenon, how Vocaloid culture evolved, and why companies like Sony, Hololive, and Nijisanji are betting big on digital celebrities. Are virtual idols the next step in music… or just a passing trend?  🎶 In this video, you’ll learn:   The origins and evolution of virtual idols  The impact of AI and holographic technology on music  The business behind VTubers and Vocaloid concerts  How digital performers are reshaping pop culture worldwide  💬 Question: Would you attend a concert with no real artist on stage? Let us know in the comments!

Transcript

00:00Can you imagine a world where your favorite pop star isn't even human?

00:04They sell out concerts, top the charts, and have millions of adoring fans,

00:09all without breathing or stepping on stage.

00:13This isn't a science fiction script.

00:15It's already happening today with virtual idols.

00:18As Rest of World magazine points out,

00:20the metaverse is rewriting the rules of who can be a K-pop star.

00:25Indeed, these new digital artists are amassing powerful global fandom.

00:30Although behind their avatars,

00:32there are always human engineers and artists bringing the magic to life.

00:35In this video, we document how this phenomenon emerged from Hatsune Miku to KDA and beyond,

00:42what technology makes it possible,

00:44and why the entertainment world is watching it with fascination and some skepticism.

00:49Virtual performers have been around since the late 20th century,

00:52but the big leap forward came with a combination of CGI and synthesized voice.

00:58In 1988, South Korea already had Atom, the first K-pop virtual idol.

01:05In 1996, Japan saw the emergence of the first virtual personality called Kyoko Date,

01:11followed in 1997 by Yuki Terai.

01:14These were merely pioneering experiments in computer graphics.

01:18The Vocaloid singing platform, Voice Synthesizer, appeared in 2004,

01:23and a few years later, Hatsune Miku, 2007, was launched,

01:28an ingenious voice program with the appearance of a 16-year-old girl with long turquoise pigtails.

01:34In 2024, Hatsune Miku continued to give holographic concerts in Japan,

01:40a testament to the technical evolution since its inception as software in 2007.

01:45Hatsune Miku marked a turning point.

01:48She has no real physical form,

01:50but has performed thousands of songs and has fans all over the world.

01:55Her debut took place on August 31, 2007,

01:59on the Japanese website Niko Niko Dauga,

02:02with several original compositions uploaded that same week.

02:06From there, fans in Japan, and then globally,

02:10began to create their own content.

02:12Musical compositions, illustrations, and videos featuring Miku.

02:17Krypton Future Media, her creator company,

02:20responded by launching the PiaPro platform,

02:22a portal for sharing creations and lyrics,

02:25thus fostering a participatory and supportive community.

02:29Miku became an icon.

02:31She lit up stadiums with holographic concerts, for example,

02:35in Tokyo and at the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,

02:38and collaborated with real artists.

02:40Her success proved that a synthetic singer could ignite passions comparable to those of a real idol.

02:48Throughout those years, other notable digital idols emerged.

02:52In 2011, streamer Ami Yamato was one of the first to make vlogs with a CGI avatar,

02:58but the Real International explosion came in 2016 with Kizuna AI.

03:03This Japanese virtual YouTuber debuted in November 2016 and quickly amassed millions of subscribers on YouTube and Bilibili.

03:13Kizuna promoted herself as artificial intelligence that knows she is virtual

03:18and became the first modern VTuber, a term she herself popularized.

03:23Her channel, AI Channel, was the first massive case of digital entertainment,

03:29talks, gameplays, and even virtual concerts.

03:32Kizuna proved that avatars could generate content as entertaining as any human star,

03:38cementing the era of VTubers.

03:41Around the same time, in 2018,

03:44Riot Games, developer of the video game League of Legends,

03:47launched KDA, a virtual K-pop group consisting of animated versions of four characters from a game,

03:53Ahri, Akali, Evelyn, and Kaisa.

03:57Their debut was spectacular.

03:59They presented pop stars at the LOL World Championship with a live augmented reality show.

04:04The music video for that song surpassed 100 million views in a month and topped the Billboard charts.

04:11Riot's original idea was to promote new skins, visual aspects for the game,

04:16but KDA took off beyond the gaming community.

04:19It became a global success, achieving platinum certification in the US and international tours.

04:261996, Kyoko Date, Japan.

04:29First virtual personality via CGI.

04:331997, Yuki Terai, Japan.

04:37Another pioneering avatar.

04:382004, launch of Vocaloid, voice synthesis software.

04:43First Vocaloid was Hatsune Miku in 2007.

04:472007, debut of Hatsune Miku, Japan.

04:52Breaks the mold as a virtual idol.

04:542011, Ami Amado, US, Japan.

04:58Popularized vlogs with CGI avatars.

05:01PrevTuber.

05:022016, debut of Kizuna AI, Japan.

05:06First globally massive VTuber.

05:092018, debut of K-slash-DA, Korea-slash-USA.

05:15Virtual K-pop group.

05:16Pop stars exceeds 100 million views.

05:202021 to 2023, birth of 100% digital idols, such as Apokey, Eternity in Asia,

05:27and fully virtual K-pop groups.

05:29Re, Revolution, Plave, Eisejai Idol.

05:342020s onwards.

05:35Leap into the metaverse.

05:36VR concerts, virtual collaborations, and live broadcasts on global platforms.

05:42Tel Aviv, Fortnite.

05:44Each milestone took advantage of a technological breakthrough.

05:48First CGI graphics, then motion capture,

05:51to transfer the dancing of real dancers to digital avatars.

05:54AI voice synthesis.

05:56Vocaloid and machine learning techniques.

05:58And now virtual-slash-augmented reality.

06:01Holographic concerts, and immersive environments.

06:03Today, thanks to powerful 3D game engines and global social networks,

06:09millions can interact with these characters through screens and avatars in real time.

06:14Virtual YouTuber, Kizuna AI, debuted in 2016 and became the internet's first animated superstar,

06:22with channels amassing millions of subscribers.

06:25Her success launched the VTuber phenomenon.

06:28In South Korea, the wave went even further.

06:32Starting in 2021, 100% synthetic K-pop groups emerged.

06:37For example, Rii, Revolution, and Plave, virtual boy bands,

06:43and Isogai Idol and Maeve, girl groups,

06:46have garnered tens of thousands of followers on streaming platforms.

06:50Behind each member is an artist wearing a motion capture suit or AI systems that define faces and voices.

06:58With catchy songs and visually spectacular shows, these groups are filling stadiums.

07:03In May 2025, Isogai Idol sold tickets for 16,500 people at the Gochiak Sky Dome Stadium in Seoul,

07:12which sold out in minutes.

07:13Simultaneously, Plave has already toured Asia, sold 570,000 copies of its first album in a week,

07:20and racked up millions of online views in a few days.

07:24Virtual avatars of a new K-pop boy band, Rii, Revolution, as seen in the metaverse.

07:31Behind them are real artists in a studio who transmit every movement through dance capture.

07:37These idols are emerging at the height of the technological boom.

07:40In Korea, companies such as Metaverse Entertainment are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in developing them.

07:48The pandemic triggered this.

07:50With human artists unable to perform, there was a huge demand for digital entertainment,

07:56explains Kim Ki-duk, head of a virtual humans department.

08:00Today, virtual groups are profitable.

08:02A webtoon by Isogai Idol generated $3 million in revenue.

08:07At a festival, they organized an outdoor event, sold 10,000 tickets in 8 minutes,

08:13and gathered 20,000 fans in a weekend.

08:16By comparison, in normal K-pop, selling 10,000 tickets in 8 minutes is epic.

08:22Seen from a virtual concert in Seoul, thousands of fans with their lights fill the stadium,

08:28while an animated group sings their hit song.

08:30This image illustrates the commercial success of digital idols in practice.

08:35The transition from pioneering experiments to these digital superstars would be unthinkable

08:41without today's technology.

08:43Motion capture.

08:45Mo-cap real artists are dressed in sensors in the studio,

08:48and their gestures and dance moves are transferred in real time to their avatars.

08:53This achieves convincing routines.

08:56For example, the virtual K-pop group play was designed this way.

09:00Each virtual member is controlled by real singers during live broadcasts, 3D graphics, and AI.

09:08Modern video game engines can render virtual scenes and people with realistic quality instantly.

09:14In addition, artificial intelligence and neural networks make it possible to generate faces,

09:20movements, and voices from scratch.

09:22The group Maeve, created with advanced CGI.

09:25According to its developers, they used AI for some models,

09:30but relied on 3D technology because they were uncomfortable with purely automatic results.

09:36In general, techniques are combined.

09:39AI for general design, artists to polish details,

09:43so that the final result is as human as possible.

09:46C4D facer for facial expressions.

09:48The latest vocaloids and AI-generated synthetic voices,

09:53text-to-speech trained with real singers,

09:56allow the creation of complete songs with synchronized voices.

09:59Hatsune Miku was born as a digital voice bank.

10:03Today, technologies have advanced so much that companies are experimenting with voice clones

10:08of celebrities or fictional singers generated by computers.

10:12Presentations are no longer just 2D holograms.

10:15KDA's debut in 2018 was a spectacular augmented reality show at the LOL Stadium.

10:22Now there are concerts in virtual worlds, metaverses,

10:26where attendees participate with their avatars.

10:29Streaming platforms allow fans to coexist with their idols in a 3D space,

10:35from live chats to full VR shows.

10:37The convergence of 5G networks, VR glasses,

10:41and cloud rendering facilitates large-scale immersive experiences.

10:45Last but not least, these idols are born in the era of virality.

10:50Their content spreads globally in seconds.

10:53Fans around the world collaborate by translating their videos,

10:57creating fan art and memes, and competing in dance challenges.

11:02This online ecosystem fuels their popularity much faster than traditional media could.

11:08As the Vocaloid phenomenon shows, fans act as prosumers.

11:12They generate content that amplifies the artists themselves.

11:17Virtual idols raise profound questions about the future of entertainment.

11:22For the industry, they represent a strategic opportunity.

11:26As one specialized media outlet comments,

11:29Today, some companies are allocating substantial resources to developing digital idols

11:34because they have demonstrated a potential to establish themselves permanently in global markets.

11:40In commercial terms, it is already a multi-million dollar and growing business.

11:45According to one report, the K-pop concert market will double in value between 2021 and 2031.

11:52In Korea, hundreds of millions are even being invested in virtual reality and digital characters.

11:59Major entertainment agencies are now creating divisions dedicated exclusively to these groups.

12:04Their designs can be reused indefinitely without worrying about injuries, contracts, or dips in popularity.

12:12On the other hand, doubts and challenges arise.

12:16Do fans connect with something authentic if everything is virtual?

12:21Some critics say that these idols can seem strange and superficial

12:25because they lack the human experience behind them.

12:28In addition, the artists who manage them face double pressure.

12:32According to Rest of World, their real identities often remain hidden,

12:37exposing them to doxing or extreme cyberbullying.

12:41Maintaining the perfect illusion on social media is exhausting.

12:45And there is legal uncertainty.

12:47Who owns the rights to an AI-generated voice or performance?

12:52What is the contractual relationship with a character whose face and personality can be changed virtually?

12:58Despite everything, their defenders argue that the core of pop,

13:03creating inspiring images and entertainment, remains unchanged.

13:08As the head of Metaverse Entertainment in Korea explains,

13:11the goal of the idol is to give positive energy to the audience, whether virtual or real.

13:17And digital idols have unique advantages.

13:20They don't get tired.

13:21They don't age.

13:22They have no geographical or time constraints.

13:25They can appear simultaneously at events in Japan, the U.S., and Brazil, thanks to global broadcasts.

13:32They can quickly reinvent their image, changing their look, gender, or concept with a few clicks.

13:38In short, they offer companies an unlimited creative canvas, without the traditional human logistics.

13:45But are they just a passing fad, or do they herald the future of music?

13:49Recent data suggests that we are moving beyond a simple experiment.

13:53In just a few years, these characters are already leading high-profile projects.

13:59Their songs are reaching international charts, their concerts are selling out,

14:03and their merchandising is generating millions.

14:06Movies, commercials, and video games also feature them.

14:10For example, Hatsune Miku sang in television commercials,

14:14and Kizuna AI was an ambassador for cities.

14:16In the metaverse, even real stars collaborate with them or participate in shared concerts.

14:23Ariana Grande gave a virtual concert in Fortnite, showing that the idea appeals to everyone.

14:30As an example of the current power of these artists,

14:32it is worth noting that the webtoon Isogai Idol earned its production company $3 million

14:37and sold 10,000 tickets in minutes for a show, bringing together 20,000 fans in total.

14:44Another virtual band, Plave, sold 570,000 albums on its debut

14:49and garnered nearly 10 million views on its music video in a fortnight.

14:54These numbers show that musician avatars are already commercial phenomena in their own right.

15:00In short, virtual idols do not seem like a mere technological fad.

15:05They combine the passion of fandom with digital scalability.

15:09As technology advances, more realistic AI, 6G networks, more immersive metaverses,

15:16their presence in the industry will likely grow.

15:19However, they are unlikely to completely replace human talent.

15:23Rather, they will coexist with flesh-and-blood artists.

15:27What is clear is that they have opened up a new dimension.

15:30Music is now experienced in hybrid forms between the real and the virtual.

15:35Whether this redefines or expands what we understand by music star

15:39remains to be seen in the coming years.

15:42For artists and fans, the question remains,

15:45could your next favorite idol be an avatar in a digital world?

15:49Today, the answer is still under construction.

15:51Music

15:53Music

16:09Music

16:09For more information, visit www.fema.org

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