MARINA DEL REY, Calif., July 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Entertainment tech startup Virtuosica, Inc. has launched the beta version of its first product, the Virtuosica virtual concert platform.
The marketplace connects audiences, or virtual event hosts and their guests, with everything from discovery and hiring of musicians on the platform to performance agreements, secure payment processing, and live streaming of the performances from anywhere in the world to any non-commercial venue in the United States.
“The beta version of the platform right now is like any public performance of a great new piece – the notes you miss are sometimes as important as the notes you hit,” Radisic, Virtuosica co-founder and COO, explains. “And, by that, I mean there were dozens of issues to work out to make this thing work. We’ll likely be in perpetual beta as we continue to add new features for audiences to experience live music in a way that was almost unimaginable just a few years ago.”
One of those issues were music rights for live virtual performances. Copyrighted materials, such as song lyrics and compositions, require permission from the author to be used or performed and obtaining such permission can be complex and costly. Most working musicians, small venues, and privately organized events have difficulty accessing those catalogs.
“We are so grateful to the major performance rights organizations for bearing with us during the months of back and forth emails and calls as we explained what Virtuosica does,” Founder and CEO Warren E. Peterson, a Juilliard-trained pianist himself, recounts. “We now have contracts in place with BMI and ASCAP, which together manage rights to over 33 million songs and compositions. This means performances on Virtuosica are covered for well over 90% of musical works in the U.S. market, along with any original works by the the artists performing on Virtuosica, and anything in the public domain as we continue to work with the remaining PROs to incorporate their catalogs as well.”
Early beta access to the Virtuosica platform is now available at virtuosica.com.
