The Metaverse Nightclub Scene

It’s fascinating to see virtual nightclubs grow into a viable use case for the metaverse. RAVE SPACE is Berlin's first fully browser-based virtual 3D nightclub. Although they only offer periodic raves a few times a year, seeing their success inspired me to research this market further.

Tomorrow, I’ll publish a short story about clubbing in the Metaverse. For today, here’s some of my research on this fascinating metaverse interest.

Sound of Life covers a brief history and overview of the VR concert and club scene. They document clubs in VRChat like Rizumu and Loner Online, which attract thousands of people to their events. It remains one of the most popular activities in VRChat. In contrast, Beatrice Tamagno explored how cloud clubbing in the metaverse has materialized in China.

Digital Trends looks at the culture of VR clubs and why people are interested in going there.

Want to see what it’s like to experience a metaverse nightclub? These YouTube videos will give you a sense:

• I Went Clubbing in Virtual Reality: Raves of VRChat
• Inside the underground Parties of the Metaverse
• I went in clubbing in VR and it was wild
• Metaverse Music Festival 2022 Day 3

Content from metaverse clubbers has spread across TikTok, with the term “Metaverse Bar Scene” garnering 3.2B views. One of the more viral videos was this metaverse bar fight.

The clubs themselves are just one aspect of this hobby. Dust Bunny runs a dance academy in VRChat, teaching people how to move their avatars to the beat. TribeXR runs a series of virtual DJ workshops with actual DJs.

One of our Everydays members, DJ SKEE, expressed to me how this changes the accessibility of learning to DJ. What once cost thousands of dollars to start can now be achieved with a headset, realistic simulations, and $40 software. By decreasing the cost of up-starting, we’re changing the dynamic of who can become a successful DJ.

Outside of the virtual clubs, Decentraland hosted its Metaverse Music Festival last week, which featured dozens of metaverse-native performers, musicians, and clubs. The Doll House, Bootsy Bellows, and Rage are a few of the Decentraland nightclubs.

Meanwhile, while most metaverse nightclubs exist just for the passion of the interest, Meta Night Club has created an economy for its 4 metaverse nightclubs through NFTs. They use the NFTs to allow people to share in the clubs' profits and access premiere experiences (like bottle service).

Overall, clubbing is one of the more established corners of the metaverse. It’s clear that there’s a habitual community that views metaverse club life as a part of their identity. Thus, it’s a metaverse vertical I’ll continue to watch closely for inspiration.