How music drives social experiences in virtual reality

As the director of strategic business development at Sansar, Sam Distaso has scaled the platform into the premier social VR live events company. With Twofivesix’s help, he also identified, negotiated, and executed industry-first partnerships with leading EDM record label, Monstercat.

We spoke to him about the challenges of social VR, the potential of the technology, and targeting the elusive gamer audience.

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Here are highlights from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity.

The biggest challenge with live social VR events

“Ironically, one of the challenges in social VR is actually just feeling a heightened sense of energy. And I think this is something that's a social norm that changes. So if you and I go to a concert live, everybody in the audience is going to be chatting or talking with somebody, right? If you go to it virtually, people might have more social anxiety to start talking to random people, and you don't have exactly the exact same sense of awareness.”

How to reach the gamers in your audience

“Twofivesix has a great grasp on how to authentically speak to a really difficult demographic - the gamer. For Sansar, who are we appealing to? Is it a creator? Is it somebody that's really into fashion? Is that somebody that's into esports, comedy, or EDM? Because all of that is in Sansar, so how do you focus and craft the right messaging and think strategically. How do you actually position yourself for longterm success in this ever-changing landscape, which is really difficult? And I think the insights that you really brought to the table and helped us glean were invaluable.”

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