UK media start-up Forever launches world’s first voice-interactive digital portrait, featuring music legend Nile Rodgers.
Forever has unveiled In the Room with Nile Rodgers, making history as the world’s first voice-interactive portrait. Developed in association with Universal Music UK and the National Portrait Gallery, with the involvement of Abbey Road Studios, this rich new form of voice-interactive content will enrich audience engagement in culture and entertainment at a pivotal time for the creative industry.
The result of two days of interviews, 350 questions and two 8k 3D film cameras, this innovative and compelling experience enables fans to virtually “meet” Nile Rodgers on multiple platforms, including mobile and desktop, from the comfort of their own homes. Audiences will be able to interact with Rodgers, asking questions and receiving answers from him in real time.
There are few artists as worthy of the title “legend” as Nile Rodgers. Now the multiple GRAMMY Award winning composer, guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and arranger who co-founded Chic in the 1970s and has gone on to work with iconic recording artists has become the first musician to be available for a one-to-one encounter. In the Room with Nile Rodgers allows fans to delve deep into the life and works of this remarkable man, the full extent of whose astonishing career Rolling Stone Magazine described as “hard to fathom”.
The experience includes more than five hours of exclusive high-definition footage with Rodgers, as he chats intimately about his journey in music. Combined with proprietary technology and methods to create a seamless encounter, In the Room gives audiences an experience that is as close as possible to a real meeting.
Available to the public at hereintheroom.com, as well as through the National Portrait Gallery’s website, the experience will enable an audience to ask Rodgers questions about his unique contribution to the music industry such as how he came to work with David Bowie on the classic Let’s Dance, or what it was like working with superstars like Diana Ross, Madonna , Lady Gaga or Daft Punk.
Anyone can try this new experience for free, with access to the full and extended content available with an online pass costing about $27, five percent of which will support the work of the National Portrait Gallery.
Later in the year, the experience will be available as a physical VR exhibition in central London.
“Who I am as a person is really the essence of most of my songs. So I hope this experience will help people understand more about my journey, my life in the music industry, and what I have been trying to say through my music. It gives people I might never get to meet the opportunity to ask me questions and share thoughts in a completely new way. I love this because I believe that at the foundation of music are human connections and a human story that needs to be told,” Rodgers shares.
He continues, “I hope people who know my work really well enjoy some special moments, and people who are new to my work can get a peek into a life in music. If I can share some hope and optimism along the way, then even better!”
“Voice interactive media will completely transform audience experiences across global industries including music, film, sport and education. Forever and its partners are excited to be at the forefront of this new approach to bring remarkable moments to fans and communities,” adds Sarah Coward, CEO Forever Holdings Ltd. “Organizations of all types know that delivering truly engaging new media that can build powerful connections with audiences remotely will be essential to future success in a post-COVID world. Our voice interactive content creates compelling experiences with authenticity at heart.”
In the Room with Niles Rodgers is the first in a series of powerful new media experiences set to enrich audience engagement with culture and entertainment. Operating at the intersection of technology and creativity, the experience pioneers a new form of “conversation” for audiences everywhere.
