YouTube is about to change the future of live music
You're never going to leave your house again. In a good way...
Couldn't make Coachella? Didn't get a Glastonbury ticket? Lift your sulky head and point it in the direction of YouTube.
Having supported 360-degree videos since March 2015, YouTube has now added the ability to live stream immersive video with spacial audio.
By sticking on your headphones and a VR headset - or just scrolling around your desktop screen - and tuning into a live stream 360-degree video, as you turn your head (or move around the screen), both the video and audio will adjust to replicate the experience you'd be having if you were standing in the location of the camera and the microphones.
Sure, it won't turn people way from live music events just now, nor next year. But as VR headsets become slicker and video content reaches higher quality, we'll be edging toward a point where you'll be able to watch a festival in your living room if you can't be there in person.
YouTube announced the launch of the new fancy video tech with a playlist of 'Immersive Videos With Spatial Audio'. If you've got an Android smartphone and VR headset (like Google Cardboard), grab some headphones and prepare to flail around your office/bedroom/bus seat like a toddler on Coke (the drink) as you watch the following music performances, documentaries and fireworks.
It's the future.
