Virtual Reality Check: When Bytes and Pixels Become Platinum Sellers
It’s not like virtual performers are something new. Pioneers in the field were a bunch of animated chipmunks and, by the way, their “The Chipmunk Song,” released in 1958, was the most popular Christmas song of all times until Mariah Carey came around with her holiday audio blockbuster.
Ten years later came The Archies, pretty much the first “band” that existed only on TV screens. Another epically successful virtual artist was Gorillaz, created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. The band has racked up 10 billion streams so far, and is still going strong, currently holding the 165th spot in the list of the most streamed artists of all time. Another classic example is Hatsune Miku, a vocal synthesizer created from samples of voice actress Saki Fujita by Crypton Future Media. It was first released in 2007 by now having over 100,000 released songs and even a highly anticipated collaboration with Fortnite that was announced in January 2025.
And now we have VTubers — virtual YouTube performers who are changing the game. COVER Corporation, a Japanese company recently making moves to the US market, runs 90 of them, and they’ve got 80 million subscribers. That’s a lot of people watching animated characters sing, chat, and play games.
“The Japanese animation market has expanded to $20 billion over the past decade,” says Motoaki Tanigo, CEO of COVER Corporation. “VTubers appeal to anime fans worldwide with their anime-inspired aesthetics. And one advantage (of being a VTuber) is that popularity isn’t tied to physical appearance,” Tanigo points out. “As long as someone has skill and motivation, they can succeed.”
With the expansive popularity of VR artists, we have a lot of new names popping up fast. Some were initially exploding. A good example is Polar, created by TheSoul Publishing (and she actually looks like a cheap rip-off of Hatsune Miku, targeting easily impressionable children) . She went from zero to 1 million TikTok followers in just five months. Now she’s got 6.19 million YouTube subscribers, although recent videos’ are a complete flop.
Especially compared to YouTube uploads from Hatsune Miku, who has half the subscriber count at the moment of writing.
But that’s not the only disaster in the VR artists space. Chad Gerber, platinum-selling artist and a founder of Meloscene, a platform for AR/VR artists’ collaboration has seen quite a few of them: “The US labels’ attempts have been predictably shortsighted and ill-conceived, with their most famous attempt being FN Meka by Capitol, which was a giant ball of racism.”
The money’s flowing in from all directions. According to Gerber, “They approach monetization from as many angles as they like with Twitch tips, merchandise, and overall creator models where they gain attention and fan interaction through several platforms.”
And it seems to be working. According to the polls by Influencer Marketing Hub in 2023 60.4% of respondents from the US said they “used” virtual influencers.
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