Analysis: ABBA Voyage, the London show performed by 3D avatars of the band created using motion capture, made £322.6M in revenue in the 12 months since May 2022
As other artists see how much money there is to be made I wonder if we'll see such shows from long dead artists …
Context & Ripple Effects
Earlier coverage described ABBA Voyage as a London digital-avatar concert whose producers were planning global expansion. The reported revenue gives that expansion thesis a concrete commercial benchmark rather than leaving it as a novelty proposition.
The result lands as Kiss unveiled touring digital avatars after ending live touring, while a separate Elvis project was announced for London and other cities. Together, the coverage shows established music catalogs testing venue-based digital formats, not merely streamed performances.
First-order effects
- ABBA Voyage’s reported £322.6M revenue establishes a sizable economic outcome for its producers and ABBA’s rights holders from a motion-capture-based concert format.
- The figure strengthens the business case for the previously reported plans to expand the ABBA format globally, subject to whether the model can travel beyond its London run.
Second-order effects
- Artists, estates, and catalog owners now have a clearer reference point when evaluating high-cost avatar productions; projects such as Kiss’s avatars gain a more credible commercial comparator.
- Specialist production partners and destination venues may face more demand for long-running, technology-heavy shows, while promoters must distinguish these experiences from conventional tours and one-off hologram attractions.
Third-order effects
- If comparable projects repeatedly attract sustained ticket demand, live music could shift toward reusable, rights-managed productions that separate an artist’s onstage presence from their ongoing availability.
- That would make control of likeness, performance rights, and creative approval more central to catalog economics, especially for legacy acts and estates.
The trend: Avatar-led concerts are evolving from experimental spectacle into a potential recurring format for monetizing enduring music catalogs and artist likenesses.