Apple and The Weeknd are bringing an exclusive ‘immersive music experience’ to the Vision Pro. Photo Credit: Kevin Doyle
Apple and The Weeknd are officially bringing “a breathtaking immersive music experience” to the Vision Pro.
A rep for the iPhone developer reached out today with word of that experience, The Weeknd: Open Hearts. While The Weeknd has been an Apple partner for some time – the artist shot his “Dancing in the Flames” music video “entirely” on the iPhone 16 Pro earlier in 2024 – Open Hearts is billed as the first music title “captured in Apple Immersive Video.”
Predictably, given the Vision Pro’s well-documented technical capabilities, this “180-degree media format” is designed “to place viewers in the center of the action” – including with Spatial Audio, per Apple.
Directed by Anton Tammi, the limited-time Vision Pro show will debut on Thursday, November 14th. For those who don’t own the $3,499 headset – an AppleInsider breakdown of analyst estimates has put the Vision Pro’s total Q1-Q3 2024 sales at 370,000 units – Apple Store locations in the U.S., the U.K., and additional countries are expected to offer free screenings starting on the 15th.
Consequently, it doesn’t appear that the “electrifying visual and sonic voyage” will have too long a runtime – though interested fans must still schedule viewing sessions (or headset demos, that is) at participating Apple Store locations. Lastly, in terms of pertinent background details, The Weeknd has posted a brief Open Hearts trailer on social media.
It perhaps goes without saying in light of the Vision Pro’s sales and price tag, but Open Hearts will likely reach a small audience – at least from the perspective of The Weeknd’s 120.5 million Spotify monthly listeners.
However, the effort may introduce supporters of The Weeknd to the high-end headset while simultaneously exposing Vision Pro owners to the artist. Longer term, the market for premium immersive experiences, accessible from the comfort of home and possibly including live shows, could potentially grow.
There are, of course, many factors worth weighing here; a more affordable Apple headset might be years off, according to reports. Adjacent to that point, Meta’s Quest VR headsets cost far less than the Vision Pro and have hosted a number of concerts, but have reportedly proven expensive to develop in their own right.
Unsurprisingly, the massive costs and small returns at hand can easily deter prospective market entrants and overwhelm smaller players. Among the latter is “virtual live music event platform” VARK, which announced a roughly $7 million raise in May 2023 and confirmed the discontinuation of its core service this past March.