Holograms in Concert: Why Tupac's Coachella Resurrection Means Big Bucks for the Music Business

Short of working some "Jurassic Park" magic and actually resurrecting dead artists, the music industry has a new way to cash in on deceased superstars, thanks to Tupac Shakur's "performance" at Coachella.

Just two days after a projected image of the rapper appeared at the festival alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, there are rumors that the stunt may lead to a full-fledged tour.

In case you haven't seen the impressive yet creepy footage, the Tupac projection's two-song performance wasn't limited to appearing on a screen behind the stage -- it actually looked as if the rapper was there alongside his former Death Row label mates. According to Ed Ulbrich, the chief creative officer of Digital Domain, the company behind the performance, this wasn't just some old Tupac concert film redesigned to look new. "This is not found footage," he told the Wall Street Journal. "This is not archival footage. This is an illusion."

Indeed, the projection could seemingly interact with Snoop Dogg and say things like, "What the f--- is up, Coachella?" Shakur never uttered the festival's name in his lifetime, because Coachella didn't exist until three years after his 1996 murder. Digital Domain won't reveal how they got the projection, which reportedly cost between $100,00 and $400,000, to say new words. They did admit, however, that the stunt was the "vision" of Dre, who donated a large sum of money to the late rappers's charity as a thank-you for getting the approval of Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur. (Dre is also the one reportedly behind the tour, meaning we're not any closer to hearing his Detox album.)

Dead Musicians Resurrected
Nick Smith, president of AV Concepts, which handled the live projecting, shed a little more light on the possibilities but wouldn't reveal how the company was able to get the projection to say things Tupac had never said before his death. He did, however, say that they could do that with any artist.

"You can take their likenesses and voice and ... take people that haven't done concerts before or perform music they haven't sung and digitally recreate it," he told MTV News. It's not enough that we already live in a world where Celine Dion can have Elvis Presley, and not one of the thousands of talentless impersonators, join her onstage for an "American Idol" duet (in my opinion, an indignity, even for a man whose bloated corpse was found in a bathroom). Now anyone with the cash and the proper rights can do it, and make them say, do and/or sing whatever comes to mind.


Given Afeni Shakur's blessing, I don't have too much of a problem with Dre and Snoop honoring their dead friend at such a big event. What scares me is that when something like this happens, music executives see the opportunity to make big money. Labels and the estates of deceased musicians are always scouring the vaults for previously unreleased material, and plenty of bands will find replacements for their fallen -- or fired/retired -- comrades (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey and Sublime With Rome, to name a few). And, lest we forget, we live in a world where Forbes annually ranks the top-earning dead musicians: Michael Jackson made $170 million in 2010, Elvis raked in $55 million and John Lennon earned $12 million. Imagine if fans of those three could see them "live" in concert.

The possibilities there are endless. I wasn't alive to see Woodstock, but what if it could all be recreated without the traffic jams and the muddy hippies? If I drink enough of the $9.50 beers they'll be selling, maybe it'll seem real. I'd also never have to worry about getting tickets to a show -- the technology should allow for these type of concerts to happen all the time, in multiple locations. And I'd know that they'll show up on time and give the best possible performance, not go on late or half-ass it.

I'll admit that I'm curious to see what happens with this technology, but I know that it's only a matter of time before the potential millions in revenue lead to a George Lucas-like, legacy-destroying alternative to history. Even though it would be incredible to see a Beatles reunion or Nirvana performing their Unplugged album I'm not buying into it. Let the dead artists go, and leave the watered-down performances to cover bands and "American Idol," where fans who really care can ignore them in peace. Keep live music for the living.