Adam Arrigo on Virtual Concerts, the Metaverse, AI, and What the Next Era of Music and Artist-Fan Connection Actually Looks Like
Adam Arrigo is the CEO of Wave, the platform that has produced some of the most watched virtual concerts in history -- immersive digital experiences where artists perform as avatars in front of audiences that can number in the millions, without a single person stepping into a physical venue. Wave has hosted artists like The Weeknd, John Legend, Tinashe, and others, and it represents one of the most serious attempts to answer the question of what live music looks like when the constraints of the physical world no longer apply.
In this conversation with Elmo, Adam talks about why he believes virtual concerts are not a replacement for live music but an entirely different form of it -- one with its own logic, its own emotional power, and its own potential to reach audiences that traditional touring can never touch. He goes deep on AI, the metaverse, what artists are discovering about the relationship between their physical and digital identities, and what he believes the music industry looks like in ten years for everyone from superstar artists to independent musicians just starting out.
"A virtual concert isn't a worse version of a real one. It's a completely different thing -- with possibilities that a physical stage can never have."
Adam's clear-eyed explanation of what Wave does and why it matters: the technology, the creative vision, and the specific proposition to artists and audiences that sets it apart from other attempts to bring live music into digital spaces. What a Wave concert looks and feels like from the inside, and why millions of people have chosen to show up for them.
His argument that virtual concerts are not inferior substitutes for physical ones but genuinely different art forms with their own distinct possibilities -- the ability to scale infinitely, to create environments that physics prohibits, to reach audiences in places where touring doesn't go, and to give artists creative control over every aspect of a performance environment in ways that no physical venue can match.
Adam's thoughtful, forward-looking perspective on what AI means for music -- not just the obvious disruptions to creation and distribution, but the deeper questions about what AI does to the meaning of artistic authorship, the economics of the industry, and the relationship between artists and the tools they use. Where he sees genuine opportunity and where he sees genuine danger.
What the metaverse actually means for musicians and music fans -- cutting through the hype to articulate what is genuinely new about persistent virtual worlds as spaces for music and culture, what Wave has learned from being on the frontier of that space, and what he believes will survive when the hype cycle ends and the real infrastructure begins to emerge.
How virtual spaces are changing the relationship between artists and their audiences -- the ability to create experiences that are more intimate at massive scale, the data and interaction models that digital concerts enable, and what artists are discovering about their own creative identity when they step into a digital version of themselves and perform for an audience that might be sitting anywhere on Earth.
The practical implications for musicians at every level -- not just superstars with the resources to produce a full Wave experience, but independent artists and emerging musicians thinking about how virtual performance and digital presence fit into the economics of a modern music career. Where Adam sees the democratizing potential and where the barriers to entry still exist.
Adam on what a virtual concert actually feels like to attend: his specific, vivid account of what happens emotionally and experientially when you are inside a Wave concert -- why millions of people report genuine emotional connection to performances by digital avatars, and what that tells us about what live music is actually doing for us at a fundamental level.
The AI conversation: one of the earliest and most substantive discussions on Go With Elmo about what AI means for music -- not abstract speculation but a grounded, specific conversation about what is already happening, what is coming in the near term, and what Adam believes musicians need to understand about the technology to navigate it on their own terms.
On the metaverse hype cycle: Adam's honest, clear-eyed take on what was real about the metaverse moment and what was noise -- including a candid reflection on what Wave has learned from building in a space that went from the most hyped concept in tech to a punchline and back again, and what endures when the hype clears.
The artist experience: what it is like for a major artist to perform as a digital avatar -- the strange, liberating, disorienting reality of seeing yourself move in a virtual body and realizing that the audience is genuinely responding. Adam on what artists have told him about what the experience does to their relationship with their own identity and performance.
His ten-year vision for music: where Adam sees the industry heading and what the concert, recording, and distribution businesses look like in a world where AI and virtual platforms are fully integrated -- specific, provocative, and worth thinking about regardless of where you stand on any of the underlying technologies.
Adam Arrigo in full: one of the most genuinely forward-looking guests in Go With Elmo's catalog -- a builder and thinker who has spent years on the frontier of what music can be and brings a perspective that challenges every assumption about what live performance has to mean.