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<\/p>\nBy: Alara Tuncer<\/p>\n
In 2021, the estimated net worth of the live concert industry was $17.4 billion, a figure
\nexpected to climb up to $31.1 billion by 2024 globally. To date, there are only a few ways of
\nobjectively evaluating engagement and interest of live concerts. ViBILLER is a start-up founded
\nby three researchers from NYU Center for Language for Music and Emotion; Dr. Claire Pelofi,
\nDr. Pablo Ripolles and Dana Bevilacqua. It is the \u201cvideo-based interface for live labelling of
\nemotional responses\u201d that aims to evaluate engagement in live performances. This is essentially
\nan algorithm that will be an accurate, affordable and computationally inexpensive way of
\nmeasuring emotional arousal for venue managers, producers and artists.
\nThis is not only an ambitious task but also a difficult one, however, once put into use it can
\nbring revenue to the music industry and revolutionize how concerts are valued. This passion
\nproject that initially began as a \u201cpandemic research baby\u201d as referred to by Bevilacqua, banks
\non the idea that group emotion and engagement are predictors of consumer preferences and
\npurchasing decisions. The ViBILLER technology will be designed to give real-time feedback to
\nartists to enhance customer experience. Undoubtedly, it will be of great value for recorded
\nmusic and ticket sales as well as venue preferences.
\nAnd who better to design this interface than these researchers? Dr. Claire Pelofi as the lead
\nresearch scientist of ViBILLER has a background in philosophy, music and neuroscience with
\nexperience studying \u201chow the brain works and process music\u201d in response to computational
\nmodels of sounds and \u201chow language is processed in relation to rhythm\u201d. Dr. Pablo Ripolles as
\nthe lead collaborator and \u201cthe resident emotion expert\u201d is an assistant professor for music
\ntechnology and psychology at NYU College of Arts and Sciences, where his research focuses on
\nutilizing cognitive neuroscience methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
\nand magnetoencephalography scan (MEG) to measure behavior and emotions in response to
\nmusic. Meanwhile Dana Bevilacqua is an associate researcher who has experience exploring
\ngroup dynamics and engagement with relation to real-life experiences\u2014with expertise in
\ncollecting data from interactive installations that combine art and science.
\nSince all researchers work under CLaME, Center for Language, Music and Emotion at NYU,
\nwhich is a \u201ccollaborative center that hit research topics that utilize theories and methodologies
\nacross several domains\u201d bringing together principles of language, music and emotion, surely it
\nisn\u2019t a surprise that ViBILLER technology aims to do the same. Working to create a technology
\nthat is an amalgamation and interdisciplinary has allowed the team to bring together an
\n\u201ceclectic bunch\u201d of researchers, artists and industry specialists to bring the idea to life.
\nThe first hardship they faced as a start-up was quite unique\u2014abandoning the initial idea that
\nunited their team in the first place. Although the ultimate goal was always the same\u2014to
\nmeasure crowd engagement and emotional arousal in a live event\u2014 the founders initially
\nthought of a different way to establish this. They called it the CHILLER, \u201ca computer-human<\/p>\n
interface for live labelling of emotional responses\u201d that consisted of mini wearable sensor
\ngadget designed to evaluate emotional responses based on goosebumps. But how do you make
\nan audience wear a gadget? So, ultimately after the customer interviews and overwhelming
\nfeedback, the team had to put this idea to bed and ViBILLER was unearthed\u2014using video
\nsoftware to record the crowd and evaluate engagement with an algorithm.
\nIt is safe to say that all researchers with their unique experiences and expertise are more than
\nqualified to create this interdisciplinary and translational technology. Yet, as Bevilacqua states,
\nimposter syndrome can still be very real for entrepreneurs, especially for those who are in
\nminority groups. \u201cThe more you repeat the idea over and over again, you may take it for
\ngranted what others may be hearing for the first time.\u201d And this may \u201cfeel like it\u2019s not worthy
\nor that it is something that someone else can do better.\u201d When this is the case and \u201cthe
\ninternal voices become the primary obstacle\u201d as Bevilacqua states it is important \u201cjust get over
\nyourself and do it\u201d and have a team to support one another. Dr. Pelofi states that self-
\ncensorship leads \u201cto a crowd that is not as diverse and rich as it should be\u201d meanwhile Dr.
\nRipolles adds that this is due to pressure imposed by society that we have yet to tackle. \u201cSome
\npeople don\u2019t know the rules of the game,\u201d states Dr Ripolles emphasizing the need to teach
\nunderserved communities to be proactive and \u201cgo get what they want because they are just as
\nbrilliant.\u201d
\nAlso, Bevilacqua emphasizes on the collective challenge they faced when transitioning from
\nacademia to entrepreneurship. \u201cIt is a totally different mindset and a different language\u201d that is
\n\u201calmost uncomfortable\u201d because of the contrast between sharing everything learned during
\nresearch in academia versus \u201cbeing more protective of your intellectual property\u201d for
\nentrepreneurship. When this was the case, she claims that taking advantage of all the resources
\navailable was imperative, stating that \u201ca diverse perspective from the entrepreneurial point-of
\nview has been really helpful\u201d.
\nDr. Ripolles explains how the perpetual curiosity that defines the personality of every scientist
\ncan actually become problematic in entrepreneurship. Naturally, scientists formulate various
\nideas simply because \u201cthat would be super cool\u201d to study, but as the ViBILLER team found out
\nfrom their advisors, not all of these can make money. Dr. Pelofi emphasizes on the importance
\nof focusing on the society, significance and \u201cthe future trajectory of the entrepreneurial
\nproduct\u201d when creating a design. This was an adjustment they had to make when creating
\nViBILLER to fit the market need\u2014shifting the focus from what is interesting to what is profitable
\nand practical for use.
\nAdditionally, the team members emphasize on the importance of mentorship and mentorship
\nprograms. The team members describe the I-Corps experience as being similar to a \u201chot seat\u201d
\nwhere you have to find answers to the questions that are being asked\u2014but as Bevilacqua states
\n\u201cthis is also what makes the experience validating,\u201d giving them the opportunity of revising the
\nidea and making it better. Dr Ripolles jokingly states that academia prepares you for this sort
\nhardship, \u201cwhen the world says no you have to keep saying yes because science is rejection and
\nit is brutal.\u201d However, as something the team has learned through various workshops, as an<\/p>\n
entrepreneur it is important to be open to criticism and accept that you don\u2019t know everything
\nin order to develop your product.
\nDespite the obvious monetary gains that this project will bring to the team, this isn\u2019t just a
\nproject to capitalize on, it\u2019s also a part of a larger research mission to understand how the brain
\nworks. As Dr. Ripolles explains \u201cmusic is a super interesting stimulus to understand how the
\nbrain processes speech, rhythm or abstract rewards.\u201d These are rewards that aren\u2019t physical
\nand hard for us to study on animals. Just like we don\u2019t completely understand what about a
\nsunset gives us pleasure, we also don\u2019t understand what elements of music create emotional
\narousal. In collaboration with CLaME, the ViBILLER project aims to support the larger goal of
\nusing music to understand abstract rewards whilst contributing to a need of understanding
\nengagement in the live concert marketplace.
\nLastly, having two female founders, I had the opportunity to ask the ViBILLER team what they
\nthink would be the best way to support women to gain leadership roles. Dr Pelofi emphasized
\nthe primary need for \u201cchanging the mentality surrounding maternal need.\u201d In societies where
\nthere are few options for women to have kids while working and lacking the norm that their
\npartner needs to be just as involved when having kids as them, women will be
\nundercompensated. When this is the case, \u201cwomen will have to put their careers on hold\u201d
\nwhich will set them back from their male counterparts. Additionally, normalizing the idea that
\n\u201cthe work of women is equal to the work of men\u201d is likely to be beneficial, so that the work and
\nthe burden is shared equally and there is a change in mentality regarding the issue.
\nThe ViBILLER team has emphasized the importance of mentorship when having an
\nentrepreneurial idea. They even have said \u201chaving a great idea is the least of the worries.\u201d So
\nfar, they have gained support from Prof. Jin Montclare (CIE Institute Director) as a result of NSF
\nI-Corps. However, there is still work left to do. We wish ViBILLER the best of luck at their start-
\nup as they implement their idea, and we hope to see their technologies featured in future
\nconcerts!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Dr. Claire Pelofi\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Dr. Pablo Ripolles<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Dana Bevilacqua<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Alara Tuncer In 2021, the estimated net worth of the live concert industry was $17.4 billion, a figure expected to climb up to $31.1 billion by 2024 globally. To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1605,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions\/1605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/microsites.engineering.nyu.edu\/cie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}