Jump to content

VyRT

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

VyRT
Type of site
Private
FoundedLos Angeles,California, U.S. 2011 - 2020
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Jared Leto
IndustryInternet
ServicesStreaming media,digital distribution,online shopping
URLvyrt.com

VyRTwas an American provider ofon-demandInternetstreaming mediaavailable to viewers worldwide. The company was established in late 2011 and was headquartered inLos Angeles,California. VyRT was founded by entertainerJared Letoas a website for hosting online events, but soon diversified into featuringdigital distributionandonline shopping.It also includedsocial networking.

By 2015, VyRT was receiving 3.5 million requests per minute and had surpassed 5,000 subscribers. Many of its live events became worldwidetrending topics.[1]

History

[edit]

VyRT was established in late 2011 as astartup companyby entertainerJared Leto.His aim was to let musicians create live experiences and broadcast them on the Internet, with the ability to share their work without having to rely on the prevailing sponsor-based model.[2]Its inception came from some frustrating experiences Leto faced with American rock bandThirty Seconds to Marsin streaming their own live events.[3]

On December 7, 2011, VyRT streamed the Tribus Centum Numerarae, the 300th show of theInto the Wild Tourby Thirty Seconds to Mars, which garnered the band theGuinness World Recordfor most live shows during a single album cycle.[4]The show marked the launch of VyRT as an online platform.[5]At the 2012O Music Awardsin June, it was awarded Best Online Concert Experience.[6]

After the first streamed events, VyRT transitioned to a new site, expanding todigital distributionandonline shopping,sellingvideodownloads/streaming,MP3downloads/streaming, ande-books.It also began to featuresocial networking.[7]The team rebuilt the website inRuby on Railsand expanded its capacity onHeroku.[1]An official store featuring merchandise,DVDs,books,and apparel was also launched.[8]The artists featured on VyRT includedGerard Way,Linkin Park,Greek Fire,Ryan Beatty,The Janoskians,Ryan Cabrera,theJonas Brothers,Boy Epic,Ivy Levan,andBrendan Brazier.Later, it began to stream films, beginning on August 31, 2013 with special screenings of the documentary filmArtifact(2012), followed by the psychological horror filmThe Shining(1980) on February 9, 2014.[9][10]

In August 2014, it was announced that VyRT would exclusively broadcast worldwide the performance from theCarnivores Tourby Linkin Park and Thirty Seconds to Mars, scheduled on September 15 at theHollywood Bowlin Los Angeles.[11]Before Thirty Seconds to Mars took to the stage, the VyRT platform was hacked. Jared Leto was forced to delay the performance by Thirty Seconds to Mars by an hour to resolve the issue. The audience eventually lost approximately three minutes of actual stage time, but the set list was shortened. Leto later claimed that a "piracy stream" was responsible.[12]The event included "real-time social community engagement from audiences worldwide".[13]

In November 2014, the documentary seriesInto the Wildpremiered on VyRT.[14]The series was produced by Jared Leto and Emma Ludbrook through the production company Sisyphus Corporation.[15]In May 2015, VyRT premiered episode one of indie pop musician Boy Epic's docuseriesTelling Secretsin response to a Mars fan campaign to get him on the platform after he made a song inspired bySuicide Squad(2016).[16][17]Further episodes weren't released for unknown reasons.[18][19][20]On October 9, 2016, Thirty Seconds to Mars exclusively releasedCamp Mars: The Concert Filmon VyRT. The film was directed by Leto, documenting the first Camp Mars event in 2015.[21]

By 2020, VyRT was still open but not receiving new livestreams or VOD content, with the last major livestream being an AT&T sponsored concert live from the third annual Camp Mars event in Malibu on August 12, 2017. The event itself was hosted on AT&T's website and their Facebook Live.[22][23]An initially planned partnership withFandor,announced as part of Leto becoming Chief Creative Officer of the platform on May 21, 2017, never came to fruition.[24]Mars fans still used the site to communicate with other fans and host watch parties for VyRT VODs, with some hosted officially by VyRT.[25]In December 2020, the site redirected to a page on the official Thirty Seconds to Mars website formally announcing the end of the platform, thanking the user base and hinting at a new project from the same team.[26]

Services

[edit]

The VyRT website featured a main page, Live, and Vault, as well as a series of personal pages. The Live sections provided livestreamingevents as well associal networking.Users logged into their accounts during the broadcast and could chat with others via a live feed. The interaction window allowed users to quote, invite, reply, or find other users' profiles. Artists could also interact with users on the live feed.[1]The Vault sections consisted of all available events for purchase, including streaming anddownloads.[27]

Livestreams were traditionally referred to as VyRTs, with ReVyRTs referring to rebroadcasts of livestreams. The service also hosted VyRT Violets, less professionally produced impromptu video chats, similar to what would later become Instagram Live.[12]VyRT didn't utilize proprietary services, instead favoringwhite labellivestreaming platforms, online payment providers, and chat clients. TheBootstrapUI was used to provide an ad-free and easily customizable interface for artists.[28]Ustreamwas used for the first MARS300 broadcast.[29]

It is unknown if Thirty Seconds to Mars or others that held events on the platform plan to re-release Vault VOD content elsewhere after VyRT's closing.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abc"Heroku Customer Success: VyRT".Heroku.Salesforce.com.RetrievedMay 30,2015.
  2. ^Safian, Robert (October 14, 2014)."'I Like To Employ The Power Of No': Jared Leto ".Fast Company.RetrievedMay 30,2015.
  3. ^Fallon, Nicole (December 17, 2013)."Jared Leto Launches Live Streaming Service VyRT".Business News Daily.TechMediaNetwork.RetrievedApril 5,2014.
  4. ^Montgomery, James (October 17, 2011)."30 Seconds To Mars Go For Guinness World Record".MTV.Viacom Media Networks. Archived fromthe originalon February 26, 2016.RetrievedMarch 3,2012.
  5. ^Beard, Lanford (December 7, 2011)."Jared Leto on Thirty Seconds to Mars' record-breaking tour: 'It's been the journey of a lifetime'".Entertainment Weekly.RetrievedAugust 30,2013.
  6. ^Fletcher, Jennifer (June 29, 2012)."2012 MTV O Music Award Winners".MTV Australia.Viacom Media Networks. Archived fromthe originalon November 4, 2013.RetrievedAugust 30,2013.
  7. ^May, Alex (November 8, 2012)."VyRT Connects Rock Band To Passionate Fans".Hypebot.com.RetrievedMay 30,2015.
  8. ^"VyRTstore".VyRT.RetrievedMay 30,2015.
  9. ^"Artifact is Coming!".Thirty Seconds to Mars. July 29, 2013. Archived fromthe originalon February 25, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 13,2014.
  10. ^"Movie Night".VyRT. Archived fromthe originalon July 9, 2015.RetrievedMay 30,2015.
  11. ^"VyRT Presents: Carnivores Tour".Thirty Seconds to Mars. August 20, 2014.RetrievedOctober 22,2014.
  12. ^abStonebridge, Renna (September 16, 2014)."Pissed off Jared Leto to Shut Down 'VyRT'?".Stonebridge Daily.Archived fromthe originalon November 13, 2014.RetrievedOctober 22,2014.
  13. ^Walker, Charles (August 20, 2014)."Carnivores Tour to stream live from Hollywood Bowl on VyRT".Irocke. Archived fromthe originalon November 13, 2014.RetrievedOctober 22,2014.
  14. ^Montgomery, James (November 11, 2014)."Jared Leto Readies 'Unofficial Sequel' to Thirty Seconds to Mars' 'Artifact'".Rolling Stone.RetrievedDecember 16,2014.
  15. ^Sharp, Tyler (November 3, 2014)."Thirty Seconds To Mars announce documentary series, 'Into The Wild'".Alternative Press.RetrievedDecember 18,2014.
  16. ^BOY EPIC [@BoyEpic] (March 13, 2015)."Hey #Echelon, it's official @JaredLeto is on it! Let's make this happen!!! @VyRT #SCARSforSkwad http://t.co/sGqzFoAux7"(Tweet).RetrievedJanuary 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  17. ^VyRT [@VyRT](May 10, 2015)."Ready for another broadcast? Join @BoyEpic in less than 15 MINUTES for his first broadcast: #TellingSecrets! — http://t.co/FSmFUDGVJ5"(Tweet).RetrievedJanuary 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  18. ^VyRT [@VyRT](October 10, 2015)."Haven't met @BoyEpic yet? Get acquainted with episode 1 of his #VyRT Series, #TellingSecrets: http://t.co/GEyShT1Sg5 http://t.co/YzQtYs58VV"(Tweet).RetrievedJanuary 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  19. ^"Boy Epic".
  20. ^BOY EPIC [@BoyEpic] (November 14, 2015)."@ThatGirlAttie meeting with VYRT next week to finalize release date for #BoyEpicTellingSecrets"(Tweet).RetrievedJanuary 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  21. ^"Watch Thirty Seconds to Mars' Wistful 'Camp Mars' Doc Trailer".Rolling Stone.September 30, 2016.
  22. ^"AT&T Teams up with Thirty Seconds to Mars to Live Stream Concert & Provide Exclusive Connectivity for Camp Mars".
  23. ^"Camp Mars - att.net".start.att.net.Archived fromthe originalon August 10, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 12,2022.
  24. ^"Jared Leto Named Chief Creative Officer of Film Streaming Service Fandor".The Hollywood Reporter.May 21, 2017.
  25. ^Mithrian Army🔺 [@ArmyMithrian] (May 6, 2020)."Inspired by the🍿Club we're watching THE DAWN WALL on Saturday..."(Tweet).RetrievedJanuary 8,2021– viaTwitter.
  26. ^"Vyrt".
  27. ^Holland, Maggie (December 31, 2012)."Jared Leto: The unsung hero of cloud computing?".Cloud Pro.Dennis Publishing.RetrievedJune 4,2015.
  28. ^"Jared leto".November 6, 2018.
  29. ^"30 Seconds to Mars Selling Tickets for Streaming Concert".
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=VyRT&oldid=1231371219"