The Fan at Heart
Holding a deep love for music is a universal force that connects people at a profound emotional level. When that passion becomes hard-coded into a person’s identity—aligning personal conviction with professional purpose—this self-determination can transform a career into a reflection of one’s inner world. For Andrew Corbett, founder and CEO of VOLTA, that meant linking the improvisational heart of music with the structured logic of technology. He envisioned an immersive, multi-view platform that would turn audiences from passive spectators into active participants in shaping their own live concert and media experiences. Fans could curate vantage points, follow favorite performers, and craft a personalized front-row experience—all delivered in a seamless, high-speed format.
Partnership: Road to Code
The foundational architecture of VOLTA’s technology and stage perspective was solidified in 2021 when Corbett brought in Fenton Williams, original tour manager and longtime lighting and production designer for Dave Matthews Band. Williams’ role went beyond technical design—his honorary band member perspective helped bridge live performance aura with digital capture. His decades of stagecraft experience ensured that the extemporaneous heart of a DMB show—where every performance is distinct—could be faithfully captured in a multi-angle, fan-controlled format.
With Williams’ input, the platform began capturing concerts from multiple vantage points while preserving light geometry and stage dynamics. The result was a digital canvas where fans could explore the minutiae of live musicianship—from expressive improvisations to subtle interactions between performers—while still experiencing the full energy of the show. Live production was essentially captured and transformed into code that powers VOLTA.
The Gorge Field Test
The definitive field-test for VOLTA’s technology arrived at The Gorge Amphitheatre during Dave Matthews Band’s 2025 Labor Day weekend residency. VOLTA deployed its multi-camera interactive array to capture this historic performance—a yearly pilgrimage for DMB diehard fans—including a full-album rendition of Before These Crowded Streets. During this phase, VOLTA assembled a steering committee of fan community leaders, podcast hosts, and representatives from Dave Matthews Band management. More than 50 people contributed to shaping the rollout strategy, ensuring the release reflected both fan expectations and the band’s legacy. Additionally, a select group of fans gained early access to the platform, experiencing the concert from multiple angles rather than passively watching.
Encore Live
The final step in VOLTA’s journey was transforming its interactive viewing concept into a commercial product with a paywall. Building on The Gorge test, Encore Live with DMB launched in February 2026, simulating the energy of a live release while broadcasting previously recorded performances.
The Encore Live debut marked an important milestone for VOLTA—not just as a technical achievement, but as a broader business model built around interactive concert experiences, giving viewers control over multiple camera angles—with the resulting analytics providing information into how fans engaged.
Fan Agency and Metrics
The results offered an early glimpse into how interactive streaming and broadcasting might reshape engagement. Thousands of tickets were sold, with 95 percent of buyers opting for the bundled night pass, suggesting fans valued the communal experience. More revealing, how fans interacted with the performance: rather than passively watching a traditional director’s cut projected over the stage, fans explored multiple perspectives—unique angles of Dave, wide crowd shots, and other perspectives not typically shown—millions of times across the weekend.
“We thought that was fascinating,” Corbett said. “It’s really a new metric for fan engagement. People are choosing how they want to watch. They’re not just consuming but exploring it.”
The platform’s analytics highlighted this trend:
Out of a nine-camera multi-view setup, “two of the grid views were the third and fourth most watched,” Corbett notes. “Interestingly, the director’s cut came in fifth or sixth. Fans are getting comfortable exploring and creating their own perspective, rather than just consuming a pre-set version.”
Audiences even caught rare moments, such as a live cover of “All Along the Watchtower,” echoing Corbett’s early Charlottesville live show experiences, but captured, curated, and delivered to a global audience in a digital front-row medium.
“Take a song with a big horn solo,” Corbett says. “You’re watching Rashawn or Jeff on trumpet or sax, and it’s amazing. But next to them, Tim and Buddy are having their own musical conversation while Dave is taking in the moment. That’s the magic of letting people explore the scene, and it makes me really happy.”
Moments like this illustrate why VOLTA isn’t just streaming a performance—it’s giving fans the ability to co-create their own experience, exploring interactions, musicianship and improvisation in real time, even during an interactive encore.
Expanding Beyond Music and Technology
While this year’s Encore Live focused on the Dave Matthews Band community, VOLTA’s underlying model is universal and extends far beyond a single artist or genre. The same multi-angle fan engagement platform could apply to music festivals such as Glastonbury or Roskilde, underground raves, professional sports, or competitive gaming—any environment where fans want to explore the action rather than passively watch.
The goal remains the same for Corbett: creating connection, agency, and community through immersive, participatory experiences that mirror the passion fans bring to the event. While the full sports and gaming integrations may come later, audiences are already familiar with multi-view experiences. “Fans regularly watch six games at once, such as March Madness,” he notes. “The same applies for competitive gaming —each competitor’s experience is seen through their own virtual cam. The potential for fan agency is enormous.”
VOLTA is also expanding its technological ecosystem. Native apps for iOS, Android, and connected televisions are currently in development, bringing multi-angle interactivity to home theaters—big screens, surround sound included. Using phones as remotes, fans can seamlessly control camera shots, preserving the immersive interactivity of live events while optimizing the home experience.
Digital Memento: A Universal Experience
Ultimately, VOLTA may transform each viewing session into something more than a stream—a documented personal archive of the event itself. Much like fans wanting to purchase tour shirts as keepsakes, the platform allows audiences to preserve their own version of a performance: the perspectives they chose, the scenes they explored, and the memories they experienced. A true personal, digital memento.
Fans aren’t just spectators; they are co-creators of their own experience.
