FIFA 21 World Premiere

As a global sports, music, and livestream event, it was envisioned as nothing less than epic: To celebrate the launch of the all-new FIFA 21 soundtrack – which Forbes calls “likely the most diverse soundtrack in the history of sports video games, and possibly gaming in general” – the EA Music team conceived and curated the first-ever FIFA 21 World Premiere. On October 1st, 2020, more than 40 global artists featured on the soundtrack – including superstars such as Dua Lipa, Anitta, Tame Impala and Diplo – came together virtually to celebrate the 10/9/2020 launch of the game with music performances.

But first, EA Music had to overcome three huge challenges: It was the height of COVID and literally hundreds of international partnerships needed to be coordinated and calibrated. Second, few of the artists had performed – or even rehearsed – since the beginning of the pandemic more than six months earlier. Finally – and most importantly – nothing of this size and scope had ever been attempted before.

The ambitious event instantly became a once-in-a-lifetime music festival as 46 major artists from more than 10 countries delivered 21 hours of continuous live music across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitch. After months of live music lockdown, fans from around the world could virtually hop from stage to stage to see their favorite artists celebrate the largest sports video game franchise on the planet. And like the event itself, the response was unprecedented:

Anitta’s 30-minute virtual concert garnered 1 million views in less than 1 day.
Dua Lipa – whose acoustic performance of ‘Break My Heart’/‘Pretty Please’ scored over 700k Instagram likes for just the announcement and millions of subsequent views.
Combined artist posts on Instagram alone have reached 150 million+ views

For nearly 200 million music fans, it was an experience like no other. For the 6-person EA Music team, it was an achievement like no other. And for the future of livestream global concert events – conceptually, creatively, and culturally – it remains an absolute game-changer.