{"id":234327,"date":"2025-06-18T11:29:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T10:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=234327"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:29:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T10:29:08","slug":"bruno-mars-joins-fortnite-festival-as-season-9-icon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/bruno-mars-joins-fortnite-festival-as-season-9-icon\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruno Mars joins Fortnite Festival as Season 9 &#8216;icon&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Grammy-winning superstar Bruno Mars has been named as the &#8220;icon&#8221; for Epic Games&#8217; <i>Fortnite<\/i> <i>Festival<\/i> Season 9, capping off the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/sabrina-carpenter-named-icon-for-fortnite-festival-season-8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Season 8 <\/a><i>Festival <\/i>with Sabrina Carpenter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The new season launches Wednesday (June 19), and players will be able to unlock Mars&#8217; new outfits, Jam Tracks and more via the<b> Season 9 Music Pass<\/b>, priced at <b>1,400 V-Bucks<\/b>. They will also be able to access additional tracks including collaborations with <b>Lady Gaga<\/b> and <b>ROS\u00c9<\/b> in the Shop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Mars joins other major artists who have been featured as &#8220;icons&#8221; on <i>Fortnite,<\/i> including <b>The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Metallica, Karol G, Snoop Dogg, Hatsune Miku,<\/b>\u00a0and most recently, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/sabrina-carpenter-named-icon-for-fortnite-festival-season-8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>Sabrina Carpenter<\/b><\/a>. The Bruno Mars x Fortnite integration arrives as the artist maintains his position as one of streaming&#8217;s most consistent performers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__tweeny hidden-xs hidden-ms hidden-sm\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"992 1200 1440\" data-name=\"628x90 Sponsor banner #5 (992+1200+1440)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_628\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_628\"><\/div>      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__banner mb-advert__banner--inline hidden-xs hidden-sm hidden-md hidden-lg\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"480\" data-name=\"468x60 Sponsor banner #5 (480)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_468\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_468\"><\/div>      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__mobile mb-advert__mobile--inline hidden-ms hidden-md hidden-lg\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-sizes=\"320 768\" data-name=\"300x50 Sponsor banner #5 (320+768)\" data-params=\"dfp_sponsor5_300\" id=\"dfp_sponsor5_300\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In January, Mars <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/bruno-mars-breaks-own-record-hitting-150m-monthly-spotify-listeners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">became the first artist<\/a> to reach <b>150 million<\/b> monthly listeners on <b>Spotify<\/b>, just over two months after he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/bruno-mars-spotify-shattered-album\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">surpassed<\/a>\u00a0<b>The<\/b>\u00a0<b>Weeknd<\/b>\u2018s previous record of\u00a0<b>120.7 million\u00a0<\/b>monthly listeners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The feat came even as Mars hasn\u2019t released a new solo album for eight years. His most recent solo studio LP was his third,\u00a0<i>24K Magic<\/i>, which dropped in 2016. His recent successes are boosted by his smash collaborations:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"ul1\">\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/2plbrEY59IikOBgBGLjaoe?si=9b005747b2fc4cbf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s2\"><b><i>Die With A Smile<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0with Lady Gaga, released in August 2024, with 2.62 billion Spotify streams, and;<\/li>\n<li class=\"li1\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/5vNRhkKd0yEAg8suGBpjeY?si=c1d084eb1a604658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s2\"><b><i>APT.<\/i>\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/span>with ROS\u00c9, released in October, with over 1.7 billion Spotify streams<\/li><\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\">For the Season 9 Fortnite Festival, two standalone Jam Tracks featuring the two songs will be available, both priced separately from the bundle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Die With A Smile Bruno Outfit based on the music video for <i>Die With A Smile <\/i>is also featured in the new season, and comes auto-unlocked after purchasing the Music Pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Music Pass also features a <b>Silk<\/b> <b>Sonic<\/b> track, <i>Leave The Door Open<\/i>, bringing Mars&#8217; Grammy-winning collaboration with <b>Anderson .Paak<\/b> into the gaming space. Additional premium rewards include the Last Reprise Guitar, modeled after the instrument featured in the <i>Die With A Smile<\/i> music video, and Red Hearts Kit Drums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For fans seeking more content, the Fortnite Shop offers the <b>World Tour Bundle <\/b>throughout Season 9. The package includes the Bruno-San Outfit with a Bruninho Style variant, Bruno&#8217;s Collection Back Bling, and the Bonde do Brun\u00e3o Emote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__spu\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-name=\"300x250 Sponsor MPU #1\" data-params=\"dfp_spu1\" id=\"dfp_spu1\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Beyond the Bruno Mars integration, Season 9 introduces several enhancements to <i>Fortnite Festival<\/i>. Players can now browse their music library alphabetically. Epic Games has also restored all-time leaderboards for individual tracks, incorporating community feedback.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The update includes a True Random lobby music feature that cycles through players&#8217; collections. For users with favorited tracks, the randomization draws from their curated songs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For content creators, Epic Games is offering a seven-day window at the start of Season 9 to monetize videos featuring eligible Bruno Mars songs, provided their <b>YouTube<\/b> and <b>Support-A-Creator<\/b> accounts are linked. The eligible tracks include <i>Bonde Do Brun\u00e3o<\/i>, <i>Die With A Smile<\/i>, and <i>APT.<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">After the initial period, Epic Games said: \u201ccontent creators should expect to receive monetization claims by the respective rights holders,&#8221; but noted that &#8220;no takedown notifications should occur during or after the seven days.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">      <div class=\"mb-advert__incontent\">      <div class=\"mb-advert mb-advert__spu\" data-loaded=\"no\" data-name=\"300x250 Sponsor MPU #2\" data-params=\"dfp_spu2\" id=\"dfp_spu2\"><\/div>      <\/div>      <\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The approach reflects Epic Games\u2019 efforts to support creators. In 2023, Epic Games\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/epic-games-to-share-40-of-fortnite-purchase-revenue-with-island-creators123\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0that creators of eligible Fortnite \u201cislands\u201d and experiences will receive a share of revenue based on engagement with their published content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Under Fortnite\u2019s new<b>\u00a0Creator Economy 2.0<\/b>\u00a0program, Epic Games will place\u00a0<b>40%<\/b>\u00a0of the net revenue from\u00a0<i>Fortnite<\/i>\u2019s Item Shop and related real-money purchases into the engagement pool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>Fortnite<\/i>\u00a0has been banking on artists to grow its user base. As\u00a0<i>MBW<\/i>\u00a0explained in a 2018\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/fortnite-is-a-video-game-phenomenon-the-music-business-could-learn-a-thing-or-two-from-its-success\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a>, the online game provides new ways for music fans to engage and support their favorite artists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In December 2024, <i>Fortnite<\/i> drew <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/fortnites-remix-the-finale-concert-draws-over-14m-players-breaking-records\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>14.3 million\u00a0<\/b><\/a> concurrent players for its &#8216;Remix: The Finale&#8217; virtual concert featuring <b>Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, Eminem<\/b>, and a posthumous tribute to <b>Juice WRLD<\/b>. The event surpassed the previous record of<b>\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2020\/digital\/news\/travis-scott-fortnite-record-viewers-live-1234589033\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>12.3 million<\/b><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b>concurrent players set during a <b>Travis Scott<\/b> concert in April 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Other artists who have been featured as &#8220;icons&#8221; on Fortnite include The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, and Sabrina Carpenter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":234328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[192,124252,5301,134330],"class_list":["post-234327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-bruno-mars","tag-epic-games","tag-fortnite","tag-fortnite-festival"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}