Swimming Up Stream: Live Streaming Your Gigs

Swimming Up Stream

Sometimes I catch myself, spending too much time analyzing 'what went wrong' with the excuse that if I can see the problem I can find an answer. This may be true in certain cases, like battle plans or brain surgery, but in the music business it may be better just to move forward and grab whatever opportunities come your way, or pop into your head. It is art after all and creativity wins the day. Nobody said it would be easy, and the rock star lifestyle/dream/reality is really a crap - shoot that may or may not happen for you. (Seriously - look at the stats - it's flash in the pan in the lengthy history of music!).

Ok, so I may still get back to you with the odd idea about the change in the industry, because apparently I have 100's of pages of notes, but in the meantime, let's move forward and see what's happening out there for you to grab onto.

The past few years have seen the development and fine-tuning of real time chat platforms such as iChat, Skype, and music collaboration platforms such as Virtual Glass. Now the big kids have caught the wave and you can watch live streaming concerts of U2, Coldplay, Pomplamoose and even entire events such as Lollapalooza and TV specials such as The Austin City Limits Anniversary. But thankfully, so far, it's not for the big guns only, and you too can stream your shows, have fan chats and even autograph sessions from your venue, studio, couch or kitchen table.

Even though the Internet world is hands off and remote, there has been a natural progression in Internet person-to-person contact (have you seen the kissing machine?)

If you feel like you've had to tone it down in the smaller coffee shops to get any gig at all, this may be the perfect opportunity to reach out to a new audience and open yourself to a different kind of fan interaction. As an artist, you know what an empty venue can do to your soul; this new type of audience interaction also provides the benefit of giving you the required feedback your ego needs to move forward.

Jody Quine of Balligomingo has just begun streaming live performances with the use of StageIt.

"Live streaming is the way of the future. It's amazing to me that I watched Adele live in HD from a large venue in London, England over iTunes last week. The sound and picture quality were amazing and the show was free. I am doing a show via StageIt next week and it is set up so that my fans can pay what they like (or a set amount) to see me play.

Being in a group that has had a worldwide record deal, the majority of my fans are scattered around the world, so being able to perform for them from a venue or even my living room is amazing. I just did a Skype concert for a fan the other night that won a Facebook contest. It was amazing to connect one on one with a fan and be able to perform a show just for her. It felt really good to be able to reach out like that as an artist.

A lot of the streaming shows also come with the opportunity for the fans to message in, on a message board, which creates more of an inclusive situation. Hollering at artists during a live show is frowned upon but having a voice through the keyboard in a way that the artist can reply to, is a major plus. I don't think it will replace seeing shows live and in person but if you're not able to attend a show for any reason this is really the next best thing!"

Favorite ex-pat Adrienne Pierce has had a similar experience:

"I think I first heard about streaming shows when I played at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville in 2007. I was opening for Jane Siberry and the show was streamed live online. I know my parents and a few fans watched it but I had no part in organizing it so it just kind of happened. I thought it was cool but did not give it a lot of thought. Since then I have seen that many artists such as Terra Naomi give fairly regular concerts on Ustream and now Stageit.

I first tried live streaming recently when I played a Stageit concert at Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf in Los Angeles. Stageit approached my husband Ari Shine about us playing as part of a series they were doing. So the next step for us was to set one up at home. Ari played his first one from home and it went well. I am thinking of setting up a live streaming show once a month on StageIt.

I'm doing this because I can potentially play a show for people all over the world, in places I have never been and may never go. I have yet to try UStream which I also think is great. I do like the philosophy of the people at Stageit and I think it is nice that they want to see artists getting paid, even if it is a small amount, for their shows.

I don't really see any downside to this idea. I don't think it takes the place of true live performances, but I think it is a nice addition to touring and playing out. Whether you sell tickets and provide a way for people to contribute or give tips or just put on a free show I think it is a great way to play for your established fans and is a way to make new fans. Really, it is a fun and even a 'green' way to play regularly and reach people far away without anyone having to use any gas.

I would recommend doing all the regular stuff to promote your show ie: Facebook event page, newsletter to your mailing list etc. and invite absolutely everyone. You might want to recommend that people sign up on the site you choose to use in advance so they are not frustrated by having to sign in or set up an account on the day or time of the show.".

And as the icing on the cake, iDoLVine brings the Internet audience even closer, with live autograph signing. The brainchild of Canadian Author Margaret Atwood, iDoLVine connects artists of any type, with their audience, in a live chat and remote autograph session platform.

The artist Kay and now the band NEVEREST, are quickly jumping aboard to take their live streaming experience to the next level. "NEVEREST, will be meeting their super fans on iDoLVine in a pre-'show event. The band, currently opening for New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys, for the Canadian leg of their tour, will meet selected super-fans before hitting the stage at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario.".

Filling the all but invisible gap between authors and their readers, iDoLVine may very well turn out to be the next step in the evolution of humanizing the Internet music experience as well.

Matthew Gibson, President and Co-Founder of iDoLVine – (or as he states: 'aka the tall guy people can scream at when Beta events go wrong'), offers some greater clarity on the fact that "iDoLVine is not just an autographing service based on a LiveStream backbone, but more a bi-directional face to face experience (fans and artists see each other and global fans can also watch the interaction). Like StageIt, we live stream and simulcast the performance, and we deliver not only the signed (digitally certified) memento (also 'real' objects signed with a 'real' $1.29 sharpie(!), like CD’s and t-shirts thanks to our partnership with Ingram Content Group) but the video clip as well, which fans can post to their own social media sites, thus driving viral marketing. We also help promote the events, and even though we are currently in Beta, with all the bumps and hiccups, we are gaining momentum and it appears from the NEVEREST event that the demand from the fan base is very real indeed!"

So artists, don't despair when you find yourself doing more and more café gigs, because now you can invite the world to your show; they can pay their door, request a song, buy you a drink, and you can perform your heart out, sign them an autograph and blow them a kiss...until next time.

iDoLVine .com

StageIt.com

UStream.tv