As we stay at home, the live music industry has undergone a sudden massive shift. From individual artists to major festivals to tech companies working with live events, suddenly everyone needs to know about live streaming. Dmitri is talking with tech founders, artists, and journalists who can help you navigate the live stream waters.
We're bringing you a wave of podcast episodes on the music tech solutions that are keeping the music flowing. Since our podcast focuses on seismic shifts in the music industry, we decided that the best way to help our community in this time of rapid change is to share more information, faster. Stay tuned as this post updates with new episodes (or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform!)
Video gaming platforms have become essential lockdown music festival venues even as new livestreaming platforms keep coming out of the woodwork. Find out what makes popular games and virtual concerts such a great match from Alex Perrien, CEO of Genesis, the leading provider of virtual events on the Minecraft platform. Alex discusses how his company creates unique event experiences, from the Blockeley festival on a virtual college campus to a DJ stage in the center of a volcano spewing lava. How has Genesis transformed the experience of music in Minecraft in just a few months? What does it take to plan, design, and monetize a Minecraft festival? Listen as host Dmitri Vietze explores what the remote world of festival experiences will look like during and after the pandemic as the world shifts to a new normal.
Head over to the Music Tectonics community app, Where Alex has shared images and video of Genesis projects!
From panda-cams at the zoo to live acoustic guitar sets from the bathroom, OnNow.TV is a one-stop shop for all things livestream. Hear how co-founder Matthew Addell’s decades of experience in digital music led to creating the world's largest index of global live streamed events- in just a few weeks. Adell explains how the OnNow.TV platform helps viewers discover livestream events of all kinds happening around the world, while doubling streamers’ audiences. Matthew digs into how OnNow.TV removes friction from the fragmented livestreaming landscape, brings people together remotely, and lets streamers own their data. How does he see the live streaming market maturing even after the pandemic? Who will be the Justin Bieber of livestreaming content? How is the crochet industry like the music industry? What unlikely music tech developments is Adell excited by? Listen and find out!
Artists Make Money Hanging Out With Fans Online: Topeka's Andy Levine After selling his festival cruises company to Norwegian Cruise Lines, entrepreneur Andy Levine returns with his new startup Topeka, which gives artists an opportunity to get paid for online fan conversations, digital house concerts, and Zoom serenades. Music tectonics host Dmitri Vietze finds out from Andy why he started the new endeavor, and how it is well-suited for the current Shelter-at-Home moment. Andy's career focus has been on helping artists and fans connect with more authenticity while still generating revenue for those artists. He also talks about Topeka's social impact component helping single moms in Atlanta. This continues our series of interviews of new opportunities arising during the worldwide self-isolation period.
What happens when your concert matchmaking platform comes to a screeching halt thanks to social distancing? Side Door co-founder Laura Simpson joins host Dmitri Vietze to talk about how the pandemic's crisis is leading to a new type of ticketed yet intimate performance. Laura talks about how she does not think artists should be forced to play for free, and the types of reactions they are seeing from fans who have bought a ticket. Because they use Zoom for their live streamed concerts from home, she also talks about what it means to be able to see the faces of your fans when you perform; people holding children on their laps, or holding up handwritten signs. Listen in to see how one music tech startup's pivot is unfolding in real time and still creating community and opportunities for performers.
If anyone could see the immediate deluge of concert cancellations when COVID-19 became the planet's immediate reality, it was ubiquitous concert-discovery platform Bandsintown's co-founder and managing director Fabrice Sergent. Listen to his conversation with host Dmitri Vietze, as he describes how he watched 100,000 concerts get canceled in just a couple of weeks. He translated his team's passion for helping performing artists to raise money for artists in need, re-build touring revenue losses, and leapfrog the past barrier for live music video streams. In just a week, Bandsintown has had artists add listings for over 20,000 hour of live streamed concerts, regardless of what platform they choose to use. Fabrice talks about a new type of intimacy that is emerging and believes that this no form will not replace concerts but become an additional revenue stream and a new experience with staying power.
Now that the concert industry has come to a screeching halt, the live music industry is turning its attention to livestreaming. A little startup formed in 2009 called Stageit is seeing an unprecedented surge in performances and revenue. They grossed $500,000 in 2019 and in just three weeks have seen $850,000 roll in. Listen to Music Tectonics host Dmitri Vietze talk to Stageit founder/CEO Evan Lowenstein about how artists are using Stageit to sell tickets, get tips, and engage their fans. Evan goes on to talk about a cultural shift that he thinks will last far beyond the current health crisis. The stigma of asking for money has been replaced by seeing that fans yearn for a connection with artists and are used to paying for things online now. And artists are no longer expecting to replicate an in-person performance online, but instead are creating a new type of intimate online performance experience. Find out why Evan thinks now is the greatest time to try live streaming for the first time.
Industry journalist Cherie Hu joins Music Tectonics host Dmitri Vietze for a conversation about her research and summary of live streaming music platforms. The two discuss the big picture of the music field's response to COVID-19, approaches of specific artists, and dive into how this moment might lead to leapfrogging some of the past barriers for music tech use cases like performing on a screen, virtual reality live performances, or
collaborating remotely. Listen to the two compare audience engagement in live streaming versus in person shows and go down the rabbit hole of what makes artists feel like it's harder than ever to make a living in music.
Touring screeched to a halt with worldwide social distancing. But you know what to do: live stream! Luckily platforms like YouNow have been brewing with fan-building and monetization tools for several years. On this episode host Dmitri Vietze talks to YouNow president Jake Branzburg about the skyrocketed growth they are experiencing during the COVID-19 crisis. You’ll learn about the diversity of creators on the service, how to engage in reciprocal performances, and what it takes to bring or build your fan base when live streaming. If you simply want to transfer the one to many concert performance experience into the online world, you’ll probably fail. But if you want to learn the new art of monitoring chats while playing or bringing a fan on stage virtually to have a conversation, you... will... win! Listen to Jake and Dmitri get into the specifics and give you the context you need to grasp the world of live-streaming in the era of isolation.
Emma McGann returns to share what every musician needs to know right now: how live streaming can keep fans connected and replace income lost to cancelled gigs. When her U.S. tour had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UK-based singer songwriter Emma McGann drew on 6 years of experience live streaming on YouNow and replaced every tour date with an online concert. Through sales of virtual tour passes and perks, she’s been able to recoup her losses. Emma tells Dmitri everything artists need to know to get started live streaming: What do fans want from the live streaming experience? How is performing on live stream different than playing in a venue or shooting a video? How does monetization work? Get Emma’s practical advice on how to set up your live streaming space, choose the essential equipment you need, and build your live stream community.