As the music industry adjusts, it is becoming clearer that digital concerts will be an increasingly important part of how people enjoy music in the future. Live-streaming concerts are not an alternative to in-person experiences. This is a fact that artists need to keep in mind if they want to get the best out of them. Digital concerts should be seen as special performance opportunities, each with advantages and disadvantages. Here are ways digital performances differ from traditional concerts if you’re starting to explore them.
Interactions and feedback from the audience are digital, not physically.
Artists often have trouble transitioning to digital concerts due to the lack of feedback from their audiences. If you have been performing musicians for a while, the silence after a song is finished can be difficult. It can also be difficult to adjust to living streaming because of the lack of personal affirmation. Digital interactions offer some significant advantages. While conversations between artists and audiences are not possible during live shows, they are becoming a common feature of live-streamed shows. You can ask fans for specific songs and get information about your music. They can also send you comments in real-time about your music and the artists. You can respond or ignore any interactions. Many innovations in music technology ignore human connections between listeners and artists. Digital concerts offer a unique way to connect with your fans.
If you don’t arrange it yourself, there isn’t any professional sound equipment or expertise to rely upon.
The good aspect is the most difficult part of artists transferring their performances to digital formats. Many artists lack the tools and equipment necessary to create high-quality live streams. Many artists don’t have the skills to manage sound during live performances. You’ll do much better than just singing along to a backing singer on your phone and recording yourself with your camera. We live in crazy times, so listeners are willing to forgive some bad-sounding live streams. However, as audiences become more comfortable with this concert format, this will not always be the case.
For live streams, it’s often more important to talk between songs than for in-person concerts.
Digital concerts are more intimate than traditional shows and require artists to interact with their audience. This is good news for musicians looking to build deeper connections with their fans. Unless you have a musical identity focused on “no conversations and only music”, the digital concert space is a wonderful time to share stories with your fans, interact with them directly and display your personality as a performer and person.
Digital concerts are a great way to break down age, location, and financial status barriers.
Digital concerts can be a great way to reach fans younger than 21 if you have ever felt frustrated by not being able to perform in another country. Even for those who are already successful, touring is a difficult task. Live streams allow people all over the globe to see your performances without you ever having to leave your house or music studio. Your cash-strapped fans can also see you perform if you offer your digital shows a free or suggested donation.
Live streams have more flexibility in terms of payment options.
Unless you are in the early stages of your career and still playing coffee shops and open mic nights, the payment structure for live shows is not flexible and often unfavourable to artists. Digital concerts allow you to control everything. You can set your ticket prices to gain exclusive access to your shows or make them free for viewers to donate. This flexibility allows musicians to have financial independence they don’t have when playing at regular venues. However, it also means that they are responsible for arranging payment methods and pricing their shows.
The pandemic has robbed musicians of many opportunities. Although live-streaming won’t replace what we lost, it is a reliable way to stay connected with our fans.