Containment has had an unprecedented impact in many sectors. In particular, the culture and entertainment industry suffered a lot. In the music industry, many artists have been unable to perform on stage, and have lost their main sources of income, despite some initiatives thanks to live streaming.
But the confinement also saw great opportunities for musical artists. The opportunity to accelerate into digital and open new perspectives, to reach new audiences or increase online revenues.
You have certainly heard about the concert of BTS the K POP band which generated 35 million in revenue with live streaming. This kind of success story may seem exceptional and reserved to international artists, but in reality, making a concert in live streaming is neither complicated nor expensive, as long as you are determined to do it.
Many are still skeptical about the usage (will users want to watch a concert in streaming?) or the technique (will the video or recording be of good enough quality?).
We will show you here that anyone can organize a live streaming concert without a large budget or high-tech equipment.
The advantages of live streaming concerts for band & artists
Obviously, this is not to say that live streaming is the only future alternative and should replace physical concerts, but rather to say that it is a complementary solution to physical events. Let’s see, a small summary of the advantages of live streaming for musical artists:
– Less financial risks for artists thanks to the pre-sale ticket system.
On digital it is possible to collect tickets in advance and only decide to organize a concert if a minimum budget is reached. So, if the budget is not reached, all you’ll have to do is reimburse those who have already paid.
– No need for a big budget to set up a live streaming concert.
A live streaming concert requires less budget than a physical concert. Indeed, the absence of an audience eliminates many costs: place location, security, sound and lights… It is quite possible to make innovative concerts in atypical or intimate places for example.
– Boost fan engagement.
Live streaming concerts allow you to keep in touch with your fans. Digital tools also allow more proximity: interactive interviews, Q&A, backstage etc… (see point 5 below).
– Give a modern image thanks to digital devices and live streaming.
Performing in live streaming allows you to show that you are creative and innovative. And also that you seek to adapt to situations to continue to feed your audience through your art.
So, convinced? If so, let’s see how to create a live streaming concert with all-in-one streaming solutions like OKAST.
Steps to create your concert in live stream (with OKAST)
As an artist, you may think: “I have no skills in coding”, “I don’t know how to use complex digital tools” or “I don’t have the budget to create such a system”…
Don’t worry! There are turnkey tools, like OKAST, to create your own streaming platform very easily with very reasonable prices.
1/ Create your own audio or video streaming platform, simply and quickly.
We have often explained on this blog why it is important to have your own platform without depending only on GAFAs. Getting your own streaming platform is essential, in addition to social networks, to broadcast exclusive content, keep control over one’s data, and showcase your art.
In fact, all you have to do is create an account on OKAST, upload your audio or video content, a logo, a few images and you have a first professional platform. You will be able to manage online ticketing (e-ticketing, pay-per-view), your users, your content, analysis reports… All from a single online tool.
You will therefore be able to broadcast and monetize already produced content, but also organize live streaming concerts for your community.
Now that you have understood that there are simple and powerful tools available that allow you to have a platform, not only to broadcast your concerts but also to showcase your creations while having tools to monetize and manage your fan base, let’s see in detail how to create live streaming for your concerts.
2/ From the OKAST back-office, create a live streaming event (for example a concert) and set up pre-sales.
To do this, create a new live video:
then:
- Fill in the date and time
- A clear description of this live
- Details on the artist or group
- An attractive picture
Take care of these elements, it is this information that will appear on the page of your platform dedicated to the event with a countdown.
NOTE: we won’t discuss here the “recording” part, but today with just 2 cameras and a live production solution (like Switcher Studio) you can send an RTMP stream on our servers. Then we manage the encoding, hosting, and distribution. If you’re looking for a solution for capturing OR a place to record a concert contact us at hello@okast.tv.
Once the event is created, you can create a pre-sales system to allow your users to buy tickets for the live streaming concert.
3/ Presell your digital tickets for your concert.
Go to the offer menu and create a new offer for your concert. Choose the price and the duration of access to the content (this can be 1 day in the case of a concert only in live streaming, but several days if you offer replay or bonus content).
Note: it is possible, for example, to create several prices plans for your concert, for example:
- 1 basic ticket giving access to the live streaming concert
- 1 VIP ticket giving access to more: access to VOD replay, bonus content, backstage, merchandising, live chat with the artist etc…
At OKAST, we believe in the love of fans, and we offer the possibility of adding a donation widget to allow users to donate more than the price indicated.
4/ Tease and promote
Once your platform is online, your event page and the online ticketing system are ready, it’s time to promote your concert. Use all the Marketing & Communication technics possible, such as:
- Be active on all social networks and solicit your “True Fans” to help you spread the word.
- Contact journalists with a press release
- Send an email to your fan base (if you have their emails)
- Ask partners or influencers to do some promotion for your music event.
5/ Use the power of digital to propose a unique device for your live streaming concert.
Yes, a live streaming concert is not the same experience as a physical concert… However, play with the opportunities offered by digital to offer a different digital experience:
- Offer special mechanisms to engage your fans in live: broadcast content generated by your fans on social networks (tweets, TikTok videos…).
- Be interactive: ask your fans to vote for the song they want to hear, and play the one that gets the most votes.
- Offer replay, backstage content or interactive live chat with the artist (on OKAST you can do all that)
Some tools allow to make a live production by switching between 2 cameras or enrich the video feed. Take a look at this article which summarizes some interesting tools for live streaming, complementary to OKAST.
As you will have understood, 2020 opensed new perspectives for artists or music groups. If you have plans for a streaming platform around music to offer live or on-demand content, contact us at hello@okast.tv, we will be happy to help you.