Live streaming has certainly become a fine escape for many people who love music in these days of pandemic. It is working out OK for certain musicians and many suddenly less distracted music lovers.
A positive side effect of this quarantine is that many musicians who were too busy playing in the past had not been able to see each other perform, but now they’ve gotten the chance to do so via streaming and begun realize, “Oh that’s what that person’s thing is all about, I had it all wrong in my head.” This can be a source of inspiration. It is always better when contemporary artists can interact and be inspired and expand on each other’s work.
Musicians that sing and play a chordal instrument, like guitar, piano, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, or accordion, definitely have an advantage over a solo horn player in this new solitary environment. Performers with a solid solo show can simply do their show to a new and hungrier audience that may be less likely to shout over their more sensitive material. I personally have done a daily live streaming show for the past consecutive 32 days. I have definitely noticed that the audience is more receptive to my slower, more complex compositions, and for me as a writer, that has been a great source of joy.
There also appears to be a population out there financially contributing to musicians that have relied on live performance for a living. It is definitely encouraging to see and hear about. Yet we have to wonder, how will that continue to evolve if we are really going to be quarantined until July or beyond? The tipping may dwindle as other folks’ accounts continue to be impacted by the hardships that lie ahead.
But some careers may actually thrive as a result of this newly popular performance method. We could just see a new kind of show emerge from the cinders of this pandemic. Great art so often comes from times as challenging as this. Yes, we must worry about the venues that may never return, the people who perish, the systems that collapse. But live streaming is a new friend that can help the viewer and the performer discover a new way to interact and let the age of the cell phone finally become friends with the here and now of live performance.
I am quite certain that even when we are on the other end of this pandemic, the live stream will continue to have a greater role in our culture. It certainly will change, but it will also continue to reinvent itself as long as an audience remains interested in what might happen next.
The record labels are certainly taking notice, and they are getting better at muting content that uses their copyrighted material without proper consent. Yes, often you can follow the money to see where it’s all heading, but for now live streaming is in its Wild West era, yet to be properly ruined by the ugliness of manipulative commerce.
So I think we should simply enjoy it while we are in it. It’s nice to feel good about something so deep in the days of this damn lousy pandemic!
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