Friday, March 20, 2020

Article: The Never-Ending Couch Tour: How Livestreams and Social Media Have Already Transformed Live Music

These are some bizarre times we’re in.  I’m not going to recount the details of the outbreak because you can find it all over the internet.  I’m not going to recount my own personal feelings, because I’m lucky enough to be in a better situation than most.  What I will say is that I really miss seeing live music.  It's really heartening is how all these musicians are going online to meet up with their audiences.  Below are a couple screenshots from live shows I experienced from earlier this week.  Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard has been offering up daily performances.  Also on St. Patrick’s Day, I was invited to a watch part for the Dropkick Murphys live concert as well (132K people!).  Participating in these was strangely satisfying and fulfilling.  Pitchfork wrote an article about it, which you can find below.

"In the days since self-quarantine began, the spirit of Couch Tour has virtually gone mainstream, with livestreams coming from John Legend, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, and Neil Young (who has previously streamed shows via his subscription Neil Young Archives site). Nugs has been working on audience-free webcasts live from several cities. Cafe Oto in London and other venues have hosted crowdless shows, and hopefully more will continue to do so.

Though the post-streaming music industry has been difficult for professional musicians at nearly all levels, the emergence of Couch Tour as a potentially viable income source might be one of the few positive developments in recent years. For now, it may be the perfect activity for a homebound age, both socially present and physically distant. But long after audiences return to venues, the future of Couch Tour will be something to watch."

(Via The Never-Ending Couch Tour: How Livestreams and Social Media Have Already Transformed Live Music | Pitchfork.) 

I’m not sure I can get behind this as a long-term business model, but I’m definitely glad we have the ability to stream these shows now.

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