What do do in the music industry during this quarantine?
During this time, all tours and festivals have been cancelled or postponed… so what will happen to the music industry?
Cherie Hu sits down with “Music Business Podcast” to talk about “Navigating the Music Business during Quarantine.” This is a very serious discussion right now as a big part of musicians profits happen during touring.
Cherie Hu’s expertise in the music industry lies at the intersection of music and tech, which is where L1NEUP DIGITAL parallels. Cherie Hu has written for publications including, Billboard, Forbes, Music Business Worldwide, Rolling Stone, and many more.
During this quarantine time, there will be a lot more live streaming going on. South by Southwest has been putting out some video streams; something indie artists can really take advantage of during this time, as well. Since artists can’t connect right now physically with their fans in person, digital marketing is of the utmost importance for an artists career.
Hu talks about some exciting changes in the music industry due to this change by seeing the resiliency of artists that are jumping towards engagement with not only fans but other artists in the field. If you want to read more about Hu, here is a link to her blog:
Musicians and artists are opening up their creative process to the public and using platforms such as Twitch to engage with their audience and show what they are working on. Transparency during this time is key and to show that you are still relevant and working on music. This digital era has brought open communication through social apps like TikTok where artists can sample some snippets of future releases, Snapchat, Instagram live streams, videos, podcasts, and live broadcasting.
A bunch of new trends are emerging in the music industry to find alternative ways of reaching their fans and while it might not stick forever, we are definitely seeing how technology can help us all stay connected. We are seeing new platforms that can be used virtually for the future of music.
As Cherie mentioned, John Legend’s live stream was a really cool one to introduce as it had such a personal feel to it, with his wife joining him later one with a glass of wine by his side. These are times that we’ve never experienced before but the transition of music to fans has truly been eye-opening. Artists are taking the show online to share some musical joy during these trying times. You can check them out here: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9335531/coronavirus-quarantine-music-events-online-streams
Here is another platform being used to share music with fans: https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Music%20%26%20Performing%20Arts
There have also been DJ battles going on, such as watching on Zoom, Lil Jon battle T-Pain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsjcWkY3eZo
A huge live streaming event is happening on Saturday 18th April, at 5 pm (PT). This will be a huge collaboration with Lady Gaga, and feature performances from Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Burna Boy, Chris Martin, David Beckham, Eddie Vedder, Elton John, FINNEAS, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan, and Stevie Wonder. This will not be one to miss and you can see it here, at the Global Citizen website: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/one-world-together-at-home-covid-19-broadcast/
Miley Cyrus: has started a live streaming podcast of sorts called, “Bright Minded.” You can find it on her Instagram. It’s not really a concert, but she has a plethora of guests on Monday through Friday on her Instagram. She is finding a way to include positivity in a time of stress and anxiety, all while staying relevant by letting her fans into a personal aspect of her life. (Very smart marketing) Her show’s guests so far have included everyone from Reese Witherspoon to Hilary Duff to a Hannah Montana reunion with Emily Osment to a revealing reunion with Selena Gomez. (Whoa)
It’s set to be shown live on TV channels around the world including ABC, NBC and the BBC, as well as on Amazon Prime Video, Facebook, YouTube and many more digital channels. It will be hard to miss, basically. $35 million has already been raised and the hope is the concert will raise more. You can find out more on the Global Citizen website.
What we might see is a lot more artists deliberately doing a live stream before an in person stream or live show to create hype and excitement from fans strategically. This might be a marketing vehicle we see continue to happen after this quarantine is over to drive sales and audience to their performances.
A cool thing mentioned in this podcast is that for the first time in history, is that it is now acceptable to ask a DJ a question during their performance. This is a unique value of live streaming. We are given a direct artist to fan connection, as the artists are directly hearing comments from their fans while they are working. Dj’s have NO choice but to hear your requests lol.
While live-streaming is an incredible source of connection, there are other options available as well: such as Twitch. Twitch has been used mainly as a source for gamers but more and more we’re seeing musicians apply their work to this platform as a communication device for fans to interact with their music as it’s happening. There have even been artists seen playing games with each other artists which enhances the personal factor of the artist.
Another cool idea for musicians to do during this time would be to get together (virtually) and do a live panel where they can speak on music, current projects, collaborations, and how they are working during this time. Every artist has their own process so this panel would be very cool to see the difference in artists’ work flow for their own, unique process. A way for artist’s to make money during this time, would be to charge a fee to view this panel on a certain platform so they still can make some profit and continue creating music, while this epidemic is going on.
No matter what — there will always be live music. I think right now, we have a way to just cut out the middle man so to speak, and engage with the artist directly.
We have apps available such as Venmo, Zelle, and Cashapp to where we can directly pay the artist and be able to view their live stream and actually engage in commenting with the artist and their work. I think how we see gamers make money through live streaming, the same theme will start to happen with musicians.
For more information, keep up with L1NEUP DIGITAL’s blogs. We are here to keep you informed and updated, as well as help with any of your digital marketing, awareness, and engagement needs.
Originally published at https://www.l1neupdigital.com on April 13, 2020.
