Ten Benefits of Live Stream Musical Performances Over Live Performances

Ten Benefits of Live Stream Musical Performances Over Live Performances
 
Author: Chris Thompson (retired Professional Engineer (electrical engineering) and drummer/bassist in gigging small jazz ensembles and big bands for 50 (!) years)
 
Note: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Ottawa Jazz Happenings or of JazzWorks.
 
In the current COVID-19 crisis, many musicians have turned to live streaming musical performances* from their homes to at least partially replace their lost income from live performing and teaching, and/or because they miss performing. An example is the Canadian National Arts Centre’s ‘Canada Performs’ series. Musicians who at the beginning of March 2020 didn’t even know what a live stream was have scrambled to come up to speed so that they could put on live stream performances from their homes.
 
* The word ‘performance’ in the remainder of this article refers to a ‘musical performance’.
 
I got involved with live streaming at the end of March 2020 when Carmen Vacchio, General Manager of Zolas Italian Restaurant in Bells Corners, asked me to help him with live streaming performances by Zolas jazz performers in order to help support Zolas’ takeout and delivery business during this very difficult time for restaurants. I had been booking the performers for Zolas’ ‘Live Jazz Saturday Nights’ program for the previous two years. Being an engineer (and borderline OCD – not a job requirement, but definitely an asset), I like to think about things and, if possible, generate lists and/or spreadsheets. As I’ve learned over the years, this can be very annoying to non-engineers – and especially spouses. During the past two months I’ve watched a lot of live streamed performances and thought a lot about live stream performances in general. I’ve noticed and have been keeping a running list of the benefits of live stream performances over live performances. Here’s my current list:

1. performers and audience members don’t need to travel
2.  performers don’t need to rent performance venues and pay sound engineers
3.  audience members can be anywhere in the world (the ‘death of distance’), so that live stream performances quite literally can and do have ‘global audiences’
4. audience members can enjoy live stream performances by performers whom they like but would otherwise not be able to see perform (e.g. NAC’s Canada Performs series)
5.  audience members can enjoy live stream performances in the comfort of their own homes, with high quality audio and video (to watch live stream performances, I connect my iPad to our home theatre system)
6. every audience member has ‘the best seat in the house’
7.  live stream performances are more intimate than live performances:
   1.  it’s like the performer is with you in your living room and the performance is just for you
      
   2. seeing performers’ homes and how they’re decorated makes you feel like you know the performers better
   3. via comments (aka ‘chat’) there’s a level of interaction between audience members and the performer, and even among audience members themselves (because you can see and comment on other audience members’ comments), that doesn’t exist with live performances
8. people who miss a live stream performance or who wish to see it again can view an automatically generated recording of the live stream performance it in its entirety, and with audience members’ comments anytime after the actual live stream – unless live performances are videoed, once they’re over they’re gone forever
   1. Note: Lucas Haneman’s and Megan Laurence’s May 9th, 2020 performance in the ‘Zolas Live Jazz Saturday Nights ONLINE! live stream performance series – the first one in the series – had a maximum of 60 viewers at the same time during the live stream but, two days later, had had over 1400 views (more than 20 times as many!).
9. viewers who join a live stream performance late while it is in progress can literally ‘rewind’ the live stream and watch it from the beginning – try arriving late to a live performance and asking the performer(s) to start from the beginning again; similarly, viewers can literally ‘pause’ the live stream whenever they like, in order to get a snack or take a bathroom break, and then resume watching the live stream from where it was paused
10.  performers can view the automatically generated recording of the live stream performance, with audience members’ comments, anytime after the actual live stream in order to review their performance, and can reply to audience member comments made during the live stream

 
Don’t get me wrong. Live performances clearly have a major benefits over live stream performances. For example, live streaming doesn’t allow musicians in different physical locations to play together in real-time (this is the big one), with live performances interaction between the performer(s) and the audience isn’t just text, performance venues such as GigSpace provide much better sound and lighting than live stream performances done from performers’ homes, and live performances allow people to get out of their homes, socialize with others, and combine dining in a restaurant with the performance – wouldn’t that be nice right now (sigh).
 
How long will the current live stream performances last? My own feeling is that, in the case of restaurants,  these will last at least until there are no social distancing restrictions, which likely won’t be until there’s a vaccine, which is currently seen by health care professionals as best case a year away. With social distancing restrictions in place, restaurants won’t be able to have the number of customers in their dining rooms that they need in order to cost-justify hiring performers. The same goes for GigSpace and other performance venues. Not what anyone wants to hear (denial is not just a river in Egypt), but I believe that’s the reality.
 
It’s becoming more and more apparent that, coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, it’s going to be a very different world and a very new ‘normal’. Musicians who are being forced to use live streaming for the first time to make up for their lost teaching and (especially) performing revenues, and/or because they miss performing, are discovering the powerful benefits of live streaming over live performances. I believe that the ‘new normal’ will still have live performances, but possibly fewer, and a lot more live streaming.