Happs Musician Q&A: Kerri Long
An interview with Kerri Long — mom, singer-songwriter, voice coach, and Berklee grad — about making music (and money) on Happs
More and more musicians are discovering Happs and seeing why it’s a great place to perform and connect with fans (and other musicians who broadcast live too). Below, we talk with Kerri Long, mom, singer-songwriter, voice coach, and Berklee grad about her experience livestreaming on Happs. (These are edited excerpts from a longer conversation.)
How long have you been performing as a live broadcaster?
I’ve been live streaming for six years. I started on Periscope, hosting talent shows and music festivals. I tried several other apps until I came over to Happs.
What do you like about broadcasting Happs?
Immediately, it felt like there was a community on Happs. And the communication between the Happs team and us musicians was great, especially after feeling ignored at other platforms.
Also, I love how easy it is to multicast on Happs. I’m not very tech savvy and it’s great to be able to stream to all these other platforms easily. It’s very easy for even my parents to hop on and just catch a stream, which they never were able to do easily before. It’s neat that my friends on Facebook and my family are able to watch me now. I just began streaming out to Twitch, which I’ve never streamed out to before. All that is huge for me.
Has multicasting had a big impact?
Yes, showing up on other apps means people I know are getting introduced to livestreaming and falling in love with it. The cumulative audience and bigger viewer numbers are fantastic too. From Facebook or Twitch, I can move them over to Happs: “See how tiny I am on your screen? Come on over to Happs and I can take up your full screen.” And then we can do requests and people can give awards.
What else stood out about Happs compared to other platforms you’ve used?
The platform is extremely user friendly and very aesthetically pleasing. When I went on Twitch, it didn’t look very pretty. And it was very tough for me to interact; the comments were small and I couldn’t really see what was going on. So I wasn’t feeling it very much.
Then I came over to Happs and I’m like, “Wow! This is like going from an Android to an iPhone.” Everything is just easy and user friendly. It works. It looks beautiful. You know exactly what’s going on. It’s got a Discover tab, it’s got music, it’s got people who are live.
I also enjoy there is not a Top 5 or anything, which made for a really bad competition on another platform. Everyone was always trying to get each other’s followers, get each other’s tips, and make it to number one. I like that there’s no rankings like that on Happs.
I came over to Happs and I’m like, “Wow! This is like going from an Android to an iPhone.”
What type of musical community have you found at Happs?
Community is tough to build on bigger platforms because there are just so many people everywhere. It took me a while to gather all of the musicians on Periscope and filter through them. I can tell within about 5–10 seconds if a musician is going to be worth having on one of the shows I hosted. And so, I invested a lot of time in those people and introducing them to my community. So, I’ve got a strong group of 30+ musicians that aren’t just musicians, but quality livestreamers. Because you can get great musician who comes on and doesn’t know how to interact and it’s going to be a problem.
What’s the key to being a musician who’s also a good livestreamer?
Musicians who can follow along with comments, make eye contact, interact, and be fun to watch. Viewers want entertainment. They don’t just want to watch somebody practice. Watching somebody jam is fantastic, but it’s not enough to be compelling if you’re at home just staring at them on the screen.
Gotcha. How do you interact with fellow musicians on Happs?
I’ll give you an example: I popped into someone else’s stream recently and everyone was so supportive. I was getting these good vibes and I saw he’s got a nice little community of friends. And then I started noticing they crossed streams and it wasn’t just little segregated groups like I’ve seen on other platforms. The whole community really seems to come together to help everyone do well. Everyone’s pushing each other to succeed and cheerleading in the comments: “Let’s get those tips up and let’s reach those (funding) goals.”
Also, the Happs team is just as much part of the community as the people broadcasting. It’s amazing. The Happs team is available, doing tutorials, Q&As, updates, accommodating us when we have feature requests or questions. That’s one of the huge reasons I love Happs. The Happs team is available for us and it’s amazing.
Some of Kerri’s tips for musicians who livestream: Follow along with the comments, make eye contact, interact, and be fun to watch. Viewers want entertainment. They don’t just want to watch somebody practice.
Is there an example that comes to mind of a broadcast where you collaborated with other musicians?
I did that on a broadcast with Swift Beats. I got to go on and jam with some musicians, which was fantastic for me. I graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston back in 2010, but I haven’t had that kind of inspiration around me for a while. And it was especially nice during this year, when everybody’s by themselves and there’s no live music anywhere. It’s been tough. So to be able to pop on someone’s broadcast and make music with other people live was amazing. It felt really good. It’s an incredible thing for musicians to be able to hop on and jam in real time with real people.
Swift Beats was putting a loop on and I was playing some piano to it and then somebody else was playing guitar to it and putting some synth on it. And we were coming up with some lyrics and it was all really fun. It was unexpected. And that’s what I love about this community. You pop in and say, “Hi.” And they’re like, “Come on in. It’s great.” It was really wonderful. I got off of that stream, went to my husband, and I was like, “That was incredible. I just got to jam with people for the first time in years.” Because I have a three-year-old. I can’t go out jamming all the time. So it was just incredible. I felt inspired.
“To be able to pop on someone’s broadcast and make music with other people live was amazing. It felt really good. It’s an incredible thing for musicians to be able to hop on and jam in real time with real people.”
How did it make you feel inspired?
It was very inspiring to hop on Happs and see I could just jam with some amazing musicians who have never met before and be able to come up with a product that people liked. Musicians need to be able to jam in order to write and create. They need to be able to have a space that’s safe to just be open and everybody can, in real time, come up with what sounds good. And the viewers get to watch that creation process, which is incredible. It was amazing and a really fun experience.
What advice would you give to musicians who want to try Happs?
What I would tell anybody who’s going to be performing is it’s different than being on stage, where it’s a live experience with people next to you giving you energy and a vibe. There, you can just play your songs.
Online, people aren’t looking for that type of show. They want something engaging in a different way. When I’m going to perform, I don’t think, “I’m going to perform eight songs back-to-back-to-back and, in between, just say, ‘That was the song. Here’s the next one.’” You’re not playing an actual set. Musicians who livestream should think of it as going online for an hour to talk to people. Interact with them and get a rapport going. After you guys have spoken for about 5 or 10 minutes, somebody might then say, “Why don’t you play a tune that you like?” And then you play one and talk a little bit about it.
“Real” shows are more black and white; like, you get on stage, you play, and you get off. This is more “Hey, guys. I’m just turning on my phone. Just getting going here. Let’s get some chatting started. Let me know what you guys are feeling. If you guys have any requests, please let me know. If you guys have some favorite artists or bands, put them in there. Favorite songs too. And while you guys are doing that, let’s just say hi. Let’s get everybody chatting with each other.” You get that going and then play the songs. You’re basically hosting your own show.
I got off of that stream, went to my husband, and I was like, “That was incredible. I just got to jam with people for the first time in years.” Because I have a three-year-old. I can’t go out jamming all the time. So it was just incredible. I felt inspired.
How about interacting with the commenters and the audience? How important is that for musicians?
It’s absolutely a priority because people are watching you as entertainment. They want that that back and forth. If they wanted to watch TV, they’d turn on TV or watch a musician playing a pre-taped set on YouTube. They want to see that interaction.
Now, do you stop every single time you see a comment as you’re playing? No. But if I see them coming through and I’m playing and I can happen to read a comment for a second, I’ll grab one so they know I can see/hear them and I’m with them.
And if there’s an instrumental break, then I’ll get back to some comments. I’ll say, “OMG. Yeah, that’s so true, Trevor. Thank you.” And then keep going. It doesn’t have to be this performance where you start singing and it’s completely serious and then you end. Talk within your performance. And after you finish a song, don’t go right into another one. Have 5 or 10 minutes where you can connect with your audience again. Let them know you’re reading the comments. Interact with them. Make them feel heard and special. Let them know you’re paying attention to them. And that’s when you get the super fans, that’s when you get the awards. Interaction is huge.
Any other advice for musicians new to livestreaming?
Keep doing it. Do it on a daily basis until you’re comfortable with it. At first, my knees would be shaking when I would perform. My voice was shaking. And then all of a sudden, I was doing it daily. I was like, “Oh, my God. I became a livestreamer and I don’t know when it happened.”
It’s like practicing any other instrument. You don’t have to do it seven days a week, but do it four or five days a week for 15-20 minutes, you’ll get used to it and know what it feels like when you go live. Then the next time, you’re less nervous. For your very first time, consider going live on somebody else’s broadcast. Ask if you can join and interact with them, see how it works. Then, if you like it, go live on your own.
Do you always go live at the same time or do you mix it up?
I stream when I have the energy, when I know I’m going to be a good performer. Trying different broadcast times is really important because I’ve noticed when I go live in the morning, I’m getting all these people from the other side of the world whom I never see at night because they’re sleeping. But then you miss your evening crowd, so it’s important to switch it up. Sometimes I go live on a Friday or Saturday afternoon because it’s a great time to really connect with everybody in different time zones. I’ll do a nighttime one one day and a daytime one another day. Because some people are busy on Wednesday nights but free on Tuesdays. Changing up that schedule is going to give you the most viewers and the most subscriptions.
What’s your experience been like with awards and sponsorships at Happs?
It’s very user friendly. The awards are built right in. You can easily make tips. You can also be sponsored, which I couldn’t do anywhere else. So, if you’re a gigging musician and you’re used to going out and making tips or getting paid by certain venues, you can come on over to Happs and very easily, very quickly, that day, be able to start making money performing. And the more you perform, the more you’re going to make. And for a musician who’s trying to make a living that way, it’s definitely a huge thing.
It’s been pretty cool for me personally. I hit my first $200 cash out after I began streaming daily. I’ve had some nights where I make like $40-50. And then I’ve had some when I make like $10. And I know the potential to be making hundreds is right there. I really enjoy the fact that the payout is quick and easy too. I’m a stay-at-home mom so being able to make my own money for the first time in years is great.
And the awards are really fun. It’s not just like you get hearts or something. They’re interactive and I do something different for each one. If they’re giving me an “Appreciate You Award” or a “Talented Award,” they get used to seeing these little things that I do and that’s fun — a little choreography to the awards.
Any other reasons you think musicians should try Happs?
You can perform in a fun, supportive environment (on Happs). You’re going to be able to make money doing what you love. And you’ll be streaming to the biggest possible audience that you can. For a musician and livestreamer, Happs makes the most sense of any of the apps out there. I’m really enjoying it and I hope that a bunch of people will come on over and jump on board as well.
