All You Need To Know About Live Streaming On Your Club
In the context where fans become members of a club to get access to exclusive content from their favorite artists, live streaming is an obvious next step in taking the clubs to the next level. With the launch of OZ´s new live streaming feature, artists can offer a closer insight into their lives and work to core fans - without producing content in advance and by simply taking advantage of the “now”.
There have already been few live events offered by clubs on OZ so far. From access to music festivals to gymnastics competitions or intimate living room performances, my favorite remains the Dj Flugvél & Geimskip´s Halloween performance at the OZ HQ in Reykjavik. You can watch the recording by joining the Music Reach club HERE.
The difference however, is that now any club owner can set up a live event straight from the Creator tool and offer live performances with hardly any assistance.
The Creative Side: Schedule a Live Event
Before actually going live, you want to set up your event, brand it, build excitement around it and take some time to tease it to fans.
To do so, start by going to the Creator. Sign into your club and then hit Schedule on the menu as shown below:
Hit the green [ + Live Stream] button on the upper right corner.
Add a title and then choose the date of the event including the times when the event will begin.
Further on, choose a poster for your event and a description, fill in the rest of the details and then hit “Add to Schedule” to make your event visible to your subscribers and everyone else.
Then go to your club´s landing page and your event will show up both in the feed and in the Upcoming stream:
Now that your event is visible to everyone, you can start driving traffic towards it and if you haven´t already, enable access to Day Passes.
To actually have a live video feed available to your fans during the already scheduled event, you first need to take care of some technical aspects.
The Tech Side: Download & Install The OZ Encoder
Live Streaming is made possible using the OZ Encoder solution that is available from OZ. This solution is a robust and scalable encoding solution. The encoder software runs on multiple platforms and is optimized for advanced mobile and HD streaming.
To get access to the Encoder, go back to Schedule in the main bar and in the right side, click OZ Live:
You then need to download and install the encoder as per the instructions offered in the creator. Open the file, and drag the Applications, as instructed. Launch OZ Live. It will load without doing anything, and await your command through the OZ Creator.
Note: Your Mac settings might prohibit the launch due to security settings. In that case, to open for the first time, you will have to right-click on the OZ app and choose Open. Next time around, you can open it without any issues like any other application.
The options in streaming are to either use your laptop camera or use another camera. If you would like to use an external camera, you have to follow the next steps:
Setup and connect the Blackmagic
Install the software provided by Blackmagic Design to get your capture device to work properly. From the Blackmgic Design Support website, download the latest version of Desktop Video and follow their installation instructions.
Connect and Configure in Settings
Note: Currently, you must use Google Chrome for configuring the OZ Live
- Log in to your club in OZ Creator and navigate to Settings -> OZ Live
Once you are there, you’ll be asked to allow access to use your camera and microphone. This is for the instant preview on the page, that will help you determine what video source to use.
Note that if you have some other program running that’s using the video device in question, you might not see anything. Those could be for example video capturing/streaming software, communication software (Skype, Google Hangouts) and such.
2. Enter the PIN number shown in OZ Live
3. Select the Video source. When you change the selection, the preview below will show what’s currently there.
4. Select the Audio source. If you chose an external source, this will be disregarded.
6. The last thing you need to configure is the quality of your stream. Videos on OZ are delivered in quality dependant on the viewers’ capabilities; available bandwidth (download speed) and screen size. However, your available upload bandwidth (for streaming from your computer to OZ) might be limited, or the quality of your source might simply not benefit from the highest bandwidth (5000 Kbps). Also, higher quality will require more processing power from your Mac.
7. Now, you can press the “Configure” button to confirm the new settings, and the “Start streaming” button to initiate streaming to OZ, in order to verify everything is working as expected.
9. The preview of the live stream will appear below the Start/Stop buttons shortly after you’ve started it. The delay of the stream is usually 15–30 seconds.
Showtime! Starting and stopping a Live stream
1.We recommend that few hours before your event, verify your setup by running through the configuration with the actual gear you’ll be using — see above
Note that you can open up access to your stream ahead of schedule — it’s great to engage viewers that arrive in a timely manner with your own countdown, for example. As opening up access the stream highlights it in your Club Feed, you probably don’t want to do this too early. We recommend doing this at maximum 15–30 minutes ahead of the event start.
2. Once you’re ready to go live, in OZ Creator navigate to Schedule and choose the event about to start. There you’ll see all the information you already saved, and a preview of your club live stream, so you can rest assured that the stream is working.
3. Once you click the “Go Live” button you will make your stream available to all you members, so congratulations are in order!
4. Once you’re done, press “Go Off-Air”. In a short while, a recording of your live stream will be made available to members of your club for those who did not catch the live stream.
Give it a try and let us know in the comments about your experience. If you have any further questions or need assistance towards setting up a live event, do not hesitate to contact OZ at team@oz.com or Request a Demo with one of our experts.
