How Live Streaming is changing the Future of the Music Industry
The second corona wave has once again increased the pressure in the event industry enormously. Despite outstanding hygiene concepts, the industry must once again close its doors to visitors and fans. Since the last lockdown in spring, however, the acceptance rate for paid live stream events (virtual and hybrid) has also increased. Both the need to experience live music of favorite artists as well as the sense of solidarity have made paid live streaming and pay-per-views not only a viable alternative but also a long-term way to experience events. Ticketed live streaming is proving to be a promising solution during the crisis, which can also establish itself as a promising solution beyond the pandemic.
Live streams: the new way to experience music
In many areas, the pandemic has accelerated trends that were already occurring. In the field of entertainment, this is live streaming. Platforms like Youtube or Twitch offer a solution for this and are already used by many artists.
Artists such as Billie Eilish, Post Malone and the Dropkick Murphys have not only generated millions of clicks but also millions in sales with live stream concerts. On Twitch, more than 336,000 people simultaneously watched the “HorrorCamp” by German entertainer Knossi which set a new record.
In the future, these figures are likely to continue to rise — regardless of how long the pandemic will last. For live entertainment, this is a promising opportunity to partially make up for the sharp drop in profits since the beginning of the year.
Solutions are urgently needed in the music industry
Currently, according to Omdia, revenues from ticket sales in the music industry are falling by almost 75% from 23.5 billion to 6.3 billion US dollars. According to the research company, the slump will probably not return to pre-crisis levels until 2023. To partially compensate this, venues and artists rely primarily on voluntary donations from their fan community. According to surveys conducted by Nielsen, the willingness of fans to pay for their favorite artists and venues has increased significantly since the beginning of the Corona crisis. While the figure was 28% in July, it is now over 50%. If live streaming becomes established similar to music streaming (Spotify, Soundcloud etc.), the number is likely to increase even further.
Live music streaming: A platform profitable for artists and organizers is missing
However, the existing platforms are not optimized for artists and venues that are particularly dependent on income. For ticketing in times of the Corona crisis a platform is needed in which artists and venues can use a variety of functions.
In our opinion, the following features are necessary to meet the needs of the industry:
1. Ticketed Live Streams
With her live stream concert “Where do we go?” Billie Eilish showed us what concerts in the future could look like. For the event industry and artists, however, the first step is to set up a scalable and profitable ticketing solution. In addition to the classic monetization possibilities on social media, innovative PPV models similar to those used in professional sports must be established in the long term. Due to the cross-national reach of a live stream, the acceptance of different currencies, country-specific language settings in the booking process and the offering of ticket variants for different time zones must also be guaranteed.
2. Integrable cross and upsell options
In order to make the customer journey pleasant and to address as many users as possible, a platform is needed that integrates individual cross- and up-sell options. The design of an own artist page and ticket store as well as merchandising options are usable advantages.
3. Secure and cross-device stream access
Whether using a tablet, PC, smartphone or streaming adapter it is important that today’s devices can stream to a wide variety of devices in the highest quality — designed to be intuitive and easy to use. Especially in paid ticketing it is essential for artists and organizers that a ticket cannot be distributed to other people, even if it is used on different devices.
4. Data based marketing
Personalized live stream tickets and the data generated from them offer enormous potential, especially in the area of data driven marketing: which users use certain pages and functions, how long they use them and whether certain designs, music snippets, posts, etc. are received well or less well. This user data can be used to create personalized offers and optimize fan engagement, so that passive participants are converted into loyal fans. Relevant insights about the own audience can be gained through corresponding metrics and target-oriented marketing can be successfully implemented.
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In summary, the following can be stated: The willingness of fans to pay for live streamed concerts is already there and will continue to grow in the future. Also among artists and organizers there is an urgent need to make up for losses in sales by alternative solutions. In the future, digital, profitable and scalable solutions will therefore play a relevant role in the music industry. The earlier artists use them for their own benefit, the better positioned they will be for the future.
