4 Ways Live and Digital Music are Teaming Up

The 'new' live concerts are becoming more popular to music fans because one can save costs without paying for expensive tickets and convenience fees. Music webcasting has shown promise for over a decade, but the stage is set now for an online live-music revolution. Recently, YouTube broadcasted its first ever live full-length concert. U2 was the performing band which brought in 10 million viewers worldwide in addition to the 100,000 attended in person. Overall, this event was seen as YouTubes biggest event in the site's history. The audience for live online music began first at the Tibetan Freedom Concert which drew 36,000 viewers in 1996. Today's users who are accustomed to social networking want entertainment and information in a real-time environment. Billboard Live, is increasingly becoming more popular. This service let fans choose between four high-bandwidth Microsoft Silverlight streams, using partner OWLive's technology. IPhone users can watch a particular show in near-real time through an app using iStreamPlanet's first-ever bandwidth-adaptive HTTP stream of live music. Most importantly, from a band's perspective, they are seeing these services as great opportunity to extend their presence beyond the venue they're in. The next step is for fans viewing a concert remotely to interact with a show within a venue, putting messages on the stage or even sounds in the speakers. Deep Rock Drive which has been experimenting with his concept stated in the article, " Instant participatory engagement is becoming key to the consumption of online entertainment, and the only way to do that is to make sure it's live." On the other hand, Sony Club Dates is developing an experience where fans can watch prerecorded shows directly to movie-theater screens. The company plans to beam live shows to theaters by satellite, selling tickets and sponsorships. Mike Fidler, Sony vice president of digital cinema solutions and services said in the article, " We've converted [theaters] to a digital platform, using digital projectors and a connected environment as we move into the world order that exists today." A valid statement almost made by Mike was the fact that theater's demographics are really aligned with music demographics--close to 70 percent of the people attending theaters are under 30. Finally, show goers can buy professionally recorded concerts as they exit a venue on USB stick, CD, DVD or as a digital delivery. EMI is generated this idea to offer fans the ultimate encore.

--Ryan Dolan

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/11/4-ways-live-and-digital-music-are-teaming-up-to-rock-your-world/