Livestream Concerts Boomed During Lockdown. Are They Music's Future or Just a Pandemic Fad?
Oct 14 2020
Takeaways
- The music industry has increasingly turned to livestreamed concerts to try to make up for the massive losses sustained from the cancellation and postponement of in-person events due to the pandemic.
- An ongoing experiment is underway to find and develop the best technology and techniques for engaging fans and convincing them to pay for digital shows.
- Some themes are emerging in what works, what doesn't, and what's coming next.
Post Malone and his bandmates donned women's dresses while livestreaming a Nirvana tribute. British artist Yungblud livestreamed a performance reminiscent of a variety talk show. And Linkin Park's lead singer Mike Shinoda created a series of albums developed entirely in collaboration with his digital followers on Twitch.
Welcome to the new era of live concert-streaming.
<p>
With the pandemic effectively vaporizing the in-person concerts business, hamstrung artists and venues seeking alternative ways to engage fans have turned to livestreaming.
</p><p>
Although a livestreamed show cannot completely replicate an in-person concert, the medium also presents artists an untapped creative outlet – and a new challenge: to convince their fans that ticketed shows are worth the price of admission.
</p><p>
"These platforms have no filter. You're not hiding behind a stage full of pyrotechnics and a carefully crafted public messaging or marketing veneer; it's just you," Tim Westergren, founder of Bay Area-based streaming platform
<a href="https://sessionslive.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sessions Live</a> and former co-founder of Pandora, told <a href="http://dot.la/" target="_self">dot.LA</a>.
</p><p>
It's a high-stakes challenge, as many artists have grown to
<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-do-musicians-make-money-2018-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rely on live performances</a> for the majority of their income.
</p><p>
And as the pandemic runs its indefinite course, many companies are jockeying to provide artists, their teams and a music industry at large striving to stay afloat with the next generation of livestreaming infrastructure.
</p><p>
What has emerged is a vast, ongoing experiment to find the best way to engage fans and convince them to pay.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxNTAxNy9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTk5ODI3Nn0.X3Oe7kWDVNBEO4yjHJF-zhOF_TCTpK2YQZ2jBEXGFvY/image.png?width=980" id="ce968" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9d641b2dab3bcc9f53263f79a1dd70e0" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Rapper, singer and songwriter Swae Lee performs on LiveXLive.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of LiveXLive</small>
</p><h2>Born of Necessity
</h2><p>
Livestreaming didn't receive serious attention or investment before the pandemic, not least because
<a href="https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/live/concert-industry-continues-growth-in-2020" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the in-person concert business was booming</a>. It wasn't until Q3 of this year that concert trade magazine Pollstar even began tracking livestreaming data.
</p><p>
But COVID-19 dealt the concerts business a serious sucker punch. Pollstar
<a href="https://www.pollstar.com/article/pollstar-projects-2020-total-box-office-would-have-hit-122-billion-144197" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">forecast in April</a> that artists, concert venues and labels were set to lose nearly $9 billion in revenue if live concerts didn't resume in 2020.
</p><p>
By August, Beverly Hills-based concert promoter Live Nation had
<a href="https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_19bf23a09544b20863d611305c50fbbd/livenationentertainment/db/670/6151/earnings_release_pdf/LYV+2Q20+Release+Final.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported a 95% decline</a> in year-over-year concert revenues.
</p><p>
Following a frantic period of shutdowns, reopenings and weighing options, the music industry has realized that live concerts won't be back anytime soon. It is now scrambling to figure out how to make livestreaming work.
</p><p>
"There was some shellshock early on," said Prajit Gopal, founder of L.A.- and NYC-based
<a href="https://www.loopedlive.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">LoopedLive</a>, a streaming platform specialized in combining its 'digital venue' with a patented form of one-on-one digital meet-and-greets. "Over the last month or so, everybody is diving into it."
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.livexlive.com" target="_blank">LiveXLive</a>, for instance, a sprawling NASDAQ-listed music company based in West Hollywood, has
<a href="https://ir.livexlive.com/news/news-details/2020/LiveXLive-Announces-A-Record-55K-Quarterly-Increase-In-Paid-Subscribers-To-A-Total-Record-932K-Pay-Per-View-Revenue-Generates-1.35-Million-Drives-Record-Sponsorship-Deals-And-Reports-Additional-Key-2020-Year-To-Date-Operational-Metrics/default.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">amped up its livestreaming shows by 289%</a> over the last six months compared to the same period in 2019.
</p><p>
Greg Patterson, who'd previously been head of music at Eventbrite, told dot.LA that he saw L.A.-based
<a href="https://veeps.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Veeps</a> is "one of two or three companies that changed really quickly" in response to the pandemic, spinning up its first livestreamed show in March. Patterson joined Veeps in May to help the company develop its livestreaming business to complement its pre-existing suite of tools for 'long-tail artists,' such as direct-to-fan ticketing.
</p><p>
"Since then, there's been what feels like another company every 30 seconds," Patterson said, noting that the field remains very fluid. "It feels like the early 2000s startup period, where there were no rules."
</p><p>
"It's absolutely the wild West," said music industry veteran Stephen Prendergast. "To make it work we need people coming up with ideas and tech to make it more compelling; it can't be a flat, one-screen dimension."
</p><p>
In other words, artists sitting in their bedrooms and broadcasting on Instagram and Facebook won't cut it.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxNTAyNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2MTQ5MTIyMX0.WVGduHVt-IrvSZMr7XQVoxvFNC6vUVfs9c3TjSLKE4o/image.png?width=980" id="be035" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ab2e825696933921c47d7efcf70b701c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Image courtesy of Veeps</small></p><h2>More Than a Concert
</h2><p>
New solutions have sprung up to do what concerts do best: put fans in the same space as the bands they love. But because a digital show has its limitations, there are also ongoing efforts to provide fans with online experiences that they wouldn't find at a traditional concert.
</p><p>
"I always say, 'do things in digital that you can't do in the real world'," LiveXLive President Dermot McCormack told dot.LA.
</p><p>
Many streaming services have started to provide coaching services to help artists exploit the unique opportunities a digital platform affords, and increasingly so as data comes in showing what works and what doesn't.
</p><p>
"If you do the same thing over and over again, people won't want to tune in," Gopal, LoopedLive's CEO, told dot.LA. When his company hosted a livestreamed show for the cast of "Hamilton," the performers used LoopedLive's private meet-and-greet feature for more than 'Hi, how are you.' Lin Manuel-Miranda, for instance, regaled fans with freestyle raps about a topic of their choice, and some cast members gave quick dance lessons.
</p><p>
During Grammy-winner Brandi Carlile's Veeps stream in early October, she and her band paused the show for a 30-minute fan Q&A that spanned topics from whether the band ever gets on each other's nerves to how life has been during the quarantine and the status of Carlile's forthcoming book. The band then obliged a fan's request to sing happy birthday to her daughter.
</p><p>
McCormack pointed to a 20-minute Q&A one artist hosted in the middle of a LiveXLive-hosted performance. "The fans lapped it up," he said. "We had to switch off the comments, they were moving so quickly."
</p><p>
Fans also seem to like when artists lean in to the sort of unmediated intimacy that accompanies livestreaming. "Artists'll play a song and go 'fuck, let me start again' – fans love that; in comes a basket of tips when that happens. It's about relatability and connection," said Westergren.
</p><p>
For K-Pop artist James Lee, "there's definitely a rush" that comes with livestreaming. Lee, who has performed on Sessions, told dot.LA that, "I have not been on stage in over a year. [Streaming] feels very intimate. There is more of a burden because nobody is in the room with you and everything depends on me."
</p><p>
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda took that intimacy to another level with his three-volume album, "Dropped Frames." Shinoda's fans on Twitch suggested themes and lyrics that he transposed into songs, some of which even included fan-submitted vocals.
</p><p>
More such experimentation is likely to come.
<a href="https://dice.fm" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DICE</a> general manager of North American operations Shanna Jade Vélez told dot.LA she is "expecting to see a lot more innovation when it comes to interactivity." The company began operating before the pandemic as a live-ticketing discovery platform, available in seven countries. It has since streamed over 4,000 shows and sold tickets in 145 countries.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxNTAyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0MTcwNjkwOH0.HxwADLM3eIMr4eieTH2FsOHho4EvmzqPEqnMcXwIKTM/image.jpg?width=980" id="0d839" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5900b73e28e1797cf67da4a3f88f083c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">K-Pop megastars MonstaX perform on LiveXLive's platform. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Courtesy of LiveXLive</small>
</p><h2>Putting on a Show
</h2><p>
Live chat has become a regular feature of livestreamed concerts, enabling concertgoers to message one another.
<a href="https://www.mandolin.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mandolin</a> offers private chat rooms for groups of fans to congregate; the Indianapolis-based company launched in response to the pandemic and <a href="https://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/42734907/indy-livestream-startup-secures-seed-funding" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recently raised $5 million</a> in seed funding.
</p><p>
Other startups are working to translate fan input – like clicking 'like' buttons – into a crowd roar that gets transmitted to musicians on the other side of the screen.
<a href="https://live.fantracks.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">FanTracks</a> is one such service. It's also providing concertgoers a "director's chair" that gives them the option to toggle camera views. And it is one of many platforms experimenting with augmented reality to "transport" the performers to different locations.
</p><p>
Peter Shapiro, owner of several venues including the Brooklyn Bowl, is founder of
<a href="https://fans.live" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fans</a>, a concert-streaming platform that transports audience members themselves, by allowing them to beam their video-feeds onto screens at venues where livestreamed performances are held. The technique is similar to how the <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33510455/nba-virtual-fan-seats-video-board-explained-how-to-sign-up-cost/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NBA has allowed its fans</a> to project their video-feeds onto screens in the stands.
</p><p>
Taking virtual transportation a step further, L.A.-based
<a href="https://wavexr.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wave</a> renders musicians into digital avatars who interact with and perform for fans in otherworldly settings where the laws of physics are optional. The company <a href="https://dot.la/wave-virtual-concerts-2646166627.html" target="_self">raised $30 million in June</a> and has hosted concerts by John Legend and The Weeknd. Produced <a href="https://dot.la/the-weeknds-concert-on-besieged-tiktok-2646923010.html" target="_self">in partnership with TikTok</a>, the Weeknd's show reportedly attracted 2 million unique viewers.
</p><p>
Similar to Travis Scott's
<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/23/21233637/travis-scott-fortnite-concert-astronomical-live-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">virtual concert series</a> in April – where a giant, digital rendering of the hip-hop artist performed for over 27 million viewers across five shows hosted on Epic Games' Fortnite – Wave concerts are created with gaming engines and can be accessed by viewers via PC, gaming consoles or VR headsets. Unlike the Scott concert, however, which was pre-recorded and then rendered into Fortnite's virtual venue, Wave's avatars perform in real-time.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6f60f3956d3f9d15cd011e95321589d3"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wtIrqoQFsos?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">The TikTok live event featuring the Weeknd and Wave's technology brought aspects of gaming to live concerts.</small>
</p><p>
Whether artists perform as an avatar or their unvarnished selves, Veeps has found that fans seem to prefer some degree of predictability on what they will see in a livestream. Similarly, Vélez said DICE is finding that fans want "a reason" to purchase a ticket. Some artists are turning to filming shows at big, deserted, "hauntingly beautiful" sets like churches and palaces, she said.
</p><p>
Patterson added that shorter shows, around 45 minutes, also seem to perform well, and noted that the user interface must be premium.
</p><p>
"It has to be on the level of watching a movie on Netflix or Disney Plus," the Veeps executive said. "If you mess it up, with so many other options, no one's going to want to come back."
</p><p>
Anyone who's shelled out $100 for a concert wouldn't necessarily point to the auxiliary pieces surrounding a show – the lighting, the refreshments, the bathrooms – as key to the experience. It's the performance that matters. But in the digital world, the areas ancillary to the performance are opportunities for virtual venues to distinguish themselves. So says L.A.-based streaming platform Moment House.
</p><p>
"If you make fans feel that they're part of this very elegant, premium and special place of a moment, we can make this a cultural phenomenon,"
<a href="https://www.momenthouse.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Moment House</a> co-founder Arjun Mehta told dot.LA. "We saw that thesis in our beta stage play out really nicely."
</p><p>
Moment House debuts this month, with a focus on user experience. Mehta developed the idea as a student in the inaugural class of USC's Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, a program that focuses on the intersection of design, engineering, management and communication. The company has <a href="https://musically.com/2020/10/13/livestreaming-startup-moment-house-raises-1-5m-from-starry-seed-investors/" target="_blank">raised a $1.5 million seed round</a> led by Forerunner Ventures with investors including Scooter Braun, Troy Carter and actor Jared Leto. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUxNTAzNS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODYzODIyNH0.CdvC7gG44kHVZ5s3UmuwV4hXwbNSGmrvEUF1Vk3x7bQ/image.png?width=980" id="67994" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0172bf17bd88b2de86e0cbee7e4a62c4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">DICE began operating before the pandemic as a global live-ticketing discovery platform. It has since streamed over 4,000 shows and sold tickets in 145 countries.</small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Image courtesy of DICE</small></p><h2>What's Next?</h2><p>
As this experiment continues and the culture and technology of virtual performances grows, we could be entering a new paradigm for musicians and their audiences.
</p><p>
"The early-90s internet is unrecognizable compared to what we have today and I think visual content and music will become unrecognizable to what we have now," Patterson of Veeps said.
</p><p>
One example of new technology that could open a world of possibilities is
<a href="https://alohabyelk.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aloha by Elk</a>, which launches in beta this month and will allow musicians to play together in real time from hundreds of miles away.
</p><p>
"Playing together over the internet is something that musicians have been dreaming about since Skype: 'We can talk, but why can't we play?'" Michele Benincaso, founder of the Stockholm-based Elk Audio, the company behind Aloha, told dot.LA. The answer: latency.
</p><p>
The delay between someone speaking over Zoom or Skype and someone else hearing it is usually between 500 milliseconds and 1 second. The delay itself often fluctuates, a process known as "jitter." These issues make playing together on beat effectively impossible.
</p><p>
Solving these problems, as Aloha aims to do, would clear the way to a whole new path for livestreamed concerts.
</p><p>
"I could think of hundreds of examples for things that haven't been done today," said Sharooz Raoofi, a musician and tech entrepreneur who splits his time between L.A. and London. He is one of a few artists who's worked with Aloha prior to its upcoming beta launch.
</p><p>
"If you think about legendary festival performances, like when a guest vocalist jumps on stage and sings a track – that can't be done in digital unless it's latency free," Raoofi told dot.LA. "Even in the best of times, trying to get musicians together is tricky – more so if it's multiple bands. Doing that remotely without any latency could be a game changer."
</p><p>
For now, the maximum distance Aloha can manage is about 1,000 miles, enough to allow musicians in different countries to play together. As this technology develops and the distance grows, however, the possibilities may become virtually endless.
</p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/430996510" width="100%" height="480" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6ac97986d94e2c1e21116cc859d1977c"></iframe><h2>A Band-Aid or a Bridge to the Future?
</h2><p>
Whether livestreaming becomes an enduring pillar of the music industry or fades into a fad once the pandemic dies down will depend on whether it can bring in enough money and deliver a new kind of experience.
</p><p>
"I was really struck that someone made $10,000 in a show with 300 people attending – and I can guarantee you there's not a room anywhere in the world that that artist could sell out," Westergren said of a performer who streamed on Sessions. "Historically there are only two ways for an artist to get paid like that. One is to spend years on a stage, grinding and touring. The other is to get plucked out of obscurity by the powers that be."
</p><p>
"Livestreaming can solve that, but only if you have monetization," he said.
</p><p>---</p><p><em>Sam Blake primarily covers entertainment for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA</em><br></p>
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On Friday the company launched a live-streaming feature that will allow users to post content in real time, similar to Instagram Live and TikTok's Go Live.
<p>Creators can earn money through the new feature via paywalled access and fan donations. Seventy percent of Triller's live-stream income will go directly to the artist, the company said, claiming that creators are worse off on other platforms because those platforms tend to take a larger cut of the proceeds. </p><p>TikTok did not respond to dot.LA's request for comment.</p><p>Triller also announced that the first ten influencers who hit 100,000 concurrent viewers will receive $50,000 from the company. </p><p>In a statement, Triller said the new live-streaming feature is the "final integration of Halogen Networks," a Florida-based live-streaming platform Triller <a href="https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2020/jul/15/video-sharing-app-triller-acquires-halogen-network/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">acquired in June</a>. </p><p>The new feature launches amid a newsworthy week for Triller. </p><p>Earlier this week, the New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/style/triller-app-tiktok.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">detailed the app's attempts</a> to woo creators to its platform. These efforts include offering TikTok queen Charli D'Amelio a rented Rolls Royce and providing luxury living quarters to other influencers. </p><p>The Times piece also reported that Triller plans to roll out "a new algorithmically curated feed" next week, similar to TikTok's "For You" feature, the underlying technology of which has been central to the protracted negotiations regarding TIkTok's future. </p><p>On Monday, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/triller-responds-metrics-224000624.html?guccounter=1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Triller denied</a> allegations originally <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-former-triller-employees-wary-of-monthly-active-user-count-2020-9?op=1&scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4&r=US&IR=T" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported by a Business Insider piece</a> that it had exaggerated its user numbers in October 2019, when the company came under the ownership of Proxima Media and its outspoken leader, Ryan Kavanaugh. </p><p>This followed <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/20/triller-threatened-to-sue-over-report-suggesting-it-inflated-its-downloads/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">a spat in August</a> with third-party analytics firm Apptopia, which claimed Triller had inflated its 2020 numbers. Triller <a href="https://dot.la/xset-gaming-2647054457/triller-threatens-legal-action-over-metrics-estimates" target="_self">threatened to sue</a> Apptopia, which has since begun working with Triller to sync up on data methodology in order to provide more accurate figures. A representative from Apptopia told dot.LA that a report detailing Triller's numbers could come out "at some point in time this calendar year." </p><p>Although these data discrepancies remain unresolved, in part because Triller is a private company and need not publicly disclose how it counts its users, they inevitably cast doubt among some industry observers on Triller's claims. Kavanaugh told the Times, for instance, that if a creator is going to make $300,000 with TikTok, they would "probably make $2 million with us", but provided no details – prompting music media firm Music Ally to write that "one can only imagine the raised eyebrows within TikTok." </p><p>Triller also <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ice-and-triller-agree-to-a-multi-territory-licensing-deal-301144963.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">struck a licensing deal</a> last week with European publishing group ICE, which represents over 330,000 rights holders. The move is part of a broad trend of social video companies solidifying their copyright infrastructure <a href="https://dot.la/article-17-2647841718.html" target="_self">as digital music legal reforms loom</a>. </p>
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As the Industry Pivots, LA's Event Hub Aims to Bring Vendor Booths Back to Virtual Concerts
Jul 01 2020
Event Hub began 2020 with optimism. It was picking up steam after graduating the mostly virtual 2019 Techstars Anywhere accelerator program and ready to launch into a booming events industry.
At the time, the L.A. startup was primarily a marketplace for connecting event organizers with companies and entrepreneurs to sell their wares and promote their brands at exhibitor booths.
<p>"Then the bottom dropped out completely from live events," founder and chief executive Michael Bleau told dot.LA. "New sales disappeared (and) we saw a wave of cancellations and postponements." </p><p>As they watched organizers struggle to convert their in-person events to virtual get-togethers, Event Hub saw an opportunity. Since then, it has pivoted — not only to keep itself afloat — but to throw a lifeline to the sinking events industry and its many stakeholders. </p><p>The damage that the pandemic has inflicted on the event industry goes beyond ticket sales. Bleau notes that many events earn over half their income from sponsorships and revenue shares with vendors. Many craft vendors and artisans count on the summer circuits for their livelihoods. </p><p><u>A<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/05/07/ieg-releases-state-of-the-sponsorship-industry-report/#2bedf6cd4228" target="_blank">ccording to a survey</a></u> conducted earlier this year by IEG, an advisory and research firm, there is widespread concern that the events industry will never look the same. New <a href="https://www.eventsafetyalliance.org/esa-reopening-guide" target="_blank"><u>guidelines from the Event Safety Alliance</u></a>, a nonprofit trade group, highlight the need to limit event attendance in order to comply with social distancing. Bleau points out that this likely means fewer sponsors and partners as well, which further threatens the viability that event producers can cover their costs.</p><p>So Event Hub created a new digital platform. </p><p>The company will build on the traction it created from <a href="https://eventhub.shop/seattle-pride-virtual-vendor-village" target="_blank">a pilot launch event with Seattle's Pride Parade </a>at the end of June with the upcoming <a href="https://www.retrospektfest.com/" target="_blank">Retrospekt music festival</a>, which is based out of L.A. and will be held virtually from July 11-12. </p><p>Viewers tuning in to the event will see a virtual "vendor village" showcasing exhibitors below the "main stage" at the top of their web browsers. Vendors will be able to interact with attendees who visit their "booths" via video chat or text, engaging with them in real time as they browse the offerings for sale. Exhibitors can also post their own media files and external links to customize their virtual stalls. And once the event is over, the vendor pages stay live for up to 30 days to allow for residual traffic. </p><p>The organizers can use the booths for extended programming, too, such as side stages or breakout rooms.</p><p>Bleau says that Event Hub serves clients in a way that current livestreaming platforms do not. </p><p>"YouTube livestream monetizes for YouTube," he says, "not the event organizer." In contrast, Event Hub allows organizers to retain control in exchange for a flat, per-event license fee. </p><p>Looking beyond the realm of entertainment, Bleau says he has been in talks with political event organizers. Candidates would be able to livestream their speeches and then meet with attendees via virtual tables. </p><p>He expects to see somewhere between 50-100 vendors at Retrospekt, and says he's in discussions with other event organizers interested in featuring up to 600. </p><p>"There's really no limit to how many vendors the platform can support," he says.<br/></p><p>If and when in-person activity becomes more realistic, Bleau thinks Event Hub will continue to be an appealing option. </p><p>"This is a great virtual standalone venue, a great hybrid option, and a great supplement when in-person events return," he says. </p><p>However it plays out, Event Hub will be flexible thanks to its pandemic pivot. </p><p>---</p><p><em>Sam Blake primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA</em><br/></p>
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