With the shutdown of bars, clubs and public events, the live music scene is suffering; bookings are cancelled and artists that rely on gigs don't know when they will get their next paycheque.
With so many people around the world in self-isolation, quarantine or lockdown, we saw the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
The people at home need entertaining and artists need a platform to perform...
So, we launched The Quarantine Sessions - live performances from around the world, streamed straight into your living room.
The Quarantine Sessions: Vol 1
The first of our online gigs was launched in under 24hours and starred the extremely talented Mr Bee and his band, D'Sunshine, playing a mix of beach reggae classics direct from Bali. Mr Bee is a friend of StartsWithA and has been there for us in a time of need for a live event in the past so we wanted to show our support in return.
The event was hosted through a private Facebook event and viewers could purchase their tickets through Eventbrite on a "Pay What You Can" basis.
To say it was a success would be an understatement
Once Mr Bee managed to get the rotation correct on his phone, the stream went without any hitches
People tuned in from Switzerland, UK, Australia, Dubai, Thailand and Indonesia
We also hit over double our sales target for tickets!
We danced in our living rooms, we shared laughs across houseparty and zoom, and for a couple of hours, we all almost forgot what a challenging situation we are all in right now.
The Quarantine Sessions: Vol 2
Hot off the excitement of the first Quarantine Session, we launched the second virtual concert starring London based Australian singer/songwriter Jimmi Nolan with an exclusive live acoustic Sunday set from his secret isolation location in Queensland, Australia.
Jimmi and his young family had recently travelled back down under to visit family and introduce them to their newborn son. As they got caught up with the global travel shut down they are currently in mandatory isolation and as yet unsure when they can see family here in Australia or return to London.
We had another resounding response to the gig, pulling in even more viewers and breaking new ground in terms of ticket sales. Jimmi was overwhelmed with the response.
However... we learnt a valuable lesson about the internet in Australia.
#stayathome, Sunday Netflix binges and a shocking Aussie internet meant there was less bandwidth for us to work with.
Midway through the stream, we noticed some audio clipping creeping in as the Sunday evening Australian internet began to feel the strain of the entire population staying at home, sitting on their couches video calling friends or binging netflix. Despite our multiple prior sound & connection checks, it seems you can't control everything.
The feedback was universally positive but we were a little saddened that the audio had some blips.
Jimmi shared this feeling too, so he very graciously recorded a second "Bonus Gig" video after the main gig had finished, to share directly with the fans who had issues. This second video was recorded offline, in full HD with immaculate audio throughout. Jimmi then shared this video with a note acknowledging the internet issues that affected the original audio.
We are all in new territory at the moment during this pandemic, so we feel audiences are quite forgiving of the occasional blip in the road, particularly if you bend over backwards to make it right.
Jimmi recording a second bonus video for free was very much in this spirit and the viewers were extremely grateful that he went the extra mile.
Note: all ticket sale money goes directly to the artists featured, SWA does not make a profit from these events.
Comentarios