Once considered a marketing gimmick, virtual shows have become the premier musical experience in the past five months following the complete change of the live music industry due to the restrictions presented during the coronavirus pandemic.
Said shows have moved from the early days of being streamed largely via low quality smartphones to being well-produced by a professional camera crew and offering fans experiences akin to in-person concerts.
The format is regarded as a reliable source of income for stakeholders in the music industry regardless of whether in-person concerts return or not for now.
Platforms like CEEK VR, Facebook, Instagram, Fortnite, Youtube and Twitch have made it possible for artistes to visually interact with their fans through performances streamed online.
StreamElements, a live streaming service provider reported that users of Twitch watched 1.1 billion hours of content when lockdowns started in March in the US – a new record since the platform was launched in 2011.
The number increased to 3 billion within the second quarter, and 5 billion in the third quarter of 2020 according to a live streaming industry report by Streamlabs & Stream.
Reflecting the time the world is in currently, on 15 September Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming service, added the ‘On Tour’ section to the profile of artistes in partnership with Songkick, a concert-discovery app and Ticketmaster to inform fans about upcoming virtual shows.
“Over the past six months, artistes have adopted innovative ways to connect with their listeners from afar, and virtual performances have played a key role. With most tours postponed until 2021 and online concerts set to continue, Spotify wants to make it easy for fans to learn about virtual events - whether for artists [fans] already love or for those [they] are discovering for the first time,” reads a note explaining the decision.
On 16 September, TIDAL, Jay Z’s music streaming service also announced a partnership with Facebook’s virtual reality platform, Oculus VR to live-stream concert series.
While early September, Amazon music partnered with Twitch, the live streaming platform, to absorb the latter’s live streaming service into the former’s app on iOS and Android (Amazon owns Twitch).
And here in Ghana artists and practitioners are also responding to the times.
In April of this year yoyo tinz, a music collective promoting, documenting and archiving Ghanaian hip hop culture, launched ‘Soak Me’. The collective say that the virtual platform is a means to “showcase a variety of handpicked upcoming hip hop talents [and] give the audience a chance to discover or rediscover the repertoire of the artistes.”
In May 2020, some two months after the indefinite suspension of in-person concerts around the world, Ghanaian soul singer and songwriter, Ria Boss performed a set from her living room for the La Ceiba Festival, which is normally held in Richmond, Virginia in the US.
Ria Boss in performance from her living room for the Adventures From Live Digital Festival.
Her performance led to her scoring gigs with Vibe Tribe Nigeria Live Festival and Adventures Live Digital Festival. The experiences culminated in a collaboration with renowned producer Mark De Clive Lowe, substantial increase in streaming of her music in Ghana, getting booked for more shows and her “almost two year [old] songs now getting radio recognition,” all without the hassle associated with travelling.
“What virtual or live sessions online have done for me, is they’ve opened more people to my ability as an artiste here in Ghana,” explains Boss to newdawnonline.org.
“My career has already taken several leaps forward in the past few months because of it. The digital space gives us all a level playing field in my opinion.”
The likes of Sarkodie, Efya, Camidoh, Adomaa, J. Derobie, Lamisi, Kobby Salm, Dark Suburb, Narah, Twitch 4EVA, Niella, Tulenkey, Wendy Shay, Akan, Kidi, Gyakie, Quayba, Samini, Cina Soul, Reynolds the Gentleman, Boyd, Asi, FRA band, Worlasi, Adina, Joe Mettle and Shatta Wale have also headlined or performed during virtual shows.
Sarkodie’s ‘Black Love’ virtual concert held on 18 July broke the servers of CEEK VR, an app founded by Gifty Spio, a US-based Ghanaian tech innovator and engineer for Deep Space. CEEK VR is billed as an app that “brings live events to life through virtual reality using any VR headset [and] virtual reality app.” It is also available to non VR-users.
A statement posted by the company on Twitter attributed the inability of individuals to access the platform’s website for about one hour to “overwhelming traffic [by some 1.5 million users leading to] some technical issues.”
The success of the shows added credence to the staying power of the ‘CEO Flow’ rapper, and the desire of fans to reconnect with their favourite artistes following the indefinite suspension of in-person concerts.
Biqo performs ‘Mafe wo’ at Live Xtra’s ‘Live & Unplugged’ acoustic music session.
In July 2020, Ghanaian singer and songwriter, Biqo performed a set on Live Xtra’s ‘Live & Unplugged’ acoustic music session streamed live via the station’s social media accounts.
“In my view, I think virtual concerts are helpful to provide the continuity of promoting one’s music/career as well as strengthening the connection and relationship with the fan base in these times when the musician cannot interact with fans at concerts like before,” states the 2015 MTN Project Fame finalist on how helpful virtual concerts are to non-mainstream artistes like himself.
“I look at virtual concerts as an essential tool to connect more with my fans who are outside the country. I also think it will be used more as a spontaneous/ad hoc means to retain the fan base until the next physical show or release for me.”
As exciting as the idea of virtual concerts sound, streaming videos is largely a luxury on the African continent because of the high cost and low quality of internet data. The 2019 edition of the Affordability report by Alliance for Affordable Internet, an initiative to make the internet more affordable to people around the world estimates the average cost for just 1 Gig of data is 7.2% of the average month salary across Africa, compared to lower percentages in the Americas and Asia.
There is also the issue of some artistes thriving off the energy of fans to dictate the quality of their performances.
Platforms specialising in pay-pay-view and subscription models for livestreaming have been a major part of a lot of partnerships and collaborations since the coronavirus pandemic drastically altered the live music industry.
The Santrofi band
On July 10, Ghanaian band Santrofi headlined its first pay-per-view concert after at least two previous free shows in partnership with Kri8 TV. Available worldwide, viewers had to pay ten cedis (or its equivalent) to access the show.
Prior to the show, the band had released the critically-acclaimed ‘Alewa’ album on April 24 with reviews in publications including The Guardian UK, and scored the number one slot on the World Music Charts Europe in July 2020.
Founded by Emmanuel Kwadwo Ofori, a bassist and producer known for his work with legends like Ebo Taylor and Pat Thomas’ Kwashibu Area Band, the group also includes Bernard Gyamfi (Trombone), Prince Larbi (drums and vocals), Robert Koomson (lead vocals, talking drum and guitar), Emmanuel Boakye Agyeman (Keys, vocals and traditional dancer), Norbert Wonkyi Arthur (Trumpet and Shekere), Victor Nii Amoo (percussion) and Dominic Quarchie on guitar and vocals.
They’ve performed at major international festivals including Roskilde, WOMAD and Amsterdam Roots, and were named amongst Essential 10 Festival Bands by Songlines Magazine in its August/September 2020 issue.
“There is also the need for people to be compensated for what they do best, especially if they do it professionally and as a career,” states co-producer and engineer of the band Kofi ‘iamBeatmenace’ Boachie-Ansah, to newdawnonline.org.
He adds that the format of livestreaming provides “more viewership [and] reach” because the band has a “larger intention of spreading their brand of highlife and Ghanaian music to the ends of the world.”
There is even better news, observes Boachie-Ansah. “Technology [companies are] trying to bridge the gap [between] what it feels like to be in the same space with a performer because it exudes a certain type of energy that virtual concerts [currently] simply can’t provide.”
Ghanaian rapper Akan, celebrated for his critically acclaimed ‘AKAN EP’ and debut album ‘Onipa Akoma’ also headlined a virtual concert dubbed ‘Efie Ndwom’ in June 2020.
Even though it was available for free via Instagram, he asked viewers to chip in money via a Mobile Money number provided to support his craft, a formula that has been adopted by a number of artistes around the world. The heart of this strategy is a public fund raising of sorts to support a fan’s favourite artiste(s).
“Virtual performances are the future, and for me, they allow for the world to be even smaller and for my art to reach even more people than just my hometown of Accra,” asserts Ria Boss.
“I personally love the freedom that comes with staging virtual concerts. The ability to truly dictate the set, mood and also the ability to connect directly with my core fans, but I am not only able to connect to my following in Ghana, but virtual concerts connect me to my fans worldwide.”
Originally published by newdawnonline.org on October 1, 2020
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