RE: Thanks4 Sep 2020 11:25
Performing For a Virtual Audience Isn't Easy
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Performing For a Virtual Audience Isn't Easy
Trey Alston 16h
Lollapalooza co-founder Marc Geiger has predicted that live concerts as we know them won't be back until 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout. It's simply not safe to gather in large groups, unless you're doing a drive-in concert, and the music industry has been working desperately to figure out the best way to cope with this undeniable fact. Virtual shows have become a makeshift replacement for in-person shows thanks to companies like MelodyVR, which has worked with artists like Kesha and Khalid, and Live Nation, whose latest concerts center around Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Uzi Vert. They're the evolution of all those slightly janky Instagram Live performances that were important during the beginning of the pandemic.
With this new virtual frontier becoming the regular, fans are getting used to seeing artists come aboard, perhaps assuming that performing for a digital audience is similar to performing for a real-life one. But speaking with artists shows that the process of putting on a virtual concert is a lot different, for better and for worse.
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In April, R&B legends Teddy Riley and Babyface faced off in an epic Verzuz battle on Instagram Live. It was a massive moment for virtual performances that became a hilarious highlight of the new era, thanks to a slew of technical difficulties that made the show start later than usual. Talk about epic. The jokes about them being uncles "using technology for the first time" made their performance much different than what it initially was pegged to be. While it worked in favor of these two particular artists, with their performed songs receiving a 115% increase in streaming following the battle, these kinds of technical issues can cause a headache for others getting into the digital space for the first time.
Musical sensation DDG, who's signed to Epic Records and plans on performing virtually very soon, says that he prefers live shows so that he can engage with fans, revealing that the "technical components" of these performances have surprised him. "I think we've realized that these kinds of shows definitely require some amazing wifi connections."
But even though he hasn't put on a digital show yet, that doesn't mean he hasn't been working to connect with fans. "There's definitely pressure to put on a show, but I'm releasing new music that's rolling out left and right," he says. "I've been working to drop music videos more frequently to keep my fans entertained."
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Virtual shows carry another difference that performers are taking note of:; that feeling of being alone, since the room isn't filled with screaming fans. "We literally went from full-on engaging with crowds to looking at the air and performing to