Now let me first say, this is certainly not the best situation humanity has found itself in. Being forced indoors, live music ban, surfing ban (punishable by $1K fines), watching spandex-clad dorks on road bikes able to exercise without police harassment. Jeez. But I digress, this is not about the age-old feud between people with common sense and road bikers (I’m serious guys, unitards will never be cool). This is about a massive shift in our behavioral habits. A recent concert stream that made an impact on me was the Love Rocks NYC concert. There was a public health announcement that restricted the audience to only performers & family, making it stream only viewing. In an instant, there was a new norm for all future public performances until further notice. I was working at my desk and enjoyed being able to see the performances at night, in the comfort of my own home. Luck had it that in a couple of days I was supposed to have an album release party in Oceanside, followed by a live recording session at the home studio featuring some of my favorite local musicians. Postponed until further notice. The following week, The Luck Reunion had a stream that grabbed my attention on social media. It aired in the evening hosted by Ray Benson from Asleep at the Wheel. It floored me. They had some of my favorite artists performing in their homes, nothing was over-produced, and there was a cool hat-making workshop to boot. Streaming live felt way more engaging that night than passively watching a performance. The audience is interacting in real-time, the performer is put at ease in the comfort of their own homes. Because of this, the viewer is automatically placed in the front row with backstage passes the second you join a live stream. Performing live in this setting can be just as rewarding. Streaming provides a way to perform directly to your closest family and friends. Those of whom may not necessarily have the luxury to go out. It also allows the performers to work within a format that better provides an experience catered uniquely to each fan. When an artist performs to those closest to them, magic happens. If it’s the only option, entertaining ourselves has never been better. I come from a big family, one of five kids with cousins as far as the eye could see. Going out was a rare option, so all entertainment was in-house. To this day, some of the best meals I’ve eaten were out of the family kitchen. My best audience will always involve friends and family by a warm fire. I love that streaming is home to some of the best live music and life lessons on the planet. Every day a new song or insight from some of my heroes. Ryan Bingham – Instagram pictured above https://www.instagram.com/ryanbingham_official/ Lukas Nelson https://www.instagram.com/lukasnelsonofficial/ Tom Curren https://www.instagram.com/curfuffle/ Tom Carroll https://www.instagram.com/thomasvictorcarroll/ Jeremy Jones https://www.instagram.com/jeremyjones/ Brandi Carlile https://www.instagram.com/brandicarlile/ When else in our history have we been invited into the living rooms of some of our musical and cultural heroes to take part in such intimate performances and dialogs? Help out our local musicians. Tune in, or better yet, go live yourself.
There’s nothing new about streaming, its old hat. What is interesting is how we’re using it as a human tool to connect emotionally. Critics say tech makes us unconnected, this is proving the opposite. Tech and Science by their very nature explore who we are as human beings, how we work, and what makes us tick. The needs that ushered in streaming are way beyond the storage woes of maintaining a music or video library and constant hard drive failures. Those issues became a thing of the past as storage moved to the cloud, phone cameras improved along with networks, making the face to face experience seamless.
Now we’re using the tools we have at our disposal to be there for the ones we love. There’s no phoning in for crucial life events. We need to be there in person. Though only a partial substitute for physically being there in person, streaming and videoconferencing can often act as the next best thing.
Admitting That I Prefer Live Streaming & Have for Some Time
