We have been hearing for some time that “the magic of direct” is irreplaceable and that nothing can ever rival the emotion of the concert lived ‘in situ’, with the roar of the public, the willingness to the unexpected and, perhaps, that adorable floor sticky with beer. But there are more and more signs that qualify such a statement, and one only has to observe the 150 cinemas from all over Spain that this Saturday have broadcast one of the concerts that Coldplay offers these days at the River Plate stadium, in Buenos Aires.
A leap of scale in the vicissitudes of ‘streaming’ applied to live music? There have been other announcements: the 120 theaters that, last March, projected the ‘show’ of the king of k-pop group, BTS. Both the British and the Koreans offered their concert live to the whole world, although Coldplay’s, in Europe, due to the time difference, has required another format, the ‘delayed live’. But the movie theater is not the only way: Amazon, with its new Amazon Music Live channel, plan events in your living room like, last week, the Kendrick Lamar concert in Paris.
Synchronized experience
Everything points to the fact that there is something that can rival attending a concert: attending that concert from anywhere else. Preferably live. There, the pandemic has precipitated the change. “The break made artists and the industry begin to look for alternatives & rdquor ;, argues David Loscos, general director of the IMB International Music Business School. “The idea has gained ground that live shows not only consist of being in the same place where the artist offers the concert, but of living the experience at the same moment, in a synchronized way. That is the key & rdquor ;.
Coldplay sold out all the tickets for their world tour, including the four concerts at Barcelona’s Estadi Olímpic (May 2023), but “even so, many people have been left without seats”, continues Loscos. Before which, ‘streaming’ “provides alternative and cheaper solutions, maintaining the direct and, therefore, the magic & rdquor ;. Because you participate in an event that takes place at that precise moment, and from a privileged point of view, with a sophisticated production and access to angles surely impossible when you go to a traditional concert and sit in your locality.
the green diary
For the authors of ‘Viva la vida’, ‘streaming’ feeds its aura of a sustainable band, by betting on a way of reaching the public that does not go through the air terminal. The British introduce themselves as pioneer group in introducing the green agenda in a stadium tour dynamic. It may sound bizarre, but concrete keys are underway: promotion of road routes, use of batteries powered by recycled oils, kinetic floors that convert public jumps into energy… There, the remote consumable concert represents yet another layer in their narrative of reducing CO2 emissions.
We are talking, in the case of Coldplay and BTS, of the format ofthe ‘event cinema’, which is interesting for a sector, movie theaters, which is suffering from a decline in viewers. These are lively events, which bring together motivated fans, willing to make viewing the concert a collective ritual, reason sources from Warner, Coldplay’s record company. “It is interesting for the band and for the theaters & rdquor ;.
Apart from the promoter
The ‘worldwide live event’ of Chris Martin and company was negotiated by the group’s manager with a global film distributor, Trafalgar, with experience in the classical field: it manages the broadcasts of the British Royal Opera House. This delegates, in Spain, to Digital Version, a company based in Valencia. All this, without the promoter of the concerts, Live Nation, intervening in the process, which remains on the sidelines.
The two passes of the Coldplay concert this Saturday throughout Spain summoned some 16,000 spectators (which they paid between 12.50 and 15.40 euros). A third of the 150 cinemas were in Catalonia, “where there is a lot of musical tradition, many well-equipped rooms, and the viewer usually responds very well”, indicates María Cazorla, of Digital Version, who highlights the advantages of remote and real-time viewing. “It will never be the same as going to the concert, but in some ways it is better: with Coldplay, 25 cameras were used, and you could see how the vein in Chris Martin’s neck swelled when he sang & rdquor ;.
The parallel, the ‘streaming’ advances along another track, that of digital platforms, which replace the collective event in the cinema with delight in the living room. The concert of the rapper ‘vip’ Kendrick Lamar at the Accor Arena in Paris, captured by 19 cameras, marked a turning point: Amazon broadcast it live not only on its Twitch account, but also on the brand new Amazon Music Live channel, which has already taken off and on November 4 will offer the ‘show’ of the Tejano star Megan Thee Stallion (at 4:55 a.m. Spanish time).
With or without public
In the Accor Arena there were 20,000 people, and connecting represented participating in a collective act. But not everything has been said there: other artists choose to offer streaming concerts designed for that format, without an audience or with small auditoriums. Case of Nick Cave, caressing the piano in the empty Victorian nave of London’s Alexandra Palace, or of Dua Lipa with his show ‘Studio 2054’, a floating fantasy that brought together guests like Elton John and Angèle.
“Amazon creating a channel for streaming concerts is very significant. It may be the first step for other platforms to follow that path & rdquor ;, Dear David Loscos. A Netflix Music Live? The use and opportunity of this type of product will depend on each artist: the menu can be reserved for moments such as the start of a tour, to make fans salivate and make them want to attend the concert more. “For that, the artist must be very sure that what he offers is very good & rdquor ;, slides Loscos, who sees the sense of streaming as a ‘flash’ experience, caught on the fly, not so much as an archive. “The grace is that it is offered in a limited time. It cannot become a catalog & rdquor ;.
a double chain
The traditional concert it remains the anchor point from which the entire chain pivots. And more than that, glimpses of his establishment as a premium product, with a ‘star system’ prone to inflating ticket prices (and exclusive ‘packs’, ‘golden circle’ and the like), and offering, perhaps by way of compensation, the option of ‘streaming’ suitable for all pockets.
For concert promoters, the usual live show is irreplaceable, but they admit that other windows are opening. “I see it more as a complement than as an alternative & rdquor ;, says Nacho Córdoba, ‘senior promoter’ of Live Nation Spain. “The magic of live, feeling the same as those around you, is difficult for streaming to capture, but it is valid for people to see their favorite artist if they have not gotten tickets & rdquor ;.
But, just as sports broadcasts tell us that It is not essential to be on the scene to enjoy the show, music rehearses and develops formulas to take advantage of its capital. Trying that, two decades after the start of the record debacle precisely because of the advent of the digital paradigm, technology is more of an ally than a source of anguish.
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