Last week OffBeat ran a story about the threat of Facebook banning musical performances from its livestream function. Many readers were quick to defend the tech giant while many expressed they were unclear about the company’s verbiage regarding livestreams and remained skeptical.
Recently CNBC and Vulture, an entertainment subsidiary of NewYork Magazine, published the shocking (or not so surprising) news that Facebook disputes the information provided by the hit Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma. For those who have not seen the eye-opening documentary, it explores the intentional addiction social media encourages and how Facebook manipulates and stores your personal data. Facebook even took the time to create a pamphlet to let users know how inaccurate the documentary portrayed them.
October 1 came and went without so much of a ripple in social media waves — livestream shows went on via Facebook. Although many people are choosing to believe that Facebook restricting music livestreams is merely a rumor, it’s better to be safe than sorry. A Plan B for livestreaming your music performances at this stage in the game may come in handy so we have assembled a list of alternatives for you to consider instead of solely relying on the trustworthiness of Facebook. Here’s a round up of alternatives to Facebook livestream, should you ever need them.
Twitch
A subsidiary of Amazon, it’s another offshoot of big tech and may eventually come with similar restrictions. Once began for video games but musicians have been using it to show how they make music and even for performances. It is free. Delores Galore and Dexter Gilmore, of Sexy Dex & The Fresh, livestream a show featuring music videos by local artists weekly called “The Chamber.” Galore says, “Right now we use Restream. It gives us the capabilities to use Facebook, Twitch, and Youtube. We primarily use Twitch because one; they will not shut down your live stream mid stream for playing popular artists music. The next day they will mute whatever music from popular artists you have on that stream, not the entire show. We personally prefer the way Twitch functions, it just feels more fun to interact with our audience in the twitch chat. ” The Restream site says it permits users to stream across 30 platforms at once.
OBS (Open Broadcaster Software)
Dr. Milo Thaddeus Pinkerton III (AKA Lewis D’Aubin of The Consortium of Genius) uses OBS to produce his Morgus-like show, Escape From the Secret Lab, an 80s style battle-of-the-bands show. While he doesn’t fear Facebook (his live broadcast of Garaj Mahal went off October 2 without a hitch), he does rave about using OBS to produce his shows that are chock-full of retro video game-like effects. “OBS is powerful enough for our show ( to use for a complex HD broadcast with 10 layers of video and live chromakey, on a virtual set! The fact it can do this in real time at 30fps is still remarkable to me. OBS is super-flexible, easy to use, and is hands down the best value for the price (free!). We couldn’t do our show without it,” he says.
YouTube Live
For those without cable, YouTube Live has been a great way to catch many current broadcasts. The presidential debates have been streamed via the content platform int he past and will continue to do so. What musicians might not know is that compared to Facebook Live, YouTube trumps the social network for SEO visibility and search ability. Think about it – how easy is it to locate a Facebook stream via their site compared to how easy it is to search from Google for a YouTube video? Furthermore, the quality is considered by some experts to be superior to that of Facebook – Facebook cannot allow past streaming in 720p and you risk the interruption of shared ad revenue. Note that Tipitina’s has launched its own YouTube Channel, titled Tipitina’s TV, and you can watch archived performances as well as livestreams.
StageIt
Most recently d.b.a. partnered with the San Fran tech firm to launch one-of-a-kind livestream experiences for paid ticket holders. Individuals can purchase tickets to live events, watch in real time, tip performers, and purchase merchandise. Stephen White, CEO of StageIt, tells OffBeat, “StageIt is a platform developed for artists, by artists, and we have always made it our priority to create usable tools to perform and engage with fans. We recognize that an artist’s time is valuable and shouldn’t just be rewarded with likes, follows and shares. We believe artists should be able to monetize their time and their art. StageIt enables fans to support their favorite artists by attending performances and gifting “notes” (StageIt’s virtual currency), encouraging artists to create and continue to offer intimate, exclusive experiences for their fans. StageIt covers royalties, streaming costs, processing fees and more, allowing artists to keep 80% of all revenue generated from livestreams. Artists can select their own ticket price or allow fans to pay what they can, they have the ability to sell out shows and advertise merchandise directly from the platform. Fans also, have the opportunity to tip their favorite performers, often encouraging encores, helping to finance albums and contribute to charities. In the past six months alone, these features have generated over $6M which has been paid out to artists, which is pretty incredible.”
With all of these options which ones do you think you will (or will not) try?
