I have had a real epiphany when it comes to live streaming. I have always hated it, because it inherently creates poor content, poor production value, and has generally seemed ephemeral… all of which I abhor seeing in a video production. People aren’t used to performing live, they often sound terrible, are badly lit, stumble over words, look uncomfortable, and don’t seem to have any sense of what is interesting to me, the viewer. They ramble about things that aren’t important, like whether they picked 12 or 21 flowers off a tree in their backyard. Guys, I don’t care.
But with the coronavirus, live streaming for artists has become all the rage. The production quality is still dreadful, but I see the live feeds as doing something pretty amazing. The live shows tend to pull in collectors and friends, many of whom are watching out of pure love and support for the artist, with all of his/her flaws. And the questions and comments that are coming through from the viewers are amazing. They’re not generally high-brow, art speak, queries into the inspiration that the artist received from the Masters, or their influence on existentialism. No, they want to know about the guy’s dog, or where he bought that paintbrush. What I’m witnessing is what I’ve been preaching all along. These productions are building relationships with specific artists, and creating online communities. Exactly what we should all be doing in order to stay Top of Mind with our clients.
So keep your eyes peeled, because now I have to add live streaming to everything else I’m doing. Oh well… the show must go on.
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