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Business News Digital Live Business
ATC managers launch new company producing ticketed livestreamed concerts
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 3 August 2020
Artist managers Ric Salmon and Brian Message of ATC Management have announced the launch of a new company that will specialise in producing and delivering ticketed livestreamed shows. It follows successful livestreamed events for ATC management client Laura Marling and others.
While the livestreaming of concerts is not new, interest in such shows among artists, the industry and music fans has obviously increased significantly since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Initially, many artists made free livestreams available using platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, so to keep connected with the fanbase. But as the live industry’s shutdown has extended, an increasing number of artists and managers have started to look at ways to monetise this activity.
Salmon and Message say that their new company – called Driift – “was born from a necessity to innovate” and to meet the “demand for live music during the COVID-19 lockdown”. Though, that said, they add that they are creating Driift “with a belief that paid-for livestreaming will offer a sustainable and complementary experience in the future, unlocking new creative opportunities and revenue streams”.
The Driift model is to stage shows in iconic venues and other performance spaces which are then available online. The company oversees the ticketing, production and digital marketing of those shows, as well as the always tricky area of rights licensing and management. It has already delivered the aforementioned Marling show, as well as concerts from Lianne La Havas and Dermot Kennedy. Livestreamed gigs from Biffy Clyro and Sleaford Mods are now also in the diary.
Commenting on the new venture, Salmon said: “Ticketed livestreaming is currently a space that no one controls, and we believe there is a long-term and commercially viable business here. It’s incredibly exciting. However, the ultimate goal of Driift is empowerment. We’ve created a truly agnostic service that will enable artists and their teams to recreate the unique magic of live performance, and to curate an experience worth paying for”.
Message added: “It strikes me that this is just the beginning of an exciting opportunity for artists and their teams to create new art that many will choose to pay for. If we get this right, ticketed streamed productions, whether live shows or something not yet dreamt of, can comfortably sit alongside promotional videos, traditional live shows and other ways fans and artists relate”.
Driift has also announced the Beggars Group as an initial investor. Its Director Of Live, Ruth Barlow, said: “We’ve felt for a long time that livestreaming has been undervalued, so when approached by Brian and Ric about getting involved in the world of pay-per-view, it took all of a minute”.
“We’re excited about the creative and commercial opportunities for the business, the artists and their fans; who no longer have to be in a particular city at a particular time to experience unique live music events”, she went on. “This is not a replacement for live, this is a coming of age for livestreaming”.
