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eMusic launches livestreaming platform

By | Published on Wednesday 26 August 2020

eMusic Live

eMusic, the original MP3 store that in more recent years has been hyping up a slightly confusing blockchain initiative, has announced the launch of a new concert-streaming platform called eMusicLive.

Seeking to capitalise on the increased interest in live music streaming created by the COVID-19 shutdown, eMusic says that its service will be better than the livestreaming set-ups offered by YouTube, Instagram and Twitch because it is designed with the concert experience in mind, and also offers artists more ways to monetise said experience.

“eMusicLive makes livestreamed events commercially viable for artists, enabling them to monetise livestreaming in the same way as traditional gigs by bundling ticketing, music sales, merchandise and collectables to maximise revenue opportunities”, the company says in a statement.

eMusic is working with its now sister company 7digital on the livestreaming venture. Artists can set up a bespoke 7digital store to sit alongside their livestream, while there will be tools to enable sponsors to get exposure via the streamed shows too.

And while eMusicLive is competing with YouTube, Instagram and Twitch, livestreams from any of those platforms can actually be embedded into its platform, if doing so provides social marketing benefits to the artist. Or eMusicLive can host the livestream itself.

Says eMusic boss Tamir Koch: “At eMusic, we believe in technology that creates sustainability, removing inefficiencies or providing new income streams for artists”.

“Even before COVID-19, artists performing online have been limited to platforms where they play for free and rely on multiple suppliers”, he continues. “This creates a fragmented approach to planning and promoting events as well as selling tickets, merch and music. We’ve built eMusicLive to bring all these commercial options together in one end-to-end solution”.

Meanwhile, 7digital CEO Paul Langworthy adds: “Social distancing measures in place around the world are creating an opportunity for new forms of live artist-to-fan engagement. While there are plenty of platforms, none have captured the true essence of a proper show, which should include both the performance value for the fan and commercialisation value for artists”.

“We are delighted to now be delivering this with eMusicLive”, he goes on. “This is a new, emerging style of platform that we also see having tremendous value for venues as well as retailers and brands for whom music can play a key role in their engagement strategy or business model”.

Of course, plenty of music companies and tech platforms have been busy experimenting with the livestreaming experience since the COVID-19 shutdown began. And more recently much of that experimentation has focused on how to commercialise streamed gigs, after the majority of livestreams early on in lockdown were made available for free.

That said, it does feel like the now buoyant livestreamed gigs market – assuming it remains buoyant post-lockdown – is still all to play for. There remain plenty of questions on the best way to deliver and commercialise such gigs, of course, alongside some tricky extra questions about copyright and licensing. But for those companies that can find the answers to these questions, there could be big opportunity to capitalise on.



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