With the pandemic halting live events, livestreaming has become the next best thing. In fact, livestreaming has grown 99% since the start of the pandemic. While it may not live up to the live event experience, there are still plenty of ways to put on high quality and engaging livestreams as a music artist.
There are many platforms you can livestream on including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The platform that I recommend artists focus on is Twitch. One of the reasons being that there are great opportunities for monetization. Another being the immense growth and popularity of this platform.
The great thing about livestreaming is that it doesn’t take too much preparation. You don’t have to spend hours before-hand creating content, editing, or coming up with captions. After initially setting up the design of your stream on a platform like OBS, you simply just turn on the camera and start streaming. I encourage you to record your streams and use clips from it to post to other platforms.
There are many different ways you can livestream as a music artist. I will be going over 8 livestream ideas for music artists and how to execute them.
8 Livestream Ideas for Music Artists
Performances
When you livestream for the first time, it’s a great idea to start with the basics and just simply perform. Especially if you’re livestreaming to replace live events. This is a great first step because the reason your fans are your fans are likely because they enjoy your music. Everyone knows that live performances beat listening to the music through a streaming platform. Though it’s not actually live in person, it’s the next best thing we have at this time. It also gives you the ability to reach a much larger and diverse audience than a live event would. And it’s free!
This can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. It can be as simple as you just singing or playing an instrument. Take it to the next step by singing and playing an instrument together. You can even have some friends or a band come play instruments with you. To take your livestream concert to the next level you can create a set in the background and use colorful lighting.
Perform Requests from the Audience
While similar to a virtual concert, performing requests from the audience can make the stream much more engaging. You can either allow people to submit requests prior to the stream or you can let anyone in the chat throw out requests. Oftentimes random people will join with requests and if you actually perform it, you’ve likely just gained a new fan!
Consider using an external website to keep track of the list of songs and allow the viewers to see the list as well. Also consider putting the name of the song on the screen. This can be done through OBS.
A really cool example of this is an artist that raps using random words from the chat. I’ve also seen a streamer play the violin over songs that are requested. Get creative based off of your talent!
Q&A’s
Live Q&A’s are one of the best ways to engage with your fans. By allowing fans to ask questions and you directly answering them in live time, helps to create a deeper connection and a more loyal fanbase. From an outsider’s perspective, musicians minds and personalities are intriguing. Many fans are curious about what goes on behind the scenes or what your process was like when creating your music.
They’re likely even interested in just learning more about you aside from being a musician. Take this opportunity to really help your fans get to know you and connect with you.
Release Party
Release parties don’t have to be a thing of the past. With large gatherings deemed unsafe in many areas still, livestreaming is your next best option for hosting a release party. Next time you have a song or album release, consider hosting a release party on Twitch. You can interact with fans through the chat or you can even have them join you on Zoom or Discord as well.
Make sure you create an agenda for this party rather than playing it by ear. Your agenda could include a live performance, Q&A, trivia, and a giveaway. Think about your brand and target market. Try to come up with activities that represent your artist brand and that your target market will enjoy.
Tutorials
You may be thinking, “won’t a live tutorial be a waste if no one shows up?” The answer is it is definitely not a waste! First, this is able to be showcased on your channel for people to watch later. But also, you can upload this to YouTube or other platforms.
There are likely many people that would be interested in attending. Take your promotion a step forward. Directly message those that you believe would be interested in your specific type of tutorial. You’ll probably even have random people searching through Twitch join in!
Consider making this a consistent series so viewers are able to continue to expand their knowledge through your teachings.
Interviews
While livestreaming on your own is good enough, take it to the next level by having guests on. A great way to facilitate a guest is through an interview. This not only creates a deeper connection between you and the guest, but also shows viewers your personality even further. It shows that you’re able to interact with people in a friendly and personable way.
Interviewing other musicians is a great way to ease into the process. This is also great because you are giving that musician a platform to share more about themselves and potentially gain new fans.
Your next step would be interviewing music industry professionals. I recommend inviting industry professionals that are influential such as those that work at big record labels. This is a great opportunity for you and others to learn more about the music business. Also, creating connections with music business professionals can take you far in your music artist career.
Review Other People’s Music
If you’re a musician, chances are you are able to give constructive feedback on other artists’ music. While you may not feel like you are skilled or knowledgeable enough to do this, just remember that your feedback is not concrete advice that has to be taken. Your feedback helps the artist see the song in a different perspective other than their own. You may notice something within the song that they need to fix, that they may have not noticed themselves. You may even have people in the chat also giving helpful feedback.
An example of a streamer that has been doing this throughout the pandemic is @VoicesChris. Though Chris is a professional A&R, he is also a musician. You can even try to get A&Rs as guests to help with the feedback.
Play Video Games
While playing video games may be totally unrelated to your music, it’s still a great opportunity to livestream. Really, the more you livestream the better. You more you get your face and personality in front of people, the greater chance you have at gaining fans and having an engaged and loyal fanbase. Compared to some of these other ideas, playing video games on a livestream is likely the least effort and brain power on your part.
This will also help you rack up enough streaming hours to become an affiliate on Twitch. And remember, Twitch was originally a livestreaming platform for gamers. This means that most Twitch users are likely into video games and would enjoy this type of stream.
Also, don’t worry. You don’t need to be a good gamer to livestream yourself playing.
Some things to keep in mind…
- Make sure your video quality isn’t blurry.
- Use an external microphone to ensure quality.
- Make sure you have good natural lighting or add lights if needed.
- Stream in a quiet space with no distractions.
- Make sure your computer is charged or plugged in.
- Keep up with the chat and talk back.
- Check your internet connection prior and make sure it is stable and strong enough.
- You will need to promote your stream on your other social channels.
- Be natural and don’t overthink it!
To take your streams to the next level consider these…
- Set up a design on OBS or a similar application. I suggest using Streamlabs OBS as it is easier for beginners.
- Stream consistently at the same time every week or every other week.
- Stream multiple times a week if possible.
- Have unplanned livestreams such as when you’re working in the studio. Just turn the camera on and let people watch your process while chatting with them.
- Host special guests such as other musicians or industry professionals.
- Become an affiliate with Twitch to access more features. Find more information HERE.
In Conclusion: If you livestream as a music artist you can expand your fanbase, build deeper connections, and create more content.
What are you waiting for?! Take advantage of one of the fastest growing forms of content to help expand your fanbase and create deeper connections.
I couldn’t create this article without a shameless self plug- if you are looking for music business and marketing advice on your artist brand and career, check out my livestream on Twitch every Tuesday at 7PM EST!
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