The good news for those that missed last night’s Foo Fighter concert, streamed live, for free on Facebook and Livestream, it is currently in re-runs. For those that did catch it, let see if you can validate the early praise or at least dismiss the concerns going into the show.
First off, CNET was reporting live during the show and applauded the social networking elements that came into play during the live event.
This is a really cool thing for the band to do for its fans and something I hope we see more of in the future. As the Foo Fighters play, they are keeping an eye on the stream of status updates coming in, sometimes responding to comments and taking song requests.
There is an undeniable trend of live events moving online. The potential audience that can be reached is fairly significant and the costs are low. As shown by the Foo Fighters, a band can just broadcast a live show for their fans, from their own studio. The social element of Facebook, combined with this event, only enhances the experience.
Foo Fighters playing live concert on Facebook The Web Services Report – CNET News
For readers of this space, this is a broken record. If you want to draw a large live audience, make it easy for the early arrivals to twitter about it and update their Facebook status. This is how you create the desired viral effect.
Foo Fighters and Livestream did just that. The Livestream module used to stream had built in components for those in the know to share it along their social graph. Foo Fighters even made it very easy to fan them on Facebook and register with their official website.
The Foo Fighter sign up process accepts Facebook Connect and twitter credentials to get the ball rolling. No need to create a new username and password pair. Once registered, you may sign up for their newsletter or buy official merchandise. This segues nicely into the early concerns leading into the show.
One thing the Foo Fighters are doing right for tonight’s show is asking fans to RSVP for the event. I don’t think that registration is a requirement for access to the free stream, but it’s a boatload of fan Facebook accounts for the band to harness — nearly 12,000 have already signed up. Livestream CEO Max Haot reports that the Foo Fighters cleared the rights to the concert on their own — which alone is impressive considering they’ve accumulated nearly 15 years of greatest hits.
Haot said the show is going to be incredibly cheap to produce, with a 3-camera production handled by Livestream. There will be no overt monetization except to drive interest in the Foo Fighters new greatest hits album. And the show will be available internationally to anyone who can stream it around the world.
Foo Fighters Latest to Stream Live Show, But Can You Show Us Some Freakin’ Ads Already?
RSVP was not required, but again help drive the word of mouth. If you did RSVP, all your Facebook friend would see it. Then they’d tell two friends, and they tell two friends, …
Back to Ms Gannes’ observation, yes this was a 15th anniversary celebration, and Foo Fighters are promoting a Greatest Hits album that arrives Tuesday. In the music industry, however, album sales no longer generate the revenue stream they once did. By a similar token, ad support shouldn’t be expected to be a major source of revenue for a live streaming event. Planned product placement aside, not only would ad unit insertion violate the integrity of the show, the real money from concerts is in the merch. As in merchandise.
And the merch table was right there below the concert and next to the twitter and Facebook ticker.
GREATEST HITS will be released November 3rd on Roswell/RCA in standard, deluxe, and collectors 180 gram vinyl editions. PRE-ORDER NOWA concert wouldn’t be complete without a merch table… Check out the NEW Classics’ line on the OFFICIAL ONLINE STORE.
Some other miscellaneous technical notes
- By the concerts end, 12:30 or so EST, there were slightly less than 18,000 viewers.
- According to the band, the peak was 20,000
- The Livestream module counted over 2000 RT (re-tweets) of the event
- Signing into the Facebook Live chat i-frame would wipe out the twitter i-frame on Scorecard in the Poor Man’s Home Theater
All in all, the Foo Fighters put on a great show and deserve high praise. Sure, sponsors are nice, but they may want a guaranteed audience. There isn’t enough history for big sponsors. The good news is a track record is being established.
In the meantime, when you can put on a high production value show, with low overhead, and sell a few t-shirts, it is not a bad way to spend an evening. Bands, big and small, keep the music stream free and easy.
After the Transition 