In this frankly weird gig-less time, bands have been turning to livestreaming as a way of connecting with fans online. It's certainly a great way of staying connected, but if you have never livestreamed before ,what should you consider BEFORE starting? Here's 3 golden rules to having a successful livestream:
1. Planning
Planning is probably the best thing you can do for your livestream! Are you making an announcement? How long into the stream will you announce it, how will you keep people on before that announcement? How will you not be like a rabbit in the headlights when the livestream starts?
Well if you have a clear plan of the livestream, that will certainly help. Have the first 5 minutes really planned out, precisely to avoid the awkward silence when nobody (or not many people) are there. If you're doing an announcement, it needs to be far enough in to give people a chance to see it, but not too long that they get bored!
If you're doing a livestream gig then have your set list planned out (not that taking requests is a bad idea) so that you're not awkwardly thinking through what you could play. In short, planning is key,
2. Advertise Your Livestream
Probably the worst thing you can do is unexpectedly 'go live'. Don't get me wrong if you have millions of followers it could work, but for most bands, plan ahead and advertise.
There's nothing more soul-destroying than planning for your livestream, only to find nobody is there - but if you don't tell them, how can they know! Make sure you advertise properly head of time, in exactly the same way as you would a gig. Also include what platform you're streaming on. If all your fans are expecting Facebook and you pop up on Youtube, that's not going to help! If possible, give them a direct link to where the livestream will be.
3. Make It Your Style
Watching other bands and working out how they're doing livestreams is great, but you're going to need to work out your own style of doing it. Do you all want to grab a beer and have a band meeting style livestream, do you want to do a gig? Do you want to do a Q&A? Work out what works for you and your style and roll with it.
I think a great idea (if anyone wants it) for a funny one, is to buy a load of kids toy instruments and do a session of your own music, playing with these instruments, it's silly and ridiculous, but people will remember it!
Whatever you do, be yourselves, fans will always spot when you're doing something out of character, so be yourself!
Have you livestreamed? How did it go? Comment below!
If you're interested in hearing more on this topic, Joe and I discussed it for half an hour on the most recent Music Survival Guide Podcast episode, so go check it out!