What will be achieved to save lots of stay music?

Final August, I wrote a weblog that demonstrated my concern concerning the state of stay music in New Orleans. Summers are all the time dangerous in New Orleans as a result of it’s simply scorching as hell (and getting worse) and we simply don’t have the inflow of tourists that we’ve throughout a lot of the remainder of the yr.

When OffBeat began, one of many issues that we did instantly was to distribute the journal in all the world motels and motels, as a result of vacationers have all the time been advised that NOLA has incredible stay music….and there was actually no technique to promote native music to guests. That’s how OffBeat made its mark on the native music scene, because of entrance desk employees, bellmen, and concierges within the tons of of lodging amenities within the metropolis who welcomed OffBeat as a result of it promoted native music and musicians, and it made their jobs straightforward.

Effectively, these are vacationers. Any venue within the Quarter or on Frenchmen suffers when there a fewer guests within the metropolis. Some venues are literally closing down for not less than a part of the summer time (e.g. The Maple Leaf Bar). Bands might not have gigs as a result of venues can’t afford to pay them, and on locations like Frenchmen Avenue, venue house owners might not be capable of pay a band; they might must do with duos and trios.

The opposite drawback is that there’s very a lot a adverse generational shift. Youthful individuals don’t exit to take heed to stay music the best way that they used to. It’s too straightforward to expertise music on their telephone or pill with out leaving their home. (This text is an fascinating learn for individuals who care about music).

Right here’s one other wrinkle I simply grew to become conscious of: digital actuality content material creators are producing incredible musical content material for merchandise just like the Meta headset. I spoke with my daughter (who has one), and he or she advised me that with the acquisition of a headset, she obtained some nice content material, one among which was a live performance occasion that allowed her to take a seat within the entrance row with different viewers “members” to take pleasure in a incredible “stay” live performance. Clearly these things goes to be costly as hell ($100 not less than, which is definitely cheaper than truly going to the true live performance itself), however in case you can shell out the cash for a headset, you’d in all probability be capable of obtain not less than a few of that content material. And everyone knows that with time, it’s going to get cheaper.

This adoption of VR gear and content material is just not going to occur in a single day, but it surely is going to occur, and before we expect.

So what can musicians and venues do to keep up and to maintain their stay gigs alive? This requires a extra critical examination of know-how’s influence on the survival of stay music than merely watching content material on telephones or tablets.

I do know for a incontrovertible fact that youthful demographics don’t exit to expertise stay music like boomers or Gen X. It’s simply too straightforward to look at it with out having to depart your own home. Telephones and computer systems are changing the precise expertise of stay music.

So it’s not simply the warmth or lack of tourists to town that’s affecting our stay music scene. It’s a now quickly-growing know-how and it’s being utilized by an viewers that used to repeatedly exit to take heed to stay music, and its influence will actually be seen with youthful audiences.

This may occasionally not have an effect on us so considerably within the brief time period, however I assure you it’s going to have a adverse influence on stay music presentation and attendance sooner or later, and it’s coming lots quicker than you assume. How can we be sure that the thrill, viewers involvement and the “connection” between bands and audiences at a stay music present will exist sooner or later? Venues are already seeing critical modifications in who goes out to see stay leisure. What will be achieved to entice audiences of the advantages of experiencing music stay as a substitute of utilizing know-how Would love to listen to your ideas and opinions—and concepts on the best way to strengthen the attraction of stay music. Electronic mail me: [email protected]!