With no live concerts on the calendar for musicians last year and going into this year, many artists have found more collaborative and innovative pivots to make to continue producing music for their fans. Livestreams and virtual music concerts are now a means for people to watch their favorite artists live from anywhere in the world.
With multiple bands having the ease of getting together online and after continued in-person festival cancelations, virtual music festivals are the new summer festivals. Indie artists have a better opportunity to have themselves heard by more music lovers.
Virtual music festivals have changed the festival scene’s scope and span, as these festivals listed below have changed the way that music festivals are being produced and performed now, painting independent artists a much brighter future.Â
Live From Home Festival
In May of 2020, to celebrate Asian Heritage month, this festival was created specifically as a charity Livestream event to raise money for the CDC Foundation COVID-19 Crises Fund. This indie festival’s idea was to explore the solutions and look for the positives during these difficult times. Some of the artists featured included Amber Liu, Tim Chantarangsu, well-known YouTube artist Sam Tsui, and D.J. Soda.
The festival partnered with the community-focused company Uplifted Visuals, whose goal focuses solely on relying on others’ storytelling to help drive awareness and essentially “uplift” communities. Everyone has a story, and celebrating that story with music is all the more effective. Celebrating Asain history and providing relief to those in need, this festival definitely created an impact in bringing harmony and Asian culture together, spreading entertainment for unification, and putting a spotlight on the community.Â
Ebb Indie Flow
This festival went forward on a virtual live slot in February 2021. It featured Global independent artists specifically to help find a solution to the effects that the global pandemic has done, specifically for the featured musicians and their careers. The lineup featured music artists from Washington DC, Argentina, Atlanta, GA, and even London.Â
This event was scheduled by Ozara Ode, an independent artist herself who has produced shows around the United States. She wrote and launched a play on Off-Broadway called Ozara in the Key of Nina, a tribute to Dr. Nina Simone. Her idea for developing and creating this event was to help out musicians worldwide stand united and bring their music and entertainment together in one place because she believes that they are stronger when united.Â
Portland Black Music Expo
This festival went live online back in October, a virtual music event that was a 2-day Livestream entertainment experience. The festival was reflective of black culture, and the overall mission was to unify music lovers with independent artist performances through a variety of Black-influenced genres.
Adapted to be an online, virtual event featuring multiple types of music, it started discussions with the virtual audience to address the current goings-on in our world and the importance of having your voice to take a stand for your beliefs.Â
The event was developed and brought to fruition by Tony Ozier and David Jackson (aka D.J. O.G. ONE), who intentionally wanted to recognize independent artists’ artistic contributions. It was sponsored by Marmoset Music Agency, a licensing agency that explicitly promotes, collaborates, and develops indie musicians and their careers. The event even featured one of Marmoset’s independent music artists, Easy McCoy.
It included some panel discussions and a hub for resources, accessible to those of all backgrounds. The festival created an environment geared toward promoting and empowering patrons from diverse backgrounds personally and professionally. Embracing diversity was one goal of the festival, and the other was to use music to highlight the importance of voting in the (then-upcoming) presidential election.Â
Some of the music featured in the lineup prominent black artists included D.J. Juggernaut, Calvin Walker, and local gospel group The Legendary Beyond. It was a massive community effort to put the expo together and with much success since there was an encore replay of the expo in November of 2020 as well.
Cold Waves Festival
Centered in the heart of Chicago, this music festival has been a weekend event held that brings multiple bands together for the cause of a fundraiser in support of suicide prevention. The festival was founded due to a sound engineer and musician named Jamie Duffy, who had a significant impact on the electronic and metal music industries. When he passed away, Cold Waves was born, and for one night, he brought 14 bands together to raise money for the family and say a heartfelt goodbye. It has since become an annual event.
This year, however, the 5th festival will be held virtually in September, having to pivot to continue to keep the connections going in a celebration of music and sounds to support those who suffer from depression, addiction, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health issues. Bands featured include Front 242, Front Line Assembly, Fear Factory, Youth Code, and Godflesh. These groups celebrate Chicago’s relationship with industrial music and create awareness for an important cause.Â
Recharge 2020 Festival
This free festival featured back in May was a YouTube live stream that included artists such as Miss Higgins, Pierce Brothers, The Jezebels, The Black Sorrows, and Archie Roach. It boasts of being the “best of Victoria” in Melbourne, which allowed viewers to kick back and listen to the music while perusing the virtual vendors (over 200) to shop and buy foods, beverages, and more to be delivered to you at home. You could also purchase merchandise from your favorite artists.
So much innovation went into providing a “one-stop-shop” for viewers to try to give them the experience of going to an actual festival full of excitement – it offered the illusion and ability to do so from the couch. They even covered delivery charges thanks to the Victorian Government, and they did let attendees purchase tickets for donations to help fund the musicians.Â
Charlotte New Music Festival
Another community-centered festival, this virtual festival, is set for summer 2021. The New Music Festival features a series of intensive workshops where people can collaborate closely with composers on writing their music. They translate and help you with your creative process, and you get to work directly with distinguished guest faculty in the creation of new works to perform – so the benefit of writing and performing, all in one! Featured composers include Gabriela Ortiz, Pamala Z, and Phil Aaberg. The experience gives you a public, live-streamed concert featuring your very own written and composed music.Â
The rise of virtual concerts is not a new concept at this point, and the popularity of online festivals will continue to grow until the pandemic has subsided. The introduction of new technologies to make these events more enjoyable and enhance the user experience will continue to grow and change while virtual streaming is here.
Technology has been a big help in allowing concert-goers to feel more a part of the action, with close-ups and promotions via social media. Though these festivals all are a bit different, there are still many positives to attending one virtually. And finding new independent artists to follow and see will be easier with the ability to watch multiple bands via one virtual event. These are great opportunities for independent artists to gain more visibility and performance time.Â
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Post by Nicole McCray (Website |Â LinkedIn)
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The post 6 Virtual Music Festivals That Are Changing The Concert Scene appeared first on Concert Crap.
