Lock-down Entertainment Revolution

During 2020 lock-down – when entertainment venues such as theatres, stadiums, pubs and clubs shut their doors – it did not take the normally live performing artists long to find new, innovative ways to leverage technology such as Twitch.tv to enable the show to go on.

Twitch.tv is a live streaming platform originally designed to enable gamers to publicly share their live game play and included a suite of tools, designed to engage their audience with a view to establishing and growing a global community.  The platform enabled live – high resolution video and audio, with a text chat function packaged into a platform, with a searchable, live streamer summary showcase which provided everything the gaming community needed to put on an engaging show.

Fast forward to today and Twitch.tv has now had to expand its summary showcase to include whole categories dedicated to performing Musicians and DJs.

The record producers previously seen at award ceremonies and pub/night club DJs – normally seen lurking in the shadows behind the decks have taken to bedrooms, living rooms and even the kitchen to broadcast their performances to Twitch.tv’s global audience. This new world – has also spawned a race of fresh performers who have liberated the DJ equipment from the loft and armed with no more than a webcam, PC and a broadband connection – are building large communities of fans.

In a locked-down world of working from home – it was really good to be able to close the work laptop and instead of heading to the City Centre to have a beer and listen to music or watch footie on a wide screen TV in the bar, I achieved most of that from the living room using Airplay on my smartphone to bring the entertainment to my living room.

It is also evident that events such as birthday parties are being hosted by a DJ and the music and lighting broadcast via Twitch.tv. Party goers could just turn down the lights, turn up the TV and attend the party remotely.

Twitch – Audience Engagement makes a big difference

The big difference between watching a performance on Twitch.tv and watching MTV or Top Of The Pops on Terrestrial TV is audience engagement via text chat. Perhaps the decision to ban tracks which have gone on to become timeless classics would have been normalised if a column of text chat with the audience had been present back then. Relax – by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is an example of a track which was banned from broadcast without care for what BBC customers thought and of course back then there was no immediate, visible accountability from the public for the people who played god.

In the context of Twitch.tv – audience participation via the column of text chat achieves two very important things. It drives the behaviour of the performer, ensuring delivery of what the audience expects and it provides the opportunity for the performer to engage with the audience in a way which if done well can create a real community feel and keep which the audience will keep coming back for.

Live shows illustrate this perfectly – people often comment that at live shows it is not just about the music – it is about the atmosphere and the performer interacts with the audience and Twitch.tv takes this to the next level providing a suite of engagement motivating tools. Our first Twitch.tv interactive experience was quite sobering when I asked for a shout-out for my other half who was both bemused and amazed that she had had a mention in a global performance. If the performer has a bit of charisma and an interesting theme for a well thought out show with a logical sequence of events – they can build a big audience community who keep coming back again and again.

Our – Twitch.tv Guilty Pleasure

Our Twitch.tv guilty pleasure is @DJMarkOxford. Before lock-down he was a Club DJ – performing regularly at various venues around Oxfordshire in the UK. He now broadcasts around 5 shows a week, performing from his spare room, where you can see his vinyl music collection showcase which he splits into different genres on the various days of the week. He doesn’t have a technically complex setup, just his 2 x SL 1210s and a Numark 2 x channel mixer all hooked into a MacBook running OBS. Sweet and Simple!

His online audience is consistently flicking between 200 – 400 viewers and aided by his mods @staffysmile, @mamaivy82 and @salmonmattus they keep everyone engaged in chat and providing shout-outs to people chatting, cheering with bit and events such as subscriptions. Mark is extremely good at picking up chat themes from my statements about the weather or what I am having for dinner and steering the conversation back to engaging the wider audience. When things quieten down he throws in a question such a where are you from or what was your car and the audience, including us all participate and allow him to take us on a journey.

Twitch.tv – Engagement Tools

Channel Points – as the audience engages they earn channel points and they can be spent on services Mark provides, such as – additional emotes for use in chat, highlighted text in chat, bringing out the bats which appear on the screen, or you can even get Mark to showcase his skills at spinning a basketball on his finger tip. Channel points are earned just by watching and Tier 1 subscribers get 1.2 times the points. The more you watch the more points you get and there are bonuses for watching consecutive shows and you can publish your watch streak which is the duraton you have been watching shows consecutively.

Bits – bits are the Twitch.tv currency and can be purchased by the audience for the purpose of cheering on the performer which always gets a shout-out. Being the first member of the audience to cheer with Bits earns additional channel points.

Subscription – no subscription is needed to watch or engage with the performers. However, the performer and mods gets a share in the subscription revenue and subscribers do get additional benefits such as 1.2 x the channel points for certain events, subscriber only chat, ad free watching and access to additional emotes and a badge displayed in chat.

Polling /Voting- Mark has used the platform features to create an event called –  Mystery Vinyl – a 12″ single is inserted into the black record sleeve with a question mark and put on the shelf. Mark then provides the audience with a correct and an incorrect choice of artist and using the prediction command the audience bets channel points for a pro-rata share in the channel point pot if guessed correctly. It is a 50/50 chance of winning for everyone and there are winners and losers and it is usually an emotional half hour as the winners celebrate and the losers express their feelings.

Our Thoughts

COVID has given us all some real life challenge and people like @DJMarkOxford and his mods have filled a critical gap and will likely continue to keep the gap filled. For that reason – despite the fact that I have was gifted 2 consecutive months of Tier 1 subscription we have now subscribed to @DJMarkOxford’s channel and will continue subscribing for the medium term.

Learning

It has been an eventful year and we have learned quite a bit in terms of how to fully leverage todays virtual world. Those who have stepped up on Twitch.tv really do need rewarding and at £4.99/month for a Tier 1 – subscription it does not cost the earth. You may be aware that Amazon Prime Gaming Subscribers get a free subscription per month to spend on their favourite Twitch.tv streamer. What I certainly wasn’t aware of is that – Prime Gaming Benefits are an extension of Amazon Prime. Meaning that if you subscribe to Amazon Prime you can link your account to Prime Gaming and get Gaming Loot and benefits which can be gifted and the free streamer subscription.

By Popular Request – Here is a ‘how to’

1. Do you have Amazon Prime – ie. the shopping service which enables free delivery, access to music, movies and kindle stuff? If not click here – the link opens in a new window, sign-up for the free trial and leave the browser tab open and come back here to step 2.
2. Now we are going to link your Amazon Prime account to your Twitch Account via by connecting to Prime Gaming. To do that  click here – the link opens in a new window, and you will see the Prime Gaming Introduction page. Click the ‘sign-in’ button at the top to the right and if you are still logged in to Amazon Prime it will ask you to confirm your your login details. If not login using your Amazon Prime login details and follow the instructions to link your Twitch account with your Amazon Prime account.
3. Now goto your favourite streamer on Twitch and click the ‘Subscribe’ button. Scroll down and you will see the option to subscribe using your Prime Gaming free subscription.
4. Come back and do 3. every month – enjoy your free stream subscription and help out your favourite streamer. Win-win.

If you already have an Amazon Prime account this costs you absolutely nothing to link the Twitch and Prime Accounts. If you did not have an Amazon Prime account, you will have got a free trial and a free streamer subscription. You also have access to a load of Gaming loot which if not of interest to you – you can gift.