City Research Online

Abstract

Before the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered concert halls around the world in early 2020, live-streaming of real-time artistic performances tended to be the preserve of prestigious venues aiming to engage a remote audience alongside their in-house audience. With the onset of the pandemic emerged a new variation of live-streamed performance: live-streamed concerts without an in-house audience. From a performer’s point of view, producing live-streamed and pre-recorded online performances without an in-person audience resembled the recording process far more than a live concert performance; however, musicians were still expected to deliver convincingly ‘live’ performances. Without an in-person audience, the borders between live and recorded performances became increasingly blurred.

The main aim of this research project is to investigate musicians’ perceptions of live-streaming, which—though of course possible before the pandemic—has been put to unprecedented use since the beginning of 2020. To achieve this goal, I have used primarily practice-based and sociological methodologies: interviews, surveys, and questionnaires. I conducted interviews in 2021, when many performers were experiencing live-streaming amongst various pandemic-related restrictions for the first time; timed thus, these interviews document performers’ real-time thoughts and reactions rather than memories and reflections (in contrast to the survey I conducted in 2022, after performers had begun to adjust to live-streaming without in-person audiences). Using video logs and reflective writing I have also observed my own reactions to performing via live-streaming technologies and compared them to previous experiences I have had in concert halls and in recording studios.

One of the most important conclusions I came to while conducting this project was that performers’ perceptions of their own performances have changed profoundly as a direct result of participating in live-streaming without an in-person audience. My research suggests that performers today are more self-sufficient and more reliant on their internal artistic compasses than external validation and have learned to appreciate their audiences—both online and in-person—as equally important parts of every performance.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music > M Music
Departments:	Doctoral Theses

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