With the advent of the Corona Virus, many musicians have gone to doing live broadcasts. We've been doing them since the option was available. In 2015, our good friend, Janet Nathan, and her niece Lauren stopped by our gig at what was then, Grunts. Lauren showed us this brand new app called Periscope, which offered the user live broadcasts. The very second I saw, it my brain was already getting ideas on how we might utilize it with The Shanty Hounds! Before she finished showing us the video she took, I was downloading the app. The app had just come out less than two months before, so we were on the cutting edge.
We had a lot of success with Periscope and considering that we were getting hits from both our friends, as well as people who had no idea what the type of music we played. A lot of these people were from all around, not just the country, but from all over the world! As always, we tried to be good ambassadors to both our home town of Key West, as well as the genre. I didn't know of anyone in Key West or in Trop Rock that was doing this. Surprisingly, I saw very, very little music being broadcast. There was a pub in the west of Ireland that did. Great stuff too! Irish music, guitars, Uillian pipes, tin whistles.. fabulous Irish music! But over time, other than that and us, I noticed very little.
Within a several months, it became known that Facebook would be introducing a live app, as well. For me, that was the "no brainer" of the year. With Periscope we attracted people who were subscribed to Periscope. Facebook offered the list of all our friends and then some! The day it came out, we were broadcasting. Like Periscope, we were the first band in Key West and in Trop Rock to use it. As many of you already know, we use it regularly, not only for our gig broadcasts, but also for our pages "Key West Beer Tales - The Sum Of All Beers" and "Bar Tending With Boris".
I'm thinking Facebook Live was introduced in very early 2016. In April of 2016, The Shanty Hounds broke new ground went international and did Facebook Live at a gig we played in St. Thomas USVI at The New Latitude 18 bar, then owned by Rick Holmberg!
A couple of days later we were on St. John and did an interview video with both customers and employees of St. John's Brewers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaZdDwmwrlo&t=48s
So, as I have a bit of experience with doing the live videos (I'm still no expert, believe me!) I thought I'd share what I know. Virtually all the things I've learned were via school of hard knocks and seat of the pants.
Also, for the last ten+ years I've used an iPhone, so everything related here relates to iPhones. Most will be the same with an Android, but I can't guarantee it.
#1) Treat your broadcast like you would any other gig regarding your professionalism. That doesn't mean you have to be stiff and serious. You can have just as much fun and laughs and be professional at the same time. Above all, use common sense.
I had a notification that a person I am friends with on Facebook had just gone live. "Great! I'll tune in!" So, I go to his page and there he is... tuning his guitar! I'm not talking about one string being out, he was tuning the entire guitar before he started playing! WTF? Today, I was on another live broadcast and all I saw of the performer was his left side! 😕
Bottom line: Don't hit the Start button until you're ready to start! Be in tune, pull up your zipper, tie your shoes, comb your hair, check the phone/camera and when everything is ready, push Start and have at it.
#2) Never, ever... did I say Never? do a video in portrait! ALWAYS use "Landscape". Landscape is when the phone is sideways! In Portrait the camera cuts out nearly 50% out of the screen. You don't want this. For some reason this is the standard setting for an iPhone. It gives the viewer a very claustrophobic feeling and you look like you're playing in a closet, regardless of the background. Again, always use landscape.
#3) When setting the phone up for the Facebook video, use the video setting on the camera when doing so! A picture and a video do not share the same focal start point as far as the zoom goes. Everything might look good in photo, but when you go to video that setting could be looking up your nose! So, when doing your settings, use video, not photo.
Also, use a tripod! They are inexpensive too. You'll need a clip to hold the phone too. Avoid spring clamps like the plague... or COVID 19. What can happen with them when installing your phone is they snap the phone out and your $1000 iPhone X R has taken flight across the room.
Always get a screw tightener!
Various tripods are also available starting around $20. Some come with the clamp for the phone.
#4) It's always a luxury to have someone help you set things up, but it's not always available. I recall doing a solo Facebook video early on and when I looked at the playback later, the top of the video started at the middle of my nose and went down from there 😂
That, of course is the extreme, however other times weren't so bad... I only cut the top of my head off!😛
When setting yourself up, get in your seat as if you we going to start playing. if you have a wall behind you, take note where the top of your head lines up with that wall. Go back to your camera phone and check that the video high enough to give the video picture some room to breath.
What your goal is, is to give the entire picture, room to breath. There is not real set rule here and there's a lot of give and take, especially with playing in different locations. Again, use common sense. Show your guitar, if that's what you're playing. You want it to look like a musical performance. Remember the guy who was cut in half length wise? I also couldn't see the instrument he was playing. Whatever you play, a guitar, piano, uke, percussion... always show it! Unlike an MP3 or a CD, any live performance is also visual, so you want to accent that as much as you can.
As I mentioned pianos, they are much harder to video. I'll see many on line with the camera to their right. It's not too engaging. I'd try something different. I'd try doing the same angle, but raising the camera above the performer, so it's looking down on them and picking up some background. The head on shot is another option, however the audience won't see your hands playing.
#5) If you're playing outside, or inside with a fan, be aware of the direction from which the air is blowing from! On an iPhone the mic is on the bottom. So, if you have a breeze blowing from the right, have the mic on the left. Wind noise can destroy your sound.... Take it from me!
#6) Background. Make your background interesting! Keep in mind that the camera is singular and stationary. It's not like on a music video where there are multiple cameras alternating shots every twenty seconds. So, whatever background you have is what your audience will be seeing as long as you're playing! Unless the viewer is a 15 year old who stares perpetually in your eyes head over heels in love with you, (That's not happening) your viewers need something interesting to see. Some musicians love the sound that one gets acoustically in a bathroom. It's a natural reverb. It's always a matter of compromise however. So unless you look like Taylor Swift and you're singing your songs naked, and in the shower, forget the bathroom. 😲
Additionally, one school of thought is to use the same location repeatedly, while the other is to have new options for the viewer. The jury is out on this one. Myself, I prefer the latter. My thought is change the background as much as you can. I feel the same background is monotonous for the viewer. Additionally, people think with the same background, it's a rerun of the same performance you did four days ago.
Last Monday The Shanty Hounds played at our friend Steve Craigo's house in his tropical, lush Bahama Village backyard! Yesterday, we played at the empty, but beautiful, Curry Mansion. Monday we'll be out on the water off Key West aboard our friends Tadd and Lindsay's 47Ft. catamaran, Makara. https://www.facebook.com/worldsailingadventures/
However, that's what works for me, for you it might be something else?
#7) Interaction. Interaction is another subject that has yet to be determined which is the best way to go? Playing live at a gig we've tried both. Dani is a firm believer that interaction with those watching is the best option. It does work well, especially with having exclusively an on-line audience. What she'll do is set up her iPad and view the broadcast, seeing and responding to comments.
It's a different animal than having an in person audience sitting, dancing and swaying to the music. They're not there. On those broadcasts without online audience interaction we always had more views. However, what we're doing now with an internet audience, my suggestion is to make it personal. You don't want to sit there like the banjo player in Deliverance. You need some interaction. Here, the on line audience is all you have. Careful not to make it too lengthy. If you talk to one person too long the other 1000 watching will get bored. Use Mr. Spock's philosophy "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Don't give those watching any reason to leave. Instead, give them a reason to extend you gratuity! Keep it interesting, nice, polite, and brief. Let's call it INPB... say "In Pub" 😃😃😃
#8) Means for tipping. For a while we used QR Codes for on line tipping. The problem here was the companies we used kept going out of business. Additionally, not everyone is tuned in to that. They have no clue what it is.
Using a format that is readily available and well known is your best option. You don't want your viewers having to download apps and running through a half hour safari attempting to figure out the latest craze. Make it as easy as possible for everyone!
I use PayPal. Other than my brother Sean, 😛😜 who doesn't know PayPal?
#9) Where to Post: Your target audience are those who can lend you assistance via gratuity. After all, if you're a professional musician, your livelihood has been cut off at the knees and you need revenue to survive. Obviously, your home page and your music page are natural points of exposure for you.
Pasting your performance on a group page, of say musician's or songwriters is 100% useless. These people are doing Facebook live for the same reason you are. They're not going to give anything because, like yourself, they are scrambling as well.
I hope this helps those new to live video! No doubt when I post this blog, there will be all kinds of things I will think of and say "How did I forget that??? The beauty of it is I can always edit it back in, so check back in a day or two!
You will make mistakes, don't let them bother you. That's the human element.
Leave time ahead to figure everything out for your location. EVERY LOCATION IS DIFFERENT
Use common sense!
Have fun and good luck to all!
I should say that my pay PayPal is chrisrehm@hotmail.com 😇
