In these current times, many entertainment sectors have been constantly changing to fit the effects of this year’s biggest events. Due to the nature of this pandemic, live music is one of the sectors that has been affected the most. Music festivals, concert venues, and dance clubs often serve as major revenue sources for local economies, with other businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies benefiting from the spikes these events brought.
At a lack of touring, artists such as Drake, have embraced self-isolation by donning face covers for their music videos and even making TikTok-friendly music. Others, like T-Pain, have flocked to platforms with other original purposes, such as Twitch, for live performances. Twitch experiencing a massive jump in viewership, from 92,000 average viewers to 574,000 in the course of 20 days (Perkins Coie, 2020).
Combining their Hobbies
Nowadays, a plethora of artists and celebrities in Twitch, have either gained more traffic in their already existing accounts or found a new source of visibility by creating an account. Streams on Twitch are more interactive than more passive viewing options, with fans donating in virtual tip jars and interacting more directly with musicians through Twitch’s chat feature. Twitch viewership has been way up since the pandemic started. Viewership grew to 5 billion hours watched between April and June. The music industry as a whole is also keeping an eye on this platform’s steady growth; as more users incorporate music recordings into their streams, the Recording Industry Association of America filed thousands of takedown notices in June which for better or worse, reflects the presence Twitch is developing in the industry.
The American electro house musician, Steve Aoki, ever since 2017, has been an example of the potential an artist can achieve in this platform; with 62.1K followers, he has been streaming his music, gaming sessions, chatting, and even unboxing sessions. He has even invested in Las Vegas-based esports organization called Rogue, which possesses teams in Overwatch, Call of Duty, H1Z1, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. There are even instances where rather than doing straight gameplay by himself, Aoki prefers to do event-based streams like charity matches with other people in the music industry, with one of those events being his Street Fighter battle with hip hop artist Kid Ink, which Aoki lost, resulting in him having to give $10,000 to charity.
Since 2015, electronic music DJ deadmau5 has been streaming on Twitch. He records in live sessions and plays games, like Rocket League, PUBG, and Diablo III. His longtime hobby has amassed him 469K followers, who have never been more faithful than during these times.
At the end of July of 2020, the rapper Logic, signed an exclusive deal with Twitch, becoming the company’s first musician signing (the latest milestone in Twitch’s growing music presence), in a deal in the seven figures. He now hosts his account in the platform with 398K followers, streaming gaming, and music sessions.
In addition to the artist mentioned, Twitch has been by many different figures, ranging from NFL players, to EDM artists, to actresses and stand up comedians, some are:
Kygo
Jon Feliciano
Disclosure
Felicia Day
CNCO
Brian Limond
Post Malone
Snoop Dogg
More and more artists will begin to realize what they could achieve through this outlet. Due to the success Logic had on the platform, there is a possibility that Twitch could arrange more deals with other artists, and the results could be amazing. This platform as an intense potential for artists, comedians, entertainers, and people that live for carrying others through their journeys, no matter if it is in a fictitious open-sandbox, a bass-boosted recording session, or even plain and simple exciting unboxing of fun toys.
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