Ryan Vail And Elma Orkestra are planning a Borders paid live stream show next week
With live stream shows becoming the main way that independent artists can make any sort of useful level of income during the pandemic (other than one-day Bandcamp sales), it’s interesting to see the progression of the form.
What started as a novelty, has become a necessity. What started with donate links, is becoming more explicit, with artist stepping up to asking their fans and interested parties to pay for full live streamed shows.
Laura Marling did it earlier this month by charging £15 for her solo Union Chapel show and 6000 people did so.
The costs of producing a live stream can include extra costs than a regular show: where before there was venue costs, now there is camera and broadband hire costs at the very least, so if an artist is to make money, they need to charge a fee.
The Derry project of Elma Orkestra and Ryan Vail aka Borders are the latest to make this offering explicit as they present a live stream of the Borders project on Wednesday June 24th at 10pm entitled Two artists, two metres apart, Live From Lockdown.
With 4 HD cameras, a full production A/V show and the music itself with guest string players, and collaborators Moya Brennan and Stephen James Smith beaming in from home, the pair are charging £8 for access to the show.
The musicians had to cancel shows at festivals and a big one with the Ulster Orchestra at Ulster Hall so their live income was completely wiped out so they’re doing what they can.
Check out the trailer for it.
There is an optional donation on top of the ticket price to support Alliance For Choice’s Black Lives Matter Hardship Fund.
