The future of “live” entertainment is upon us, and the potential benefits are crazier than anyone could have predicted.
Following a blitz of news and leaks last week, Marshmello performed at the world’s first in-game concert over the weekend through an exclusive partnership with Epic Games. The performance, held at Pleasant Park in the incredibly popular game Fortnite, drew a crowd of 10 million split across thousands of concurrent gaming sessions. That figure could be much larger, as the number given does not include viewers who watched the performance via Twitch or other streaming services. Here’s how it worked:
When players logged in to Fortnite – which has over 125 million players, according to its developers – they were met with only one competitive game mode available to them. When they chose to join the ‘Showtime Mode’ they were transported to the in-game park, which was modified to feature a performance space. Marshmello appeared on stage at 2 PM EST to share 10 minutes of music accompanied by a wide array of special effects such as lighting and sparks mirroring his real-world concert production.
A video of the performance is available below. The clip has already amassed more than 15 million views on YouTube.
The 10 million concurrent players watching Marshmello’s set is amazing, but what happened after the performance is even more impressive.
Throughout January, Marshmello averaged 37k new YouTube subscribers per day, and about 7.8 million YouTube views per day. On February 3, one day after the concert, Marshmello gained 699k new subscribers (nearly a 1,800% increase from his previous daily gain of 37k). He also amassed over 42.8M YouTube views, an increase of about 500% from his January average of 7.8 million views per day.
But the change in activity online doesn’t stop there.
According to Next Big Sound, Marshmello gained over 147K new Twitter followers this past week, up more than 2,000% from the week before (6,800). His Twitter mentions also increased by more than 1,000% (from 4,800 to 57,500).
Marhsmello’s Fortnite performance lead to a surge of engagement across all social media platforms.
With numbers like this, it is highly likely that additional in-game concerts will happen in the coming months. Epic has not revealed any information regarding the cost of the Marshmello promotion, but the return on investment most likely surpasses the time and money associated with making the event happen.
This post is the latest in our ongoing content collaboration series with the fine folks at Sonicbids.
It’s probably one of your biggest fears as a musician. You’re pumped for your upcoming gig, you’re ready to hear some noise, but when you make it onto the stage, your heart drops as you see the audience is practically empty. For any number of reasons (weird weekday, bad weather), you have a crappy turnout. Your first instinct may be to jump off the stage and run out of the venue, hoping in vain that no one even notices you were there, but pause for a second, and ignore this urge.
It’s too late to get more people to the show, but as long as you do have an audience, you need to play for them. At worst, it’s still a practice opportunity, and at best, you might make a few more diehard fans who greatly appreciate the effort you put in despite the circumstances. Just because there’s a bad turnout doesn’t mean it has to be a bad show, so here are some tips for making the most of a crappy turnout.
Use it as an opportunity to have more personal interactions with the audience
One of the few upsides to a small turnout is that you can see the individuals in your audience better and personalize the show more than you typically could. Make the show intimate. Treat the few people that are there like they’re a group of your friends, and make them feel special for coming out. If you see a funny shirt, comment on it. Ask someone else what the best bar in town is. Ask if anyone who knows your music has any song requests. The specifics don’t matter – it’s much more about letting your audience know their presence is noticed and valuable. This is a great way to create fans who want to see you again (and maybe bring a few friends next time!).
Take advantage of the low-risk atmosphere to try out something new
Another pro to playing for a small crowd is that if anything you do isn’t received well or just falls flat, you haven’t screwed up in front of hundreds of people, and you can calibrate your act for future, larger shows. It’s actually the perfect space for getting honest feedback without alienating too many people. Now, the content of this “new thing” is entirely up to you. It can be a brand new song you just finished up and haven’t gotten any feedback on yet. It can be a personal story you’ve thought about incorporating in your show. Whatever you do, be honest with the audience members that this is the first time you’ve done it. They’ll feel extra special that they’re the ones getting the sneak peek, which will make them compassionate even if it doesn’t pan out.
Give it 110 percent
It might seem counterintuitive, and you may not be in the right mood given the state of the crowd, but you should actually try and go above and beyond when you’re playing for small turnouts. They deserve your best effort anyway, but even more importantly, everyone in that audience is perceptive enough to know you must be bummed due to the turnout, so if they get a truly kickass show anyway, your attitude and performance will blow their expectations out of the water. Rise above the circumstances and show the crowd – all nine people that may be in it – that absolutely nothing gets you down, and you put your heart and soul into your music no matter who’s watching. This is how you leave a lasting impression. People love talking about a great experience that they and only a few others were a part of, so you may be surprised how the word spreads.
Stick around until every single person has left
This goes beyond just working the merch table after the show is over (though you should definitely still be doing that). This is the point of the night where you can solidify a lasting connection with the concertgoers. If you’ve successfully implemented all the tips above, then you should be catching your listeners in very high spirits, which you can capitalize on. Ask people how they’re doing, what they liked about the show, and what they didn’t like. Exchange as much contact information as you can, and let them know how they can interact with you in the future. If you’re financially comfortable enough to part with a shirt or EP for free, use that to “seal the deal,” as giving away free merch is a sign of gratitude that will continuously remind them of you. Ultimately, show how grateful you are that they gave you your time, and convey that this is the kind of musician you are all the time.
Playing to only a few people is not on many musicians’ bucket lists once they’ve gotten used to bigger crowds. This is still no excuse to not give it your all. If you’re ever in this situation, take a deep breath and use everything in your arsenal to make it a great night. You’ll be amazed by how meaningful that small show might become.
Katarina Underwood is an editorial intern for Sonicbids.
The following post is the latest in our ongoing content collaboration series with the fine folks from SonicBids. If there is ever a music related topic you cannot find covered on our blog we highly recommend giving their site a visit. Heck, go ahead and make them a bookmark. They’re great people doing great work for the same reason as us: They want to see the industry continue to grow for many years to come.
Being a musician involves wearing many hats. Most great musicians have mastered the art of both practicing their chops alone, and displaying those chops in front of large crowds. As an introvert, you may feel more comfortable practicing alone, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be an amazing performer as well; you might just have to change the way you approach performance in order to make it work for you. Here are some tools introverted musicians can use to improve their stage presence and overall performing abilities.
1. Throw away the misconceptions
Many people (including introverts themselves) have misconceptions about what introversion actually means. Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, points out that shyness and introversion aren’t the same, even though most of us assume they are.
“Shyness is the fear of negative judgment, and introversion is a preference for quiet, minimally stimulating environments,” she writes. Barbra Streisand, for example, is someone that most of us would immediately identify as being comfortable in front of other people, but not so, says Cain. “Barbra Streisand has an outgoing, larger than life personality, but a paralyzing case of stage fright: she’s a shy extrovert.”
Another misconception is that introverts get stage fright. But even if you’re a shy introvert, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have performance anxiety. (By the way, if you’re curious to see if you’re a shy introvert or not, you can take this online shyness test developed by researchers at Wellesley College.) Most shy people are moderately shy and can get by just fine in front of people despite their shyness. It’s only when this shyness becomes extreme that it can lead to cases ofperformance anxiety (which, by the way, it something you can conquer, just as other performers like Barbra Streisand have).
2. Develop a pre-gig routine
Just like in other areas of DIY musician life, introverts have the upper hand over extroverts in some ways when it comes to performing. Psychologists have found that introverts often make better public speakers than extroverts, because introverts tend to take more time to prepare and think things through. So while your extroverted bandmates might be chatting it up with fans or other musicians before the gig, you can feel justified in taking this time to go over the setlist in your head, warm up your voice, or simply spend some quiet time alone.
3. Prepare some topics for between songs
Sometimes the most daunting thing about performing is not playing the songs, but thinking about what to say between songs. Because introverts don’t tend to be as quick on their feet as extroverts in social situations, it could be a good idea to prepare some topics beforehand to help fill those awkward silences if you’re the one tasked with talking to the audience.
4. Know when to fake it…
As Cain has pointed out, introverts don’t always act like they feel. “Introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly,” she says. This is because of a phenomenon she calls Free Trait Theory, which says that people are born with certain natural dispositions, but can successfully act against these dispositions when pursuing “core personal projects.” So even if you don’t feel like going up onstage every time you have a gig, you can learn when to turn on the extrovert tap, so to speak.
5. …and when to be real
At the same time, going too far into Free Trait territory can be dangerous for your stage presence, if not for your personal health. According to research from Cambridge University, faking your personality for too long could lead to health problems such as decreased immune system functioning. Plus, there’s always the danger that you could get tired of pretending to be an extrovert onstage and come across as fake and awkward.
It’s also important to remember that performing onstage isn’t the same as interacting with people at a party or a networking event; while it may serve you well to act more gregarious than normal in a networking situation, you might actually have more luck capturing the attention of fans on stage simply by being real. Sometimes you can actually exude more energy simply by standing stoically rather than jumping around like a spastic monkey.
6. Take time to recuperate
Both extroverts and introverts need time to recharge. Research has found that extroverts feel less stressed at work when they take time throughout the day to be social. If this is the case, then it would follow that the opposite is true for introverts. If performing takes a lot of your energy, then naturally, you’ll want to take time after each gig to regain that energy.
Even if you don’t feel comfortable at all onstage, it may help to think of performing as part of your art, just like writing songs or recording an album. It may be the part you dread the most, but for your fans, it could be the best way to experience your music. You may find performing exhausting, but if you learn to do it right, your fans will find it exhilarating. And after all, isn’t playing music all about creating amazing experiences?
Casey van Wensem is a freelance composer, musician, and writer living in Kelowna, B.C., Canada. You can hear his musical work at birdscompanionmusic.com and read his written work atcaseyvanwensemwriting.com.
Hey there, everyone! Thank you so much for carving a little time out of your busy schedule to spend a few minutes browsing our blog. This post is actually a guest piece, developed and written by Chris Jahnle from Kill/Hurt Records. It’s about how one band on his label, Ivory Deville, found great success and exposure by leveraging their live show in a unique way. It’s a simple idea, but the results were far greater than even we could have anticipated. If you’re in a band, please consider this article a ‘must read’ in the days ahead.
This site exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found onTwitter and Facebook.
My name is Chris Jahnle and I run Kill/Hurt Records, an independent record label based in Los Angeles, CA. I’ve been in the music industry for 10 years as a musician, audio engineer, and working for record labels of all sizes. My main area of expertise is digital marketing and web development. I worked at Interscope Records and the Collective in that capacity before starting Kill/Hurt and my own web development/digital marketing company.
At Kill/Hurt we work with a number of artists, but I’m here today to discuss Ivory Deville in particular. The band is a non-traditional 5-piece blues-rock honky-tonk party machine that has a stellar live presence and consists of:
Johnny Elkins: Lead Vocals/Guitar
Tia Simone: Vocals
Laura Marion: Vocals
Wolf: Bass
Ryan Wykert – Drums
I came across these guys about a year ago and thought they were phenomenal – their live performance knocked me out of my shoes. Pretty soon we had their debut full-length record on our hands and the unique challenge of translating the essence of Ivory Deville arose. As with all album campaigns focusing on new artists, the biggest hurdle is separating the band from the noise. We knew we wanted to have a side conversation with those interested and bring them into Ivory Deville’s world.
After a more traditional PR campaign coupled with email marketing outreach and digital marketing, we had some great momentum going for the new record, but needed something to take us into the new year full speed ahead. Since the band is made up of naturally visual artists, from their clothes to their on-stage facial expressions, really cultivating that full experience was the perfect call. We had some great press photos, but Dave Bell and Jake Cotler, Ivory’s management team, had the excellent idea of putting together a 1-day shoot and have the band come perform 4 songs off the album in a full-on stage production that showcased the band’s excellent live performance capabilities, their unique style, and of course their amazing facial expressions and dance moves!
The way the videos setup the band was perfect, especially as they were heading into their first month-long residency. The live videos were an excellent tool to promote the record as well as their actual live shows. By the end of their residency, we are continuing to build momentum and the band is stepping up to some bigger shows as a result. We still have the last video; so I think that will come in handy as we’re building buzz online and selling tickets. What worked so well about these videos was the band being the perfect fit for it and their management team’s deep knowledge of the band’s identity. Figuring out the best way to have that side conversation and doing it in a way that expands the band’s artistic presentation is the real takeaway. Then it becomes creative and it’s no longer “marketing” – it’s an extension of the band’s world.
