Staying afloat without live shows: How Eugene musicians adapted to COVID-19

Eugene musicians have been broadcasting live, building wooden sheds, or dreaming that one day they can reunite musicians and listeners in the same room.

Richard Lathrop wears sport khaki shorts and a button-down T-shirt covered in a ghostly white sheet, known by his stage name "Ghost". He sits on a lawn chair on the high grass, holding a laptop and MIDI pad.

 When he pressed a button on the computer, Luthrop played Flume's "Rushing Back" mix. Lathrop put down the music and picked up the whiteboard and marker. He started writing "Virtual Valley is great!" as the text. It is displayed in black font in the upper left corner of the screen.

 Lathrop is recording his performance list for the Virtual Valley Music Festival held on June 27th last year through the real-time streaming platform Twitch.tv. Lathrop, who hosted the virtual concert, gathered a total of 23 artists from Eugene, Oregon, and each artist recorded his own work. Then send each group to Lathrop to form a packet to be played at the desired time.

 The Virtual Valley Music Festival was held smoothly. The event raised $2,407.64 after deduction of fees, and then evenly distributed to benefit the Oregon Food Bank and Black Lives Matter.

 A month ago, Lathrop hosted Covchella, which was his first virtual concert since the COVID-19 pandemic last year. In the first attempt, Lathrop raised $1,334.28 for food in Lane County, a non-profit organization that distributes food to local people in need.

 Although every live event of Lathrop only saw an increasing number of shows, the energy required to perform these shows and the overall decline in interest in virtual concerts had a negative impact on smaller musicians.

 When the epidemic began to worsen in the spring of last year, artists began to use platforms such as Twitch, Facebook Live, Instagram Live and YouTube Live to perform shows. The cost of these performances was cheaper than ordinary live events, sometimes even entirely in the case of Lathrop. free.

 According to a third-party statistical analysis website, the ratings of the "music" category on Twitch peaked in May 2020, with 35,000 viewers per day, and has been declining since then, stabilizing at around 28,000 as of December.

 Although famous musicians such as T-Pain and hip-hop producer Kenny Beats have only become more and more popular due to regular live broadcasts on Twitch, small artists like Lathrop do not have the advantage of a well-known fan base. When live performances play an integral part of bringing new audiences to music, this creates serious problems.

 In a recent Zoom interview with Lathrop, he emphasized the importance of the house exhibition scene. Lathrop said: "Housing exhibitions are so important to attract and maintain audiences."

 "In the past year, even in Eugene, you have seen so many performances. These performances are performed in the performers’ homes. It’s sad because you won’t see many smaller bands really quickly Grow up."

 Lathrop also proposed how Ticketmaster, a global ticket sales company, recently announced its plans

Before distributing tickets to consumers.

Lathrop said: "People don't want a bunch of strangers in their houses, because when you're in a house show, you can't screen people like the Ticketmaster plan."

 For musicians who are not students and try to use music as their full-time job, this lack of live performance income may have a serious impact. One

A survey conducted by the Music Industry Research Association found that 80.8% of income from musicians comes from live events.

Although streaming seems to be an easy option to fill the gaps in live broadcasts, factors such as equipment costs and rebranding on new platforms can make live broadcasts feel exclusive to those who only have extra time and money to invest in. 

 This is another reason why Lathrop decided to ensure that the events he organized would benefit the charity and take various actions to attract more attention. Electronic music producer Kelly Gehlen, also known as DJ Kellalit, is one of the popular Eugene actors.

 "When it comes to music promotion, live performance is everything," Galen said. 

 "Many times people will go to another band, but you are the next person. They will look at you, you will get their attention, now they know who you are, and then they start to participate in your performance. Promotional activities, but because of not There will be live performances, so there are few new fans."

 Galen said she believes that the disappearance of live performances will make it more difficult to build a larger fan base, but she has personally experienced at least one additional benefit from self-isolation.

 "To be honest, I've never done so much music," Galen said. 

 "Since the pandemic, I have been locked up in my room, and since I moved to a new city (Los Angeles), I don’t know anyone. I have no excuses to go out and no one to play with me, so I just go out all day Sitting in the whole room and working all night. To be honest, this is a blessing in disguise."

 Both Gehlen and Lathrop have begun to prioritize social media branding and advertising to supplement the publicity gained through live performances. According to Lathrop, this can be expensive, and he uses Instagram to promote his music with minimal advertising.

 However, due to the promising results of the recent COVID-19 vaccine, it may be desirable to open the venue if procedures are implemented to reduce possible exposure.

 One such venue is the WOW Hall in downtown Eugene. For many years, WOW Hall has been the main music venue. There are BROCKHAMPTON, car seat headrests and Eerie Hill. Last May, WOW Hall held a live event WOW!! What a Stream!, a total of 26 artists participated, including Mowgli's in Los Angeles.

 Gabriel Gonzaga-Valenzuela, a volunteer at WOW Hall and a student at the University of Oregon, said that after finishing the second performance at the venue on December 29, he was excited about the venue’s future plans.

 "It seems that the real key to music and fan engagement is consistency. So you will see people doing something every day or every week, and their fan base has been increasing over the past eight months, and if you It’s difficult to do one-off things."

The last celebration of WOW Hall Twitch was to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the venue and featured compilation videos of 17 favorite artists of the staff who have worked over the years.

 Due to the uncertainty in the live music industry, until the large-scale production and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, when it comes to passing the torch to promote smaller artists, methods such as live streaming and advertising are hopeful.

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January 28, 2021

Tom D'Antoni (TOM D'ANTONI) // Moses Barrett (Moses Barrett) is the leader of the Junebugs band. Hear how this helped create Left Door Streaming, one of the most active live streaming companies in Oregon.

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