Feature: Yahoo! Live
4 min read
With the entertainment and digital landscape changing every day, there are so many new developments and ideas that claim to be unique so when one comes along that we think sets itself apart from the rest, well, we just have to scribble up a post to let our readers know all about it. We’re good like that!
Recently Yahoo!’s online streaming service, Yahoo! Screen, and global tour giant Live Nation Entertainment launched something really quite awesome in the world of live music called Yahoo! Live.
Yahoo! Live is an online concert streaming series which will live stream a concert every day for 365 days. The partnership between the Yahoo! streaming service and Live Nation is giving fans of all genres and all styles of music the chance to see their favourite bands perform live each night from the comfort of their own homes as well as offering music lovers the opportunity to discover some of today’s brightest, emerging artists in, on many occasions, an intimate live setting. Think of it as an opportunity to expand on your musical comfort zones or perhaps test the water a bit and really see what a band is like before handing over the hard earned cash for one of their gigs when they next roll into town.
It’s a fly-on-the-wall type of live music experience that takes you into some of the worlds coolest venues that, chances are, you may never have been able to see otherwise. It’s not just the big bands that you would think would naturally be a part of something like this either. Sure there are your obvious pop and RnB acts like Usher and Justin Timberlake penciled into the upcoming schedule on the website but there are also bands like Daughtry, Sick Puppies, Gavin DeGraw and Toad The Wet Sprocket that have snatched some of the limelight. We had a scroll through the list of acts that have pitched in to contribute gigs to the line up and there is whole year full of performances from new acts, pioneers and trailblazers of the live music scene all queuing up to be a part of this new concert series.
Having recently spoken with Chris Daughtry about the current Daughtry tour and the bands new album Baptized, we thought we would check out the bands August 3rd performance while it was streaming on Yahoo! Live and we were pretty impressed with the quality of the gig stream. The sound quality was right up there and the camera work was of the standard that you would expect in a live DVD release; plenty of cameras positioned around the venue, in this case the Comerica Theatre in Pheonix, Arizona and delivered in a professionally crisp form.
In an ever changing world where the digital era is pushing forcefully into everyday consciousness from physical brick & mortar retailers becoming increasingly abundant and in a time where the age of ‘the download’ is fast pushing the nostalgic yet inconvenient physical CD and DVD formats to the shelves of a time once filled with the antiques, as todays youth now consider them, concerts and the general live experience has dragged its feet a little. Now, when I say this I’m not talking about websites like YouTube or similar where we can find almost anything scattered including the millions of bootlegged snapshots of concerts from gig revelers in every blurry, audio-mutilated and shaky form you can think of. I’m also not talking about post gig released Blu-Rays, DVD’s or downloads that help us relive the moment of attending a show. I’m talking about watching a show from some of musics biggest and brightest acts from the comfort of your own home, live and within some of the most beautiful and intimate venues that live music has to offer.
Of course the world is full of live music aficionados (myself included) who would instinctively put their nose up at the idea of watching a gig from their bedroom, balcony or lounge as opposed to being at the show itself, gyrating away with the band and singing every word in a packed out and sweaty venue with thousands of other like-minded fans. And that is a very good argument. The concept of this project however is really quite unique in that not only is it free to watch these bands every day (by the way, if you miss the act the first time around, don’t worry because it loops for 24 hours) but it is of a level of craft and delivery not seen on any other format before.
So, while there will always be skeptics out there that believe live music should be experienced in person, a view that I myself also feel strongly toward, not everyone has the opportunity of attending regular shows due to the cost of ticket prices in many cities skyrocketing over the years and many big name artists opting on keeping world tours to specific target markets. That’s what makes this project so cool. Yahoo! and Live Nation have tapped into something very special and by doing so they have allowed music fans an exceptional experience that many would not have previously had. That is what Yahoo! Live is all about.
Head over and check it out HERE. Who knows, you’re favourite band may be playing right now!
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
