Is live the new battleground for streaming giants?
Streaming giants such as Apple, Spotify and Amazon are ramping up their live music offerings with exclusive live stream series featuring some of the world’s biggest acts.
Apple Music Live yesterday (27 October) announced that Grammy Award-winning artist Megan Thee Stallion will be the latest act to feature in the inaugural, exclusive live performance series.
Her upcoming concert at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles will be available to Apple Music subscribers in over 165 countries on 21 December at 19:00 PST, and local fans can register for the chance to be in the room for the rapper’s set.
Megan Thee Stallion follows in the footsteps of artists including Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Mary J. Blige, Lil Durk and Luke Coombs, all of whom have performed for Apple Music Live.
“No matter how much time and effort an artist may spend crafting music in the studio, it’s on the stage where they really get to show their work,” the company notes. “Apple Music Live is a new recurring series designed to do just that: give the biggest stars in music the biggest possible platform to flaunt how they connect with audiences and how their songs translate to live performance.”
Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, Mary J. Blige, Lil Durk and Luke Coombs have all performed for Apple Music Live
Prior to Apple Music Live, the streaming behemoth previously dabbled in live music with events including the discontinued iTunes Festival and Apple Music Festival.
Amazon Music has also announced details of a new livestream concert series, which will also feature Megan Thee Stallion.
Hosted by American rapper 2 Chainz, Amazon Music Live will be streamed live from LA, featuring “the biggest artists performing their latest hits live”.
It will air on Prime Video following Thursday Night Football in the US and premieres 27 October with Lil Baby, followed by Megan Thee Stallion (3 November) and Kane Brown (10 November), with further performers to be revealed in the coming weeks.
“With Amazon Music Live, we’ve created a new, can’t-miss series for fans to experience the most exciting new music together,” says Kirdis Postelle, global head of artist marketing of Amazon Music. “For artists, this show represents a massive new stage to share their music with fans after Thursday Night Football – the biggest game of the week, airing live on Prime Video.”
Amazon Music Live will be streamed live from LA, featuring “the biggest artists performing their latest hits live”
As well as hosting Amazon Music Live, 2 Chainz will interview each night’s performing artist during Thursday Night Football shoulder programming. Each concert will be available for fans to stream live around the world on Prime Video and will also be available to stream on-demand for a limited time.
Each week’s performance will be filmed in front of a live audience. Attendance to the show is by invitation only and will be facilitated through ticketing and event discovery platform Dice.
Amazon Music also recently livestreamed Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out 22 October show at the Accor Arena in Paris.
Fans were able to watch the livestream for free exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, and on the Amazon Music app.
Spotify previously stepped into the live music sphere when it launched a new livestreaming virtual concert series during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spotify launched a new livestreaming virtual concert series during the Covid-19 pandemic
The Black Keys, Rag’n’Bone Man, Bleachers’ Jack Antonoff, Leon Bridges, and girl in red were among the artists that delivered what Spotify called “pre-recorded live shows” – which each ran for 40-75 minutes and cost US$15 to attend.
More recently, Spotify soft-launched a new website to sell tickets directly to its users, instead of redirecting customers to partner ticketing platforms.
The streaming provider premiered its tickets.spotify.com on 10 August, enabling those with a Spotify account to purchase event tickets via debit or credit card.
Apple, Amazon and Spotify join several other digital giants that have hosted live concert performances, such as YouTube which has been livestreaming Coachella performances for years and Hulu which has been enlisted to stream Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo music festivals in 2022 and 2023.
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Harry Styles to kick off Apple Music Live series
Apple Music has announced the launch of a new recurring live music series, Apple Music Live.
Kicking off with Harry Styles: One Night Only in New York at UBS Arena in Long Island on 20 May, the livestream series promises to “give the biggest stars in music the biggest possible platform to flaunt how they connect with audiences and how their songs translate to live performance”.
The show will be streamed exclusively to Apple Music subscribers at no extra cost at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT and coincides with the release of Styles’ third album Harry’s House. There will also be encores on 22 May at 12pm EDT/9am PDT and 26 May at 4 pm BST.
“No matter how much time and effort an artist may spend crafting music in the studio, it’s on the stage where they really get to show their work”
“No matter how much time and effort an artist may spend crafting music in the studio, it’s on the stage where they really get to show their work,” says the tech company. “Apple Music Live is a new recurring series designed to do just that: give the biggest stars in music the biggest possible platform to flaunt how they connect with audiences and how their songs translate to live performance.”
Details of other acts set to take part in the series are yet to be revealed. Apple previously ran the iTunes Festival (later the Apple Music Festival) in London from 2007-16, which starred artists such as Adele, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Oasis, Elton John, Britney Spears and Robbie Williams.
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