Taking the Live Music Experience Home: Concert Industry Goes Digital

About three years ago, artists began releasing albums on flash drives as labels tried to squeeze the last few cents out of music as a physical product. In theory, a cool idea; however, flash drives are not so cost effective. Then again, with the drop in physical music sales, perhaps it is not a bad idea to manufacture far less physical products to sell. Anyway, is it now 2008, physical music sales have continued to drop drastically but the hard working employees of concert industry related businesses are not worried. Many might say it is because the live music experience can never be replaced. Believing strongly in this mantra, the live music industry has decided to join the digital age and a few artists have begun to record concerts as they are happening and distributing a recording of the concert right after the concert ends and loading it to a USB flash drive selling at about 30 dollars a piece. Some of the drives look like a normal everyday thumb drive with key chain abilities and one company called Aderra has fashioned a USB flash drive wristband (pictured below). The concert attendee can then purchase the flash drive and bring it home, load it up on a computer and listen to the concert again and even share it with friends. Depending on the performance ability of the artists and their popularity along with the makeup of the fan base, the USB flash drive has the potential to create a whole new avenue for artists to promote their music let alone attract more people to the live show (which is extremely important as the artists takes home most of the money generated at a live event).

Live recordings have the potential to be of much lower quality than a studio recording. The noise of screaming fans or an off key sing-along can take away from the artist's performance. In the past, a live album would be recorded at a concert but when mastered, a sound engineer could simply overdub rough parts and even lower the sound of the crowd. The USB flash drives would not leave time for the overdubbing process and would have a more raw sound than the traditional live album. The live sound guy who works at the venue or is on tour with the band will now not only need to make the live show sound great but also make sure it will sound just as good on a recording that will be distributed by the end of the show. This could create a need for talented sound engineers and perhaps the engineer would even receive a portion of sales. Regardless of the sound quality, if an artist sounds great live than the USB flash drive would probably sell quite well at the merchandise table. On the other hand, if the artist cannot perform well in a live situation, there is not much a sound engineer can do on the spot to fix that. In that case, the USB flash drive would not sell very well and perhaps even become a negative item to have linked to the artist.

Keeping in mind that many artists sound fantastic live, it is quite possible that a live recording of a concert available directly after the concert could be a great promotional device for the artist's tour. Most importantly, artists involved in the USB flash drive program encourage sharing with friends as well as uploading the files online (which creates another problem discussed later) so others can listen to the recording. If the recording is great and the artist sounds fantastic, the flash drive could help promote the tour to someone who might be on the fence about attending a show in his or her own locale. However, if the recording is not so great, it could push the indecisive consumer right off the fence and into some other artist's concert. On a completely different note, this product may only work for certain types of artists and definitely for artists whom have a well established fan base. Such an item would hardly work in a small and loud bar or club type venue but may work wonders in a larger venue with an artist whose fans have already spent 50 dollars just to get in the show let alone another 20 dollars to park. Thus, this item will be targeted at the average and fortunately for the industry, gullible concert attendee. This is the person that will buy a 50 dollar ticket and spend 20 dollars on parking and upon entering the venue buy overpriced beer and food. At the end of the concert, this same person will stand in an oppressively long line and spend 35 dollars on a t-shirt and 20 dollars on a poster. So, why not sell these people a 35 dollar recording of a concert he or she just saw. If the average concert attendee had a good enough time to spend all that money to begin with, it does not sound so bad to tack on a 'few' extra dollars to make the experience complete.

USB flash drives, especially in the wristband style have a great potential for positively promoting live music. The wristband has a greater potential as it could become a fashion accessory and fans may begin to collect them. The format is stylish, convenient and cool which is something that could spark any concert attendee's interest. It is certainly an item that could start a brand new fad. The price may still be a little high as a 35 dollar t-shirt seems extreme, however, 35 dollar t-shirts do get purchased so it is likely that a 35 dollar wrist band would also be purchased and certainly by someone willing to the fork up the cash for an overpriced t-shirt. On the other hand, perhaps many people will avoid buying the wristbands and just wait to find a free download online. Either way the artist will get the music heard and hopefully provoke more people to attend live shows. USB flash drives present a great opportunity for artists to present their music in a brand new format. Unfortunately, it may only work with certain types of artists (those that are well established) with a specific type of fan base (those that are the average and gullible concert attendee).