EDITORIAL
Accessing International Audiences with Your Music Online
Taking Your Music To The World – From Here
In a usual year , the International office at the NZ Music Commission is primarily focused on getting local musicians overseas to play shows and attend music industry events . This was turned on its head in 2020 , with most international travel grinding to a halt . A number of internationally successful local acts suddenly found that their tours could no longer go ahead , which included extensive tours planned by Nadia Reid and Jonathan Bree , as well as some high profile performances that were in the works for Benee and Fat Freddy ’ s Drop .
Eventually overseas conferences and live events began to find their own way to recreate their events online and the Music Commission ’ s International team was able to facilitate local acts being involved . Often this involved the need to live stream a performance , which meant Alan Holt , the International Manager at the Music Commission , found himself quickly picking up new skills to assist in these sessions , as he recalls : ‘ There was a lot of learning required , especially in terms of what technologies to use . Jonathan Pearce from The Beths was quite instrumental in getting everyone up to scratch . Quite early on The Beths did a streaming gig for their album release . They were in lockdown so it was Liz and Jono in their flat and the rest of the band somewhere else . Jono learnt how to use an open source platform called OBS ( Open Broadcaster Software ) for that performance , then he passed that information on to Anthonie Tonnon , who passed it on to me and I passed it on to other people .’
However arranging live streams was far from a one-size-fits-all situation . There were a wide variety of approaches taken by the different streaming events that the Music Commission has been involved with . For example , the local acts appearing at Memphis-based garage rock festival Gonerfest all convened at Whammy Bar on a Saturday morning in September 2020 to record their performances in front of a small audience , while a livestream audience watched on from around the world ( it was Friday night in the US ).
In contrast , the Australian festival Isol-Aid ( also held in September ) organised for each act on the bill to do a live-stream via Instagram and Holt was impressed with how the acts came across : ‘ I was quite proud of Kiwi ingenuity . Wax Chattels played in their band room and the camerawork was very kinetic and exciting . Then you ’ d segue to Purple Pilgrims who were in the Coromandel in the bush and the sun was setting and it was very beautiful . Then Mild Orange played in the West Coast on a farm - you saw this house in a paddock with all their relatives sitting there on the deck with their blankets over their knees . That was quite cool and gave a really good taste of New Zealand .’
In other cases , videos could be prerecorded , which was the case for the Folk Unlocked conference earlier this year .
The Music Commission online showcase involved four acts - Nadia Reid , Kerryn Fields , Anthonie Tonnon , and WAI - and Holt was relieved to find that the artists involved were up to the challenge : ‘ For Folk Unlocked everyone had to record their own part themselves . You did have to trust that everyone was going to be on form and have a good team behind them . It went really well - we had 500 delegates viewing our showcase and every artist was offered shows as a result . In fact , within hours one artist was offered an opportunity to take part in the US Library of Congress ’ American Folklife Center ’ s concert . Folk Unlocked was interesting because even though it ’ s pre-recorded , you had the opportunity to be present while people are watching and discussing it in the comments section of the portal . You can ’ t really do that with a traditional live show . Viewers can say - “ who are these people ? Have you got any songs you can send me ?” The way we could communicate so directly was really cool . During one of the performances we had someone contact us wanting to book the artist , and we could introduce them in real time while the songs were still playing .’
The Music Commission has arranged other online live-streams , including a prerecorded performance at Whammy Bar for NZ @ SXSW 2021 featuring Merk , Nadia Reid , CHAII , and Purple Pilgrims ; and The Great Escape in the UK this May will be an online-only event . Holt sees that going forward overseas music conferences may incorporate what has been learnt from the disruption caused by COVID-19 , with a mix of online and in-person events becoming more common . For NZ artists wanting to take their music to the world , the ability to adapt and change to new circumstances will be a set of skills everyone will need in the future .
NZ MUSIC COMMISSION MAY BOOK 2021 • 21