A Guide to Live Streaming on Social Media for Musicians

A Guide to Live Streaming on Social Media for Musicians. Live streaming is an awesome promotional tool in the arsenal of any upcoming artist, providing an easy way to interact with fans and show off new material with minimal expense.

Whether it's Facebook Live, Instagram Live or broadcasting on Twitter, it's important to approach live streaming in the right way. Let's go through some of the tools you'll need and approaches you can take to make the most of live streaming as a musician.

LIVE STREAMING FOR MUSICIANS

GET THE RIGHT TOOLS

You could, of course, carry out your live broadcast with nothing other than your phone & an internet connection, but if you want to give your streams a more professional edge, investing in some new gear is a good place to start.

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External mic

Your smartphone might have a state-of-the-art HD camera, but generally, even the latest devices don't cope well with recording quality audio. Investing in a great smartphone-compatible external microphone is a great way to get over this issue.

There are hundreds of external mics out there for iPhone and Android (take a look at this list for some of the best). Ideally, you want it to be portable, forward-facing, and most importantly, record the best possible audio.

ALSO READ : How to Use Facebook Live to Promote Your Music

External lense

An external lense for your phone is not necessarily essential for live streaming, but it can offer some cool options in terms of close ups,fisheyee shots, focus and more. Here are some of the best lenses out there right now.

Tripod

Don't just prop your phone up on a shelve when you can get a cheap tripod. A tripod offers more options when it comes to get the right angle for your shot, and they're usually very affordable.

Lighting

Perhaps your broadcast location already has lots of natural light or a spotlight fitting that brightens the room substantially. If not, getting hold of some decent studio lighting can keep you out of the dark.

Once you're equipped with the right tools for the job, it's time to plan your broadcasts.

DECIDE THE PREMISE

Typically, live broadcasts from musicians are either live performances or Q&A sessions, but they don't need to be quite so predictable.

There's nothing wrong with doing a straight-up live performance via Facebook Live, but why not make it more interesting? It could be a stream of an unrehearsed practice session, offering a look behind the scenes, or a cover request broadcast.

The same goes for Q&As. Don't be afraid to be original, do something different and engage with your fans in a unique and interesting way. You know your fans best, so do what you think they will react and respond to best, and mention commenters by name. Promoting a single or album launch is a fantastic way to reach people on socials.

LENGTH OF BROADCAST

Find a nice balance when it comes to the length of your live streaming sessions. A minute or two is generally too short to get anything meaningful across, whereas two hours might be overkill.

Thirty-minute to an hour is a good ballpark duration, but length depends on the content, so don't take this as gospel. Use your best judgement to decide how long to stream for. Maybe a short snappy stream would work well for your viewers? Or maybe a marathon broadcast is exactly what will engage your fans? It all depends on engagement, so test different ideas and try to mix things up.

PLAN & PROMOTE AHEAD

Sometimes spontaneous streams can go down well, especially if you have a large dedicated following who are active across social media anyway. However, if you're just getting started in the live streaming game, it's key to let people know ahead of time that you'll be going live, so they can make sure to join you.

Another bonus for live streaming, especially on Facebook, is that it is usually prioritised by the platform's algorithms, so you'll appear at the top of more news feeds. Unlike other posts types, your followers will also get a notification when you go live.

Tokz let fans know hours in advance of his Facebook Live single announcement.

WATCH OUT FOR COPYRIGHT FLAGS

You've probably heard stories of artists having there cover songs taken down from Facebook due to copyright infringement. This may seem unfair (and it sometimes is), but unfortunately, it's the way things are and the platforms are simply trying to protect themselves.

If you're playing an original track or even a cover with original instrumentation, you'll generally be fine. Don't stream recorded music you don't have the rights to though. This can include singing over a backing track.

TEST & REVIEW

Other than a straightforward view count found on other platforms, Facebook has particularly in-depth metrics for Live videos, including post performance, audience engagement, viewer retention, clicks, reach and even negative feedback. You can see these useful details by navigating to ‘Insights' on your Facebook page. You can then view a range of insights for your live video posts, as well as all other published posts, from the side menu. You can find more info on understanding the metrics behind your posts from Facebook themselves here.

Review and learn from these stats after a live broadcast to see what worked and what didn't. There's no shame in a live broadcast getting just a few viewers and no engagement, as long as you learn from it, improve and try something different next time.

Do you have any tips or experience of live streaming to share with other musicians? Let us know in the comments below.