Arcade Fire Teams Up with American Express for Live Streaming Concert on YouTube

Arcade Fire might just be the best band on the planet. Since forming in 2003, they have released two critically-acclaimed albums, Funeral and Neon Bible, that are so refreshingly creative that, if the albums could, would stand up to recent chart-topping imitators like ColdPlay’s “Viva La Vida” and smack it straight in the mouth. (Sharp Dressed Brand loves ColdPlay and Viva La Vida, but let’s be honest. There would be no VLV without the Fire.)

This past Thursday night, August 5th, Arcade Fire, fresh on their new tour supporting their new album “The Suburbs,” broadcasted their live performance at New York City’s Madison Square Garden live on YouTube in a new original series titled “UNSTAGED,” co-sponsored by credit card giant American Express and the video sharing site Vevo.  (If you haven’t heard of Vevo yet, you will, especially if they keep ruffling the feathers of once industry essentials like MTV and Vh1. Vevo is a new joint venture between Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and YouTube, whose mission is to bring videos from the aforementioned artist rosters to the web for quick and easy fan consumption… which reminds me, Vevo, its time you ditched Flash!)

To say the least, the concert was amazing, and Sharp Dressed Brand is very excited about the future of live streaming concerts on the internet. Sure, there were some technical issues that need to be improved. The video was often pixelated, the audio was mostly delivered below the standard 128kb quality, and I was occasionally interrupted by the oh-so-familiar buffering often associated with streaming video content. But all of these issues are delivery issues and will be alleviated as the technology improves. What is really fascinating is the entire concept of being able to consume live music from your favorite bands from the comfort of your own home (or coffee shop, airplane, etc.).  Arcade Fire was playing live in New York City, in front of thousands of screaming fans, performing old gems and revealing new tunes from “The Suburbs,” the album they released just two days prior, and I was enjoying all of it in my couch-cushioned front row seat. Along with the actualy concert, you could also follow along with what the community of other streaming viewers were saying about the concert in real-time, contribute your own thoughts to the discussion, view alternate camera views, and share the stream over Facebook, Twitter, and other popular social media platforms.

Sure, streaming a live concert isn’t the same as being there. Even when I pop in my Kings of Leon live at the 02 blu ray, turn down the lights, crank up the volume and let loose, I’m still left with that innate desire to be smack in the middle of the other young, sweaty fans singing “Trani” with their eyes closed and hearts full.  Live streaming concerts will not replace live concerts, but it does seem like the concept has the potential to create a whole new class of music media. Just as studio albums are different than live albums and live albums are different that live concerts, live streaming concerts seem to fit undefined somewhere in the middle of these other mediums and could very well present bands with a whole new revenue channel as companies (ie. American Express) find value in sponsoring such events.

With Arcade Fire, I was stuck in front of American Express branding for nearly two hours, both from banner advertising on the YouTube page and during intro and outro segments from the concert. Companies will continue to find new and intriguing ways to initiate product and brand placement in live streaming content, and since bands like Arcade Fire often have sold out tours without a single spin on Top 40 radio, this new type of revenue channel could work out to be a great win for artists and musicians.

Along with Arcade Fire’s show, Bonnaroo also streamed many of their shows at this year’s festival on YouTube as well, and fans could catch entire sets from headliners like Dave Matthews’ Band and Kings of Leon. The next concert in the “Unstaged” series will feature some sort of groovy mashup between John Legend and The Roots, although a tentative date has yet to be announced. As soon as American Express updates their “Unstaged” performance schedules, as they have announced they will broadcast five live concerts via YouTube, Sharp Dressed Brand will keep you posted.