“On a recent weekend, I tuned into a concert that renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma streamed through the Berlin-based classical music platform IDAGIO,” writes Scott Duke Kominers in Monday’s (8/3) Bloomberg. “The concert program was totally new—Ma put it together just for this performance. It’s not on YouTube or any other platform—and like any other live concert, it was visceral, ephemeral and exclusive…. A replay was available, but only for the next 24 hours. The economics of this type of event might work out quite well. A ticket to a typical streamed concert costs something like $8. If the artist can reach 10 times as many viewers that way, that matches the revenue brought in by an in-person show that costs $80 a ticket…. $8 [is] about the same as paying to stream a new movie—so many more people will be able to afford it…. Digital platforms can even help artists engage directly with their fans. (Ma, for example, took questions submitted over live chat after his performance.) They may also be better at managing and tracking customers to generate sustained interest—and recurring revenue. And they may have the digital tools to help artists find new listeners.”
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