We hear lots about YouTube’s role as a music discovery and consumption service for young millennials. It turns out it’s got one eye on older baby boomers too. At least, that’s our takeaway from the news that YouTube will be livestreaming the final five concerts by The Grateful Dead over the coming week and a half.
YouTube is working with Live Alliance on the plans, which will see fans paying $19.95 to watch one of the two Santa Clara concerts on 27 and 28 June, or $29.95 to watch one of the shows in Chicago on 3, 4 and 5 July. The news comes as YouTube prepares for another crack at livestreams – albeit focused more on games than music – and also indicates a continued willingness to work with pay-per-view events. We’ll be interested to see what happens after 5 July in terms of archival, though: with the final concert surely destined for some kind of DVD / Blu-ray release, we suspect it won’t be made available on a free, ad-supported basis – but perhaps one of the Santa Clara concerts could be as promotion.