More consolidation is afoot in the livestreaming market, with Driift acquiring one of its peers, Dreamstage, this morning.
Tag: Driift
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Little Mix O2 livestream was a box-office hit at cinemas
Take a look at the most recent top-five chart of films by their box-office takings in the UK and Ireland and see if you can spot the outlier.
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Livestreams : why they are here to stay (guest column)
This guest column comes from Claire Mas, chief operating officer at Driift:
The music industry has been notoriously slow in its uptake of technology over the years, and since entering this business (with a penchant for digital) around a decade ago, certain bugbears and inefficiencies continue to frustrate me.
Databases not speaking to each other, a lack of conversion tracking, a perennial obsession for certain sectors to stockpile and not share data… A full roll call of complaints is considerably longer and available on request (or at a panel near you).
Lockdown created a very unique set of circumstances that forced us all to innovate and much to my surprise created an opportunity to resolve some old frustrations through one powerful medium: livestreams – the subject I intend to explore in more detail here in my role as COO at Driift.
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Deezer’s next livestreaming move: a stake in startup Driift
The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t over yet, but bigger fish in the worlds of live and streaming music are already circling the most promising startups in the livestreaming space.
We have seen Live Nation take a majority stake in Veeps, and (see below) Dice acquiring Boiler Room. Now Deezer is making its second livestreaming investment in a matter of months: acquiring a minority stake in livestreaming production and promotion firm Driift.
This follows Deezer’s similar move with livestreaming startup Dreamstage – the company founded by former Sony Music digital boss Thomas Hesse – in May. “Deezer will leverage its technology and expertise to actively support Driift’s future growth, including the roll-out of new products and offerings,” is how Deezer described the impact of its second deal.
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Driift apologises for technical issues with Glastonbury stream
This weekend’s ‘Live From Worthy Farm’ was one of the highest-profile music livestreams yet, put on by the organisers of the Glastonbury Festival and online concerts firm Driift. Coldplay, Jorja Smith and George Ezra were among the performers at the £20-a-ticket event, which (like other Driift concerts) was pre-recorded then streamed over several viewings.
The trouble started when the first of those was due to begin, with many ticket buyers unable to access the stream: entering the code they had been sent only to be told it was invalid. Cue a barrage of angry tweets from fans, and eventually a fix that enabled them to watch without a code, and to rewind back to an earlier stage of the stream – but not the beginning.
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Spotify gets into livestreaming with Driift partnership
It’s been clear for some time that livestreamed concerts is going to have a place within the big music streaming services.
Tencent Music has already put on a succession of live performances; YouTube Music already has a strong live element in its parent service; Amazon Music has put sister platform Twitch into its app; Apple Music has been hosting album launch livestreams with select artists; and MelodyVR’s merger with Napster is all about bringing on-demand streaming and livestreams under one roof.
Now Spotify is making its move into livestreams too. It’s calling them “virtual concert experiences” and is working with British firm Driift.
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‘Livestreaming has not been a growth category: it’s been an exploitation category’
We recently held the first ever Music Ally Japan Digital Summit, with more than 1,100 people registering for the event that took place online on 20-22 April.
We’re now publishing the video from one of its sessions, exploring the opportunities in livestreaming for musicians and the wider music industry.
The panel was chaired by MQA CEO Mike Jbara, and included Claire Mas, COO of Driift; Tim Westergren, CEO of Sessions; and Julian Mitelberg, managing partner at Bandsintown Group. You can watch the full panel below, or continue to read some of the highlights.
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Glastonbury Festival set for livestreamed concert in May
The UK’s biggest music festival, Glastonbury, is cancelled for a second year in a row due to Covid-19. However, its organisers have announced plans for a high-profile livestream from the […]
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Laura Marling livestream to be rebroadcast as ticketed event
Last summer, Laura Marling sold 6,500 tickets for her two livestreamed shows from the Union Chapel venue in London: one of the first examples of a ticketed livestream utilising that kind of […]
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Niall Horan and Kylie Minogue online concerts sold 150k tickets
It was a busy weekend for online concerts firm Driift, which had two big events airing on Saturday night: a livestream from former One Direction member Niall Horan, and a pre-recorded concert by Kylie Minogue.
This morning, the company revealed figures on how they did: it sold more than 150k tickets for the two events – specifically more than 125k for Horan’s gig, and nearly 30k for Minogue’s.
Horan performed live at the Royal Albert Hall, with tickets costing £16 – meaning a gross of around £2.4m for an event that was sharing its profits between Horan’s own touring crew and the #WeNeedCrew relief fund.
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Driift takes its livestreams to Australia and New Zealand
Management company ATC Management launched its Driift online-concerts spin-off earlier this year after successful events for Laura Marling and Dermot Kennedy.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Kylie Minogue ‘Infinite Disco’ broadcast, Driift is expanding to her homeland. In fact, it’s opening an office to produce and promote shows in Australia AND New Zealand.
“We believe this is a format with enormous untapped potential, and one where the pandemic has unlocked previously unforeseen demand for unique, one-off, artist-led events,” said Driift CEO Ric Salmon.
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Kylie Minogue set for Driift-run ‘Infinite Disco’ stream
More evidence for the growing ambition of online concerts for bigger artists comes with Kylie Minogue’s ‘Infinite Disco’ event on 7 November.
It’s the latest event from Driift, the company launched earlier this year by ATC Management, with investment from Beggars Group.
The 50-minute show will blend tracks from Kylie’s new album ‘Disco’ with older hits, with the promise of visual and choreographic wizardry.