Livestream Data Shows Surging Online Activity While Live Venues Remain Closed

Unsurprisingly, activity is significantly down on Saturdays and Sundays, with most new livestreams being announced and created during the middle of the week.

At a total of 8,244 music livestreams by 3,830 acts, artists have played an average of 2.15 livestreams each over the course of 26 days. That’s an average bi-weekly pace for artists looking to maintain a face-to-face connection with fans. With the ability to reach the entire world in one livestream, rather than performing to a select group in one city per night, repeat livestreams are often based on unique set lists, themed performances, or mixtures of Q&A and other fan engagement.

The population of artists hosting livestreams veers dramatically toward smaller acts. Almost 77% of livestreams are by artists with 10,000 or fewer Bandsintown trackers (fans can become a “tracker” of their favorite artists on bandsintown.com by searching for any given act) and another 20% are by artists with 10,000-249,000 trackers.

Only 3.8%, or a total of 311 livestreams, have been hosted by artists with 250,001 or more trackers, the threshold for eligibility on the Bandsintown + Billboard Top Artists Indexes.

As more clear information becomes available regarding the reopening of the traditional concert business, more “top artists” may start using livestreams to fill the gap, particularly those who have been forced to postpone tours or those who have released new albums without the ability to properly promote them on the road.