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Optimizing The Live Event Experience With New Technologies
The thing about new technologies is that they haven’t been developed yet.
“Tech is just a word we use for new tools,” said Cathal Furey, whose Fan Footage company turns “those annoying smart phones” from the crowd into fan-made concert videos. “What is exciting about mobile is that the tools are in the hands of the fans, allowing a two-way dynamic. Before, we had no real means of feedback. Mobile is everything.”
Photo: Barry Brecheisen
With new techologies
“It’s clear that mobile is where it’s at,” said Zeeshan Zaidi, who has been on just about every side of the digital business and now handles artist services for Ticketmaster, including platinum ticketing and fan clubs.
“The onus is on every company to have a mobile-first strategy … have to make desktop things now available on mobile. But the exciting innovation in mobile is taking this technology and seeing what we can do that we haven’t been able to do before.”
Cantora’s Nick Panama thought it was important to note that the current trends are just that – current, and therefore old news. “The biggest area for growth has nothing to do with Facebook or Twitter,” said Panama, whose Cantora started as a record label and now invests in tech startups. “It’s going to be personal connections. Text messages are blowing up. That feed is the most engaged on your phone. A lot of tech we’re going to start to see in the next six months is based on that, letting people directly contact you on that no. 1 feed in your phone.”
One example of that was R&B artist and producer Ryan Leslie, who communicates to fans directly through his personal mobile phone number with a product that is a mobile-first, Sales Force-like customer relationship manager (CRM) for any creator.
“Entertainers should own their relationships with fans,” Panama said. “This puts them into their hands.”
Zaidi said Leslie’s platform is an inspiration to Ticketmaster’s fan club division. “The question is one, how do you scale it. But, two, how do you make it relevant and usable for an artist that isn’t like Ryan, who has spent all his life texting and communicating with fans,” Zaidi said. “There’s no substitute for artists who are the most authentic about communicating with fans,” like the Taylor Swifts of the world, but that tech can be applied to artists who are maybe not quite 24/7 engaged.
Part of cracking that nut is to do it in a way that doesn’t come off as pushy or spammy to fans.
“How do you take an unforgettable experience and make it that much more memorable, in a way that at same time doesn’t feel like spam, is not disrupting, and is elegant and makes fans want to share it?” AEG’s Scott Carlis said.
One example was a promotion at a venue where anyone with a Samsung Galaxy phone could bring it to the venue and get a freebie for checking in with it. “What’s in it for the fan? You have to dangle the carrot a little,” Carlis said, adding that fans are more likely to give back (with shares and other online engagements) when they get something out of it.
Panel moderator Kelli Richards of The All Access Group, with decades of Silicon Valley experience, said it’s all about contextual relevance.
“If you’re remodeling your kitchen, you might not mind seeing an ad for a new stove,” she said. An audience member brought up one technology that comes up every few years but still hasn’t quite hit the big time – Augmented Reality – which is pretty much a way of saying virtual reality without reminding everyone of those clunky headsets and pixelated graphics of the ’90s.
Wes Harris of Yahoo! Video, which works with Live Nation to stream new concert videos every night, says the company sees the potential but is not actively working on it yet. Live Nation’s Matt Annerino seems to think promoters aren’t yet quite willing to make the full leap to the living room, though.
“We still make a lot of money on hot dogs and parking and beer so we still want people there,” Annerino said, laughing.