Deborah Klein

Music Manager Partner, Primary Wave

With Melissa Etheridge’s work ethic and love for performing for fans – from the early days of her career playing the bars five nights a week to touring seven months out of the year – her manager Deborah Klein knew that playing a livestream show every now and again during the pandemic just wouldn’t do. After initially performing free daily livestreams on Facebook between March 16 and May 12, Ethridge’s team invested in building a livestream studio in her garage and launched Etheridge TV, a subscription service on the Maestro platform featuring three one-hour livestream concerts and two chat shows each week.

“We worked on this for two months building out the platform and testing it before going live with a well-promoted free concert that drew over the entire audience that we had on socials with over 10,000 viewers before we launched the platform with a paywall,” Klein says. “We have successfully retained 1,000 monthly subscribers at $50 per month since we launched the platform in May, in addition to selling single $10 tickets for each daily stream, and we are about to launch Etheridge TV Premium.”

Klein worked directly with a developer called Chatalyze to create a unique virtual VIP experience where fans can interact with Etheridge and other fans. VIP perks include access to soundchecks, one-on-one meet and greets, and one-hour moderated hangs with other fans.   

“It was so gratifying to create an experience for my artist where she can see and hear fans applauding and cheering during her live stream,” Klein said. “It was also great seeing her on the livestream charts on Pollstar and Billboard. That’s when you know you are doing something right and BTS is wondering who Melissa Etheridge is and why she is No. 1.”

While Klein looks forward to the return of in-person shows – “It will be incredible,” she says – she’s confident livestream concerts will remain as a complement to live touring.  

 “There are a lot of music lovers out there that are unable to attend concerts for one reason or another,” she says. “The better we do at making livestreams compelling entertainment, the better they will do.”

Klein’s accomplishments over the past year include closing several deals for Cypress Hill in 2020 that will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s first album.