The guide to live streaming with Morgan Tedd
Having recently directed a live stream for American-Canadian band, Misery Signals, who better than Morgan to share some live streaming tips and advice?
Morgan started his life as a musician, screaming into microphones and causing chaos on stages across the UK and European circuit. Performing in multiple bands while studying, he soon broadened his knowledge of music. While exploring the underground music scene, he also obtained a first and national diploma in Music, and then a degree in Music Technology from Keele University.
Morgan is a self-taught photographer, videographer, director and artist. It’s an interest that sparked from his time teaching for one of the world’s largest companies, Apple. Having now spent three years working in the creative industry as a full-time content creator, he has a wide and eclectic clientele, including artists such as Jaws, Jaykae and The Twang. He is also the in-house content creator at Midlands-based creative agency, RBH (Reece Bradley Hepburn), where he works alongside some of the area’s top creative minds, creating and delivering work for larger corporate clients.
Here are Morgan’s top tips on how to perfect your live-streaming:
Build your team
Creating an impressive and immersive live experience takes a lot of hard work and requires a whole team of talent. Whether that be on the real or the digital stage, it’s not enough to have a great videographer if the sound and set design is going to be sub-par. Seek out real talent, use your contacts, fellow students from other courses, or established creatives in your area and beyond. Do not leave a single role unfilled, as each will play an important part in bringing your creative vision to life.
Planning, planning and more planning
Meet your team to talk about your ideas, whether that be digitally or face-to-face. Be open and honest about what your expectations are for the live visual, then plan accordingly from there. Assigning roles and responsibilities, along with deadlines, is key to making sure everyone is on the same page, at the same time. I recommend using a shared online calendar. That way, everyone can stay updated.
Push boundaries
Although a live-streamed event can feel like a slightly soulless version of the magic of face-to-face live music that we knew pre-Covid, it does carry with it a whole world of new possibilities, which otherwise would not be possible on the actual stage. Have you always wanted to incorporate pyrotechnics into your stage show on a particularly dramatic section of your live performances? Or wanted to have a projector playing vintage 8mm film over you as you play your solo? Or have you always wanted to have a video background, which changes with the mood of your performance? Each of these and so much more is possible with a talented editor/director at the helm of your visual project. Nothing is impossible with this, so be brave! Go big or go home. Or go big whilst staying at home. Either way, GO BIG!
Meet and greet
Some bands have followed their performances with a digital meet and greet. Using services such as Zoom, artists can now virtually meet their fans/audience, which is another incentive for them to purchase a ticket if it comes with that added extra bragging value of meeting the band – something that is less viable in a live event situation.
Exclusivity… For everyone
Marketing isn’t something that bands actively think about much, but they do it anyway without thinking. For your event to bring your fans and even soon-to-be fans, it needs to appear exclusive, rare and enticing! This live show should be above and beyond what they have ever seen from you before.
People love to shout about having access to something exclusive. So, adding limited-edition merchandise for the event allows your fans to let people know that they were there. It also brings a bit of extra cash to your group to help pay the creatives that have assisted in making this whole thing a reality.
Big thanks to Morgan for his great advice.
Photo by @etakhannah
