Streams do not compete with live concerts
An experiment by the Kammerphilharmonie Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) shows that streams do not compete with live concerts. Rather, they constitute an independent audiovisual music format.
According to the MPIEA press release, the experiment was part of a series of concerts in which the Kammerphilharmonie transformed public spaces in Frankfurt into concert venues. On the evening of 11 September 2022, the ensemble performed two concerts with an identical program on the Bockenheim campus of Goethe University Frankfurt. The 60-minute performances included works by George Gershwin and Florence Price. They took place in the Festsaal of the Studierendenhaus and were simultaneously streamed in the Café KoZ located in the same building. The audience was invited to switch back and forth between the halls during the concerts to experience the qualities of both formats.
A total of 130 people attended the two performances, which were scientifically monitored by the MPIEA: 111 visitors took part in the pre-interview and 96 in the post-interview questionnaire. In addition, the researchers conducted a total of 38 in-depth interviews. The data collection was supplemented by video recordings made of the audience during the concerts. "As expected, the live experience was described as more intense and captivating overall, but the live stream also left a very good impression for the most part, especially in terms of the visual and acoustic aspects," reports Julia Merrill from the MPIEA.
Although almost everyone preferred the live situation, streaming formats were by no means considered superfluous - and not only as a worthwhile alternative in cases of limited mobility or for cost reasons, for example. For the further artistic exploration of live and broadcast formats, it therefore seems promising not to see such formats as competing with each other or to want to copy the other with one. Instead, it is important to be aware of the specific conditions and possibilities in each case and to develop complementary formats as artistic forms in their own right, which also make music tangible in different ways.
More info:
https://www.aesthetics.mpg.de/newsroom/news/news-artikel/article/live-vs-stream.html
