Dear Bands: Please Continue to Offer Livestream Shows Post-Pandemic

Livestream concerts brought people all over the world together during the pandemic to share in the magic and beauty of music. As the world starts to reopen, I hope bands continue to see the value in livestream shows.

In the couple years leading up to the pandemic, my husband and I traveled out of town often to see our favorite bands. St. Louis kept getting skipped over for tours, so we had to buy tickets to shows in other cities. Some were relatively close — Chicago, Kansas City, Indianapolis. Others were much farther and cost quite a bit more to get there — Pittsburgh, Tampa, Orlando.

We bought concert tickets, plane tickets, booked hotels or AirBnBs, rental cars and made mini-vacations out of those trips. They were fun, but expensive.

The last concert we went to was in February 2020 in Indianapolis to see Grayscale at the Hoosier Dome. Once the pandemic hit, we were left with unusable tickets to festivals and shows that were postponed indefinitely.

Eventually, artists and bands started doing livestreams. The first we watched was Dan Marsala, the lead singer from Story of the Year. He did a free acoustic show on Facebook live by himself in his basement.

Then Stephen Christian and Christian McAlhaney of Anberlin did an acoustic performance and sold tickets.

From there, things took off. More and more bands were selling tickets and merch for livestream concerts. Anberlin did a livestream for each of their albums, each production becoming more elaborate than the last. Plus, you could buy a recording of the livestream on vinyl, along with posters, t-shirts and other merch.

Story of the Year sold tickets to livestream shows for three of their albums and they brought the same energy to the screen as they typically bring to the stage. In addition to ticket sales, they also offered t-shirts, posters and more ways for fans to support the band.

Other bands we paid to watch on our TV at home during the pandemic included The Maine and Grayscale, and there were so many others we either didn’t know about until it was too late or couldn’t watch for one reason or another.

We loved those livestreams. They brought our favorite bands and music into our home during a dark and isolating time of our lives. And we felt less alone knowing there were other people tuning in to the same show.

As more people get vaccinated and things start to “open back up,” concerts and tours are being announced. We’ve been waiting over a year for this day to come, and while I’m excited to see live music in person again, I hope bands will continue to see the value in offering a livestream show.

Already, bands are announcing tours that don’t include St. Louis or cities near enough to travel. Not to mention, purchasing full-price concert tickets — let alone traveling — may not be financially feasible for everyone post-pandemic.

Doing a livestream, even with touring back, makes a band’s music so much more accessible to their fans. For people who live in cities (or countries) that constantly get skipped over for tours and don’t have the means to travel, a livestream can mean they get to share in the collective joy music brings — and support their favorite bands.

It also makes the shows accessible to people with disabilities who may not be able to attend in person due to a lack of accommodations at the venue or for any other reason.

And let’s not forget that offering a livestream can increase revenue, as fans will continue to purchase those tickets, and many will buy the merch to go along with it.

So, I hope livestreams stick around after the pandemic ends. Even one livestream per tour could increase a band’s revenue and allow them to reach even more fans.