Crosstown & Stabal live the stream
- Details
After live shows fell casualty to pandemic shutdown from March 2020, Crosstown Concerts spent months researching options for their artists to connect with fans, and start reinstating the all-important revenue streams.
Stabal’s concert broadcast for Bellowhead’s first show in four-and-a-half years, proved very popular with gig-starved fans, with 70% of ticket sales being the higher value option for 30-day video-on-demand passes. Irish singer Damien Dempsey also enjoyed a successful stream on 23 December, with further streamed concert tickets available for Seth Lakeman in February.
Crosstown Concerts director, Conal Dodds, said: “We knew the return to full-capacity shows would be some time away and we needed to find an alternative platform for our artists. Our search to find the very best broadcast solution for our artists led us to Epping Forest-based broadcast platform Stabal. After several online meetings and lots of negotiations, we entered a partnership. Their whole team are super friendly and professional, sharing with us a desire to produce the highest quality events.
“I believe this collaboration between Stabal and Crosstown solves all of the issues artists have encountered broadcasting concerts, as we can handle all the aspects required between us. We cover all the costs, handle all marketing, ticketing, rights and publishing clearances, with audio-visual recording produced to a world class standard.
“We decided from the outset not to offer “live” live-streams, having seen so many beset with broadcast problems. We decided to record an artist over the course of a day, which makes the artist relaxed and we can concentrate on creating the very best audio and video experience for viewers.”
This gives Stabal the ability to post-edit the recordings, and give the artists approval of the final cut. It also means they can film extra ‘behind the scenes’ content, with interviews, extra songs etc, for inclusion in a deluxe 30-day pass option, adding value for the fans. This has proved very successful.
Stabal’s CEO Steve Odart states: “When I first met with Conal and Paul in early 2020, it was clear that we carried the same attitude to doing business. Crosstown were promoting life-affirming concerts at a fair price, and their track record of success in the bricks and mortar promotion world was clearly evident. Stabal carries the same DNA, with our focus being firmly in the digital space. It was a very logical partnership.
“2021 is a very exciting year for our partnership. In Q1 2021 we are expanding the Stabal platform across Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire and Roku to provide an even more extensive TV viewing experience, and adding a production hub in Australia to complement our existing UK and US production teams.”
Conal concludes, “We are currently negotiating with multiple international artists and expect our collaboration with Stabal to go from strength to strength in the coming year.”
