COVID-19: Is monetisation of virtual concerts the future?

“After the silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music". These words uttered by the 20th-century novelist, Aldous Huxley, have never been more accurate in this difficult moments for humanity.

The emergence of the novel coronavirus has thrown the world into a state of shock and, everything that made the human race vibrant and active before the outbreak of the virus, has been brought to a standstill.

It is no secret that listening to music often enhances one's mood, making it one of the reasons why people patronise concerts. Now, in the absence of social gatherings, it is almost impossible to hold such shows. However, the narrative might soon be a thing of the past with virtual concerts proving to have the power to redesign the future of concerts.

Global acts such as R&B stars, John Legend and K-pop super group BTS have kept their fans entertained by streaming hours watching concerts on their respective YouTube channels which attracted huge audience.

For instance, BTS recorded close to 51 million viewers who tuned in to catch a glimpse of their ‘Bang Bang’ concert from April 18 to 19.

In Ghana, Dancehall act, Shatta Wale, in his virtual live-band performance dubbed "Faith Concert", thrilled over 130,000 fans on May 4. After that the Ministry of Communications employed the service of the singer and other artistes while launching the COVID-19 Tracker app to ensure that Ghanaians were entertained.

Prior to that, Sarkodie also championed the "#BehindTheHits" challenge where famous music producers like Appietus, Jay Q, KillBeats, among others, entertained fans with back to back performances via Instagram Live.

The successes of these virtual events have opened a new phase in the music industry with many touting virtual concerts as the new future of show business considering its advantages.

One such benefit is unrestricted access and patronage where people from all walks of life across the globe always have the opportunity to enjoy the performances of the artistes and also give them the opportunity to spread their work across the world. 

The practicability of the success of virtual concerts exists in the heights gained by the BTS K-pop group who made waves with their viewership on YouTube and resorted to a similar approach to interact with fans.

In an interview on how Ghana could benefit from the new trend of virtual concerts, this is what rapper/sound engineer, Nii Kommetey Commey, aka King of Accra, had to say.  "On a scale of one to five, I think I will give Ghanaians three in terms of their readiness to embrace virtual concerts when the pandemic is over.

"This is because people are always ready to watch something online, and what captures their minds is what retains them. But the availability of internet and smartphones will largely influence this.

"I am thinking 500, 000 to 800,000 in terms of viewership on a grand scale. But for starters, we are expecting between 100,000 and 300,000. I think an artist can easily get that kind of viewership.  We are ready because if our way of life changes in such a way that we can't mingle socially, we may have to adopt virtual concerts as the new normal."

In terms of the feasibility of this new phase, online ticketing platforms such as Viagogo, Eventbrite, will come in handy as far as billing fans is concerned.

"The monetisation of a virtual concert is so easy, and it should be every creative person's responsibility to plan and execute their own show so they can benefit from the brand they will build from doing this consistently," King of Accra added.

As we envisage a different way of life in society when the pandemic is over, it is prudent we learn from some of the opportunities presented in these times to change our ways of doing things.

There is no better moment than now to embrace digitisation as a country and an industry and reap its endless benefits. Change is here and we have no choice than to embrace it.

The writer is a Level 300 student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

Email: mensahewurasi@gmail.com