For today’s post, we welcome Melvin Wong Founder of LiveKrowd, an online platform to book streaming musicians. For more information about Melvin, see his bio below.
Live streaming is becoming the buzzword for musicians and singers who wish to sustain their music career amidst the many cancellations and postponements of music events due to the new norm of social distancing and stay-at-home orders. Although live streaming monetization is a relatively new frontier for performing artists, most of these platforms are getting into high gear to churn out more income-generating features to support online singers and musicians.
Before any seasoned entertainers enter the virtual performance arena, one should understand the difference between performing online and offline since the workload and income potential are compellingly dissimilar.
Difference between being on stage and live streaming as a musician
Live streaming is not supposed to replace an actual live performance. The simplest analogy I can think of is using the experience of watching football at home with your cable TV versus watching at the stadium. Both offer strikingly different experiences with different costs although most people tend to think they are one of the same.
The feeling of watching at the stadium is dramatically different than watching at home. It’s because of its phenomenal live atmosphere with thousands of people cheering with you and watching everything as it happens with your very own eyes. The cost for a ticket is a lot different too where an entry pass to a game could match your one-month cable subscription. The same goes for a live concert versus live streaming.
Thus, your income expectations from live streaming should not be the same as your venue gigs. But do remember, the cost of running a live stream is dramatically lower than a performance at venues. It’s also less time consuming because of little to no traveling time. Best of all, live streaming offers global income opportunities empowering you to make money from across the world beyond your city limit.
How to prepare to live stream
To create a live stream that looks and sounds professional, you need to have adequate audio and video equipment.
For a minimum setup, an external microphone is highly recommended instead of using your built-in microphone on your PC or mobile phone. This is particularly important since those integrated mics in your devices are mainly made to enhance vocal audio only. For video, most of today’s PC webcam or phone camera would suffice.
For a better setup, you should consider using a broadcasting software such as OBS Studio which is free to use. This software allows you to connect a better quality microphone (such as XLR mic) and an external camera with a better resolution. Some online singers recommend using your phone as an external camera especially when the phone camera has better video quality than your webcam.
You could even add a stunning animated backdrop to your live stream using OBS Studio.
Related: Best Live Streaming Equipment for Musicians
Recommended live streaming platforms with monetization features
Online broadcasting is already a common feature built-in with your everyday social channels but some of them do not offer any means to effectively monetize your live online performance such as Instagram and Periscope. Thus, only platforms with monetization value are explained here.
YouTube
The most obvious choice for entertainers to do live streaming is YouTube. Yes, because it’s the most preferred choice by celebrity artists too and for good reasons. YouTube strikes a perfect balance for being a live streaming platform that is easy to start with and great features to make your streams look and sound professional. A case in point would be the thousands of music videos and live streams from your favorite artists that are on YouTube.
On paper, Facebook seems to be the most consumed platform for live streaming (YouTube coming in at a very close second) while Twitch is the most popular platform dedicated to live streaming. However, YouTube is still the preferred choice for music live streams.
YouTube Monetization
YouTube offers monetization of live streaming via its Partner Program. This program splits the revenue between you and YouTube and the percentage you earn depends on the monetization option that you use in your live stream. The program does offer a wide array of monetization options as listed below but each option above can only be used if you meet certain criteria.
- Advertising revenue: Ad revenue from displaying ads before and during your stream.
- Channel memberships: Get your subscribers to pay you a monthly recurring fee in exchange for special perks. Something like Patreon.
- Merchandise shelf: Your fans can browse and buy official branded merchandise that’s showcased on your watch pages.
- Super Chat & Super Stickers: Your fans pay to get their messages highlighted in live chat during your streams.
- YouTube Premium Revenue: Get a percentage of a YouTube Premium subscriber’s subscription fee.
To be eligible for this YouTube Partner Program, you must have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers to your YouTube channel and have accumulated at least 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months. Also, you have to be residing in a country where YouTube Partner Program is available and need to own a Google Adsense account.
If you’re not eligible, you could use other external means to earn an income such as listing yourself on LiveKrowd (Disclaimer: I’m the founder) or using Patreon or PayPal tip link.
| YouTube Pros | YouTube Cons |
|---|---|
| Good for beginners because it’s not too technical to set up. | You need at least 1,000 subscribers to your channel to use YouTube app to stream. This is not necessary if you use PC. |
| Good for those who have many subscribers on their YouTube channels. | There’s a 24-hour waiting time to enable live streaming on your YouTube channel. |
| Multiple monetization features. | Built-in monetization features are limited to certain countries and with some degree of eligibility. |
| Includes OBS Studio support for better audio and video live streaming quality. | Viewers must own a YouTube channel in order to live chat during your live stream. |
The Verdict
Best platform for most musicians and singers to start. Its professional setup and ease of use will keep your tech fear away. Great for those who already have over 1,000 subscribers and many views for your videos and live streams.
Related: 10 Ways to Get People to Tune in to Your Live Streams
You might want to use Facebook for this obvious reason – you or your fans are always on Facebook. It is one of the most widely consumed streaming media due to its sheer number of users but Facebook Live is more conducive to those who want to broadcast to their sets of fans or friends. Do note that Facebook is a social media first, live streaming platform second. Hence, it offers a more casual and social live streaming experience compared to YouTube.
Facebook Monetization
Facebook allows you to monetize your live stream via in-stream ads. As the name implies, in-stream ads are advertisements that appear before (pre-roll) or during (mid-roll) your live stream. Mid-roll ads will appear when you’re taking a break during your stream. There’s also an option to include image ads below your live streaming video.
But here are the catches. To qualify for this monetization method, your Facebook Page (not Facebook Profile) must meet the following criteria.
- You publish your live stream on your Facebook Page, not your Facebook profile.
- Your Facebook Page has at least 10,000 followers (likes).
- Your Facebook Page is published in eligible countries and language – check here.
- In the last 60 days, you had a minimum of 30,000 one-minute views on your videos that are at least three minutes long.
You may read this article on eligibility from Facebook. At the time of this writing, it has not revealed the revenue sharing percentage.
Meanwhile, Facebook has recently revealed a new monetization program by selling virtual tickets for online events on Facebook Pages. This program will be relying on its existing tools which are Facebook Page, Facebook Live and Facebook Events. Read more about it here. The eligibility for this program is the same as its in-stream ads program. To check if you qualify, click here.
| Facebook Pros | Facebook Cons |
|---|---|
| Good for those with many Facebook Page likes or Facebook friends. | Must be a Facebook user to view the live stream. |
| Good for countries with many Facebook users and those that fall under the monetization-eligible region. | No option to do a private or unlisted live stream to a selective audience. No option to share Facebook live stream link. |
| Support for OBS Studio to allow better audio and video quality. | Built-in monetization features are limited to certain countries and languages and with some degree of eligibility. |
| Live chat is actually using the Facebook feed commenting system thus the user interface (UI) is not particularly user-friendly. |
The Verdict
Best for those with sufficient Facebook followers on their fan pages. Good for live streamers who want to be seen by their friends or Facebook fans only.
Twitch
Relatively new to those outside of the gaming world, Twitch is probably the most popular platform dedicated to live streaming. Because it streams countless hours of avid gamers showcasing how they play their favorite online games.
Beyond that, a small percentage are using this platform to live stream their music performances. These streamers are predominantly young adults who are probably gamers themselves.
Twitch is by far the most advanced live streaming platform as it offers a wide array of streaming settings and analytics that would make an average musician cringe.
Twitch Monetization
Because of its gaming background, Twitch boasts generous options to live streamers to generate revenue – via its Partner Program or Affiliate Program. The Affiliate Program is its entry-level monetization program while its Partner Program is for super users who could dedicate themselves to streaming on Twitch. You can qualify for the Affiliate Program if you meet the following.
- Minimum 500 total minutes broadcast in the last 30 days
- Minimum 7 unique broadcast days in the last 30 days
- An average of 3 concurrent viewers or more over the last 30 days
- Minimum 50 Followers
The typical ways to earn an income are via ad displays and subscriptions. Ads are the usual ads you see on the video stream and subscriptions are the monthly plan that followers pay to Twitch streamers (from $4.99 to $24.99 per month). Twitch takes 50% from these subscriptions fees from average streamers but if you’re in the top tier streamer list, it only takes 30%. Please note that a paying subscriber and a free follower are different. Subscribers pay to get an ad-free viewing experience. These paying fans also get recognition like virtual badges.
| Twitch Pros | Twitch Cons |
|---|---|
| Technically, it’s the most advanced free live streaming platform you can find. | Very technical to use. |
| Numerous monetization options. | The platform is mainly for gamers. Your viewers may not be familiar with it, although registration is not required to just watch a live stream. |
| Advanced support for broadcasting tools like OBS Studio and analytics. | Built-in monetization features require some degree of eligibility. |
Verdict
Best platform for advanced and tech-savvy live streaming musicians, singers, or DJs who want to offer the most extreme audio and visual live streams.
Stageit
StageIt is an online concert platform that started in 2009 from California. This website is simply a platform that lets you host virtual concerts and get people to buy online tickets to watch you perform. That’s it!
StageIt Monetization
StageIt’s monetization model could not be simpler. You just need to sign-up and create your virtual concert. No eligibility check is required. To make money, you sell virtual tickets in the form of virtual banknotes – akin to its virtual currency. Every 10 StageIt notes cost $1 (one note is $0.10). Your online audience buys these notes to watch you sing and play. The minimum price per ticket is set at “pay what you can” but it actually translates to $5 which means 50 notes.
The more notes you earned from your online performance, the more the revenue percentage goes to you. The revenue sharing percentage starts from 63% while 83% is the maximum you could earn.
| StageIt Pros | StageIt Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy for anyone to start their own paid virtual gig. | Relatively unknown to most users. Thus, viewers need to sign-up to watch your online concert. |
| No eligibility check. | All concerts are paid online events. No option to create free live streaming events. |
| Meant to be an online concert platform where viewers need to buy virtual tickets to watch. | Out-of-date live streaming tools. Viewing experience may not be compelling. |
| No support for external live streaming software like OBS Studio. |
The Verdict
Good for better-known artists who already have a large fan base since they have the ability to influence their fans to sign-up and pay to watch.
YouNow
You may not heard of YouNow but they have been around since September 2011. A quick look at their site seems reminiscent of AfreecaTV, a popular South Korean online broadcasting platform that started in 2005. Unlike Twitch which is focusing mainly on online gamers, YouNow is more for the casual anybody who wants to broadcast themselves and just chit-chat live with their online audience. They reportedly have 150,000 live broadcasts daily and the majority of these streamers are young adults.
It is a platform made only for live streaming. The reason is, all video content is only available when the streamer is online and there’s no replay – unless you are a paying subscriber to that broadcaster. To view glimpses of past streams, you have to depend on viewers who captured “moments” of the previous live sessions. These are video clips of replays (just like “clips” on Twitch). Below shows the comparison of traffic between YouNow and Twitch.
YouNow Monetization
Just like Twitch, you get to earn from virtual items paid by your fans. But first, fans have to buy YouNow’s virtual currency called bars (think of gold bars). Once they purchased the bars with real money, they can reward their online broadcasters with virtual stickers or virtual gifts. Now, seems like a lot of rewards, but hold your horses. Here’re the catches,
- Streamers only earn from virtual gifts, not stickers. Stickers are for fans to show appreciation.
- There’re a wide variety of gifts from fake marriage proposals to 50X or 400X thumbs-up which helps the live streamer to trend on YouNow. YouNow does not indicate what gifts actually convert to money but most online opinions agree the “bars as tips” does this.
- Worse of it all, fans can only buy bars via Apple App Store or Google Play Store which means 30% is automatically deducted from the earning and YouNow will further swallow 40%.
Let’s do the math. If you received a $10 worth of tip bars from a fan who used their Apple App Store account to buy the virtual bars, $7 (70%) is actually received by YouNow from Apple. From these seven dollars, YouNow will take $2.80 (40%) which leaves you with $4.20 ($7 – $2.80). So much for working hard busking online. You should rather do it offline on the streets. At least you get all the cash.
To rub salt into your potential wound, you need to apply for their YouNow Partner program to be eligible for monetization. Here’s the minimum criteria to be considered (no auto approval).
- You must have 15 average concurrent viewers for your live streams.
- You must have at least 2,500 fans.
- You did not break any community rules.
Looking at the bright side, those new to YouNow but have garnered many followers, subscribers or likes on other social channels could apply too.
- Instagram: 20,000+ followers with 5,000+ likes per post.
- YouTube: 50,000+ followers with 30,000+ average views per video.
You might have read some amazing stories on how YouNow broadcasters are earning $10,000 per month. These high-profile earners took more than 4 years to be where they are today while some are no longer active on the site. Most of their secrets to success are hard work via constantly streaming and being live.
For instance, Emma McGann had 133,000 fans in August 2016 and 4 years later, she now has 232,800 followers. This makes up 24,950 followers per year or 2,079 per month. That’s roughly 520 fans in a week.
| YouNow Pros | YouNow Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to start and broadcast live on desktop or app without monetization. | High minimum threshold to start earning money. |
| Offer better visibility than YouTube, Facebook, Twitch due to lesser competition | Complicated monetization system with a steep learning curve. |
| Support OBS Studio for desktop option. | Low revenue sharing percentage. |
| Good to attract younger viewers. | Not as popular as YouTube, Facebook or Twitch, thus expect less viewers. |
The Verdict
Very similar to Twitch and even launched at almost the same time but is now a less popular choice among online broadcasters and live streaming fans compared to its nemesis. It is still a platform to be considered if you’re looking to start live streaming immediately from desktop or app without any hassle and with clearer visibility.
StreetJelly
StreetJelly very closely resembles StageIt and the site is not the fanciest of all. It was founded in 2012 from Knoxville, Tennessee and proclaims itself as the online busking platform for any singers or musicians to perform live online. Its tagline reads “StreetJelly is a Live Music Venue no different than a night club, theatre, or concert hall. It just so happens to be a venue on the internet.”
Most of its online gigs are free to watch. Any musician can start from the basic account for free using just your built-in mic and webcam, although during my test, my webcam failed to work on the site (I’m using Chrome version 84). To use more advanced broadcasting features like OBS Studio, an invitation is needed.
StreetJelly Monetization
Online entertainers are paid with viewers tips called StreetJelly tokens. The site will then convert these tips into cash and pay you via PayPal.
| StreetJelly Pros | StreetJelly Cons |
|---|---|
| Easy to start to perform live for free. | Poor audio and visual support. |
| The website look and feel seem very out-of-date. | |
| Only get paid via tipping. Conversion from StreetJelly tokens to cash is necessary. |
The Verdict
You might have a hard time getting a younger and more Internet-savvy crowd to watch you perform on this site.
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