Why ‘moving the arts online’ isn’t as easy as it sounds
By Elliott Bledsoe, Director, Agentry
In the arts, entertainment, hospitality and tourism industries there’s a lot to be concerned about with the spread of COVID-19 around the world. With forced bans on gatherings over 500 people and the closure of arts venues and cancellation of festivals and events across the country the outlook for artists (and their incomes) doesn’t look good right now. For many artists and other contractors who work in the arts their incomes streams flow from sources that are in serious jeopardy such as fixed-fee or hourly-rate project-to-project contracts, royalties and artwork sales.
Mixed in with my feed of anxious artists posting about their dire situation a small bubble of ‘silver lining’ posts have also bubbled up — things like The Met streaming nightly opera performances from Met Opera on Demand, Universal releasing their recently cancelled cinema releases through on-demand platforms and numerous lists of virtual gallery tours to take on Google Arts & Culture (like this one, this one and this one). It is one thing to encourage the sector to ‘move the arts online’, but it’s another thing to do that well.
Just turning on the webcam in your laptop’s chassis and using the in-built microphone might be good enough for a video conference, but when it comes to presenting a high-quality and enjoyable arts experience, doing it well requires a lot more investment. Streaming can have a lot of unexpected costs.
First you need an internet connection. Generally speaking you are looking at about $60 a month for most middle-of-the-road internet plans and about the same for many mobile phone plans. I am the first to say, ‘I need a high-speed internet connection’, but when you aren’t sure when or where your income is going to come from that can be a lot of money to commit on an on-going basis, especially when things on the lower rungs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs — food, shelter, clothing, financial security, health and well-being, etc—become more insecure.
Streaming on Facebook is free but limitations with the free tier of many other platforms like Zoom and Twitch mean users often need to opt for a paid tier to do what they want to do. Zoom for example limits free accounts to 40 minutes per stream and a maximum of 100 participants. The next tier up is A$20.99 per month. Live streaming to YouTube is also free, but there may be costs if you want to use better audio/visual equipment than your laptop or smartphone’s camera.
If you want to do more complicated streaming setups such as multi-camera arrangements or use external audio equipment, you may need to invest in an encoder. There are a number software encoders around. Wirecast, which I’ve used before, starts at about A$950.
If you aren’t happy with the crappy image and audio quality you likely get from your laptop or smartphone then you will need to outlay for equipment too. You can spend a little or as much as you like here, but a reasonable stand-alone webcam will set you back A$50–$150. If you want the quality of a DSLR or video camera you’re looking at more like A$500–$1,000, but that likely doesn’t get you a tripod, a gimble, additional lenses or any other equipment you might need.
Then there’s a microphone — like cameras there are a range of options at a different price points. Many of the more reputable brands will cost you A$50–$150. Plus there’s all kinds of other bits of kit you can consider — 360 cameras, drones, action cameras, etc — which are lots of fun and can create very different experiences, but usually come with a pretty heavy price tag. If you’re streaming away from home you may need to consider mobile internet options. I have a Nighthawk M1 Mobile Router which cost me about A$400 to buy the device outright from Telstra. You will also need to get a post- or pre-paid SIM card for it as well.
Of course, as you add more kit and software to your setup you need the confidence and competence to use it all. That either means you need to skill yourself up, pay someone to do it or find a volunteer who can help you.
The take away: it isn’t easy to start presenting your content online. There’s lots of potential costs which may be hard for impacted artists and other contract workers in the arts to bear at this time.
Update: I know some people saw this as a pessimistic post that doesn’t provide practical advice. If you are looking for practical advice, I recommend PCC Productions’ practical guide to live streaming which covers considerations to think about and advice on different equipment setups.
As I said on the Australian Arts amidst COVID-19 Facebook group, to be clear I’m not discouraging experimentation with technology at this time. Rather I’m concerned that pivoting online places further undue pressure and costs on artists already feeling the financial impacts of closures and cancellations.
If we are truly transitioning arts experiences online there needs to be ways for artists to get paid, which isn’t neatly integrated into most current streaming services. And if artists are charging for online experiences then audiences rightly can expect a certain level of quality in the experience they’ve paid for. Laptop webcams, smartphone cameras and built-in mics often don’t make the grade.
I guess we need to ensure our haste to find new ways of doing things doesn’t set an expectation that arts experiences online are free. It will be a hard presumption to reverse long-term.
