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There's only one spot left at the CMJ 2011 Music Marathon. Your chances to win it are in the hands of your fans - the artist with the most fans attending all their live events in StreamJam during the contest will be the Grand Prize Winner and play at CMJ.
Here's our guide for how to make it happen.
Get Set Up To Hold Events
**Remember, if you have questions on any of this, please let us know at support@streamjam.com - we're here to help you succeed in using StreamJam!
- Create a live streaming account. You can create one for free through Ustream, Livestream, and Justin.tv. This account is what you use to create the live stream that gets embedded in your StreamJam venue. We currently recommend Justin.tv for our first choice, but you can use any of them if you have a preference.
- Create a StreamJam account. When you register, there's a space to enter the name of your live streaming account.
- Make sure you set up the minimum technical requirements.
- Internet access in the location you'll be streaming from - we strongly recommend using a wired connection instead of wifi. This can be from home, from a venue, or wherever you're online.
- Great sound input - if you're broadcasting a gig in a venue, we recommend getting audio straight from the soundboard, otherwise a good mic should work well.
- A video camera or webcam - even a single low end camera connected via Firewire can create a worthwhile event, since great sound is usually more important than great video.
- Computer with free streaming software.
Hold Events
The type of events you do are up to you, and you can hold as many events as you want. StreamJam can be used in many many ways, and you know your fans best - what would they want to see? Here are some possibilities we suggest.
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A virtual concert provides a social experience to fans worldwide who can't attend live shows due to their location and a way for artists to connect with their fans. You can stream a show you're playing a real-life venue, or put on a show just for the online audience.
What makes a great virtual concert:
- Interaction with the audience - Audiences have the most fun in online events that use the strengths of the Internet to interact with them. Whether the act is in a living room or on a real stage in front of a live audience, it's tremendously valuable for the act to spend at least some time taking questions from the audience in StreamJam and/or telling them something unique. This can be before or after a live on-stage show or can be interspersed within an internet-only performance from a studio or any other location. (StreamJam's Ask the Artist feature helps artists make this happen.)
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A series of events
We've found that consistency and regularity are the most important factors for artists to connect with fans online, regardless of the types of events that the artist holds. So, we suggest holding regular, frequent events even if they're small, rather than holding just one event now and then.
To create a series of events, an artist who's on tour could stream all their upcoming live shows into StreamJam. Or, an artist who is releasing an album could create a series of events around that - previewing new songs, holding a listening party, etc. Or, an artist could just hold chats with the online audience every week at a certain time. The possibilities are endless.
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More ideas
StreamJam can be used in many other ways - artists can share their creative processes for recording or rehearsing, give interviews, hold release parties for new videos or songs, etc.
Promote Your Events
Promotion can make or break your chances to win. Your chances will depend on your fans, so make sure they all know how to support you.
Artists should promote their virtual concerts to their fans via social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.), their own websites, and their fan mailing lists. Artists should make several announcements to fans in the days leading up to their virtual concert, and then make a final announcement just before the concert begins to real-time tools like Facebook & Twitter, so fans who are online can jump right in.
Artists currently on tour should make announcements about their upcoming virtual concert to their real-life audiences. We recommend linking fans to the virtual concert via the artist's own website; StreamJam can be very quickly and easily embedded there.
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