I don't quite get the drift of how it works in terms of payment, access, etc. Not a lot of explanation on the website. Must be run by those hipster kids I keep hearing about.
Someone posted about a banjo concert on the banjo hangout, and the same host (who seems to be streaming a lot of concerts from Portland, OR) is doing a Jerron show. Roy Book Binder did one recently as well, as I recall from Facebook.
Interesting. I'd seen a couple of people do "online gigs" previously, but not via a specific host/ setup.
I wonder though, what the difference is between this and watching a recording of a show on youtube, or wherever else? The actual live element is surely largely taken away by it being on a screen?
I guess one difference is that this is not available on youtube or archived anywhere, as far as I know. You either watch it live or you don't see it. When I hear about some of the shows happening in New York or Portland or San Francisco (or Edinburgh or Berlin) that I can't get to, I have certainly wished that someone would stream them.
The potential for an expanded audience for performers is intriguing. Mr. O'Muck and others have spoken about going to the Jalopy Tavern in Brooklyn for a show that should be packed and the audience isn't there. But if you can take your audience from 20 to 50 or 100, or from 150 to 400, that can really add up. And people who don't live in NY or wherever get to see the show, albeit at a remove.
Apparently there are still glitches that pop up but it's certainly intriguing.
And for $5, it seems to me, technical glitches or no, Jerron is worth taking a chance on. I mean, he is incredible, at what, is he even 25?, one of the future keepers of the genre. It's a Monday night, I think I'll tune in!