At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, it appeared that the shut down of worldwide touring might be temporary, but thanks to a piecemeal and inconsistent national response, that reality now seems like a pipe dream. Since virtual concerts have become a normal part of our lives now, concert promoters have begun finding new ways to bring live entertainment to fans who might be stuck at home as a result of the interminable quarantine keeping us from congregating en masse.
One of the biggest festivals, Rolling Loud, announced its solution today: an exclusive streaming partnership with Twitch, with three virtual festivals coming down the pike. The first is kicking things off September 12-13, with each festival bringing five hours of live performances to the streaming platform. Rolling Loud will have its own Twitch channel where the festivals will stream along with a spate of original content, including gaming, music commentary, and freestyles from Rolling Loud regulars.
Matt Zingler, Co-Founder/Co-CEO, said in a statement: “Partnering with Twitch, we also saw the opportunity to further connect fans with the Rolling Loud brand beyond our flagship live events… We’ve always had our eyes on content creation; it felt like the natural next step for the brand, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that we had the bandwidth to execute these ideas to the fullest. Twitch gave us the creative control to produce unique shows that hold true to our ‘ahead-of-the-curve’ mentality and play to Twitch’s strengths as the leading live stream platform out there.”
Among the programming cooked up for the partnership are five shows: “The Leak,” premiering new music the night before its official release; “Got Bars?,” a freestyle competition whose winner will perform at future Rolling Loud festivals; “Loud Gaming,” a competition between pro gamers and hip-hop artists; “The Founders,” a podcast hosted by Zingler and co-founder Tariq Cheriff; and “Live From The Studio,” a live docuseries allowing fans to watch the process of a song’s creation from within Rolling Loud’s recording studio.
The lineup for the first virtual festival, Loud Stream, will be announced soon and the festival expects to return to it live roots in Miami 2021. For more info, check out Rolling Loud’s website.