Streaming has become such an integral part of electronic music over the last few months that it’s not almost virtually impossible to remember a time when streams weren’t as common as they are now. Naturally, they don’t replicate the live experience, although they’ve without doubt given us some great moments at a time when – with everything closed – many of us have really needed a pick-me-up. With this in mind we touched base with Clubbing TV’s director Stephane Schweitzer, with their all-new platform, Clubbing.Live, very much top of the agenda… 

 

IUM: Clubbing.live sounds like a great platform and a natural progression from what you guys are doing right now with Clubbing TV. Is this something you anticipated doing this year prior to the pandemic?

Stephane Schweitzer: Yes, we were already tired of being shut down by facebook or other platforms during our live broadcasts from festivals. It was very frustrating because we already had all the necessary agreements in place for the broadcasting of Clubbing TV as a traditional TV channel and online, paying thousands of euros of music rights per month in order to respect the rights of all the actors of the music industry but still we were shut down anyway in the middle of a set, it was quite unfair compared to so many players that are broadcasting and streaming without any agreement at all, and very frustrating. So yes, we were already thinking about creating our own platform before the pandemic.

 

IUM: Do you think live streams can ever replicate the actual live experience?

Stephane: No, but I think that they will co-exist in the near future. It can complement the live scene. It shall not be an alternative but something that extends the live scene to those who could not make it to the live events.

 

IUM: I read that Clubbing.Live will be geared towards electronic music. Will it be only electronic music then? So the same as Clubbing TV?

Stephane: Yes, for the moment we will stick to electronic music but in all its genres!

 

IUM: Will there be any crossover between Clubbing TV and Clubbing Live? For example, will you be able to watch the same streams on Clubbing TV as Clubbing.Live ever? And how will you decide which ones to broadcast if so?

Stephane: Absolutely, and we are already broadcasting content from Clubbing.live to our TV channel Clubbing TV. We hope that it will motivate artists, clubs, festivals to use Clubbing.live in a goal to have their stream broadcasted on Clubbing TV simultaneously which will bring them an additional exposure as Clubbing TV is present as a traditional TV channel in more than 50 countries around the world.

The editorial team will decide which ones can go live on Clubbing TV, we are very eclectic and very open to new talents so everyone has a chance.

 

IUM: Does this move represent a move away from TV for you? Or will Clubbing TV still form the main part of the business? 

Stephane: No, Clubbing TV and Clubbing.live will be complementary. We believe that people will not consume Clubbing TV and Clubbing.live the same way. Our Clubbing TV viewers trust us for our hand-picked music-videos and the shows/reports/talk shows/DJ set/festival retransmission, documentaries…etc that are composing our 24/7 playlist, it’s still a traditional TV channel that you can enjoy with a big screen in front of your living room. With Clubbing.live, users will be able to choose when and what they want to watch. We have to be able to offer both to our viewers.

 

IUM: Other platforms have come out recently and have eliminated the problem with regards to streams being cut during the stream. How is Clubbing.live able to circumnavigate this one?

Stephane: As a traditional TV channel being broadcasted via cable, satellite, IPTV..Etc, we already had in place several agreements allowing us various broadcasting usage, offline and online, the only limitation we had was coming from the social platforms where we use to stream, now that we control the platform itself we can make sure that all streams are technically smooth and all rights properly respected.

 

IUM: So let’s talk about things from the perspective of a DJ who wants to set up a stream with you guys. What’s involved? And how easy is it for them to set it all up? 

Stephane: A simple set up with 1 camera and a laptop running a free encoding software such as OBS studio or streamlabs OBS is enough for any DJ to start streaming.

 

IUM: How do you ensure that audio and video quality? Or is that for the DJ to do also?

Stephane: It depends of the source stream of course and the internet connectivity of each person, but with more than 10 years of experience doing live broadcasts from underground clubs or massive festivals we encountered pretty much every situation and solved every technical problem so we are able to share this experience to help DJs to setup and optimize their stream, we are already doing that quite often for some DJs who are performing on our TV channel

 

IUM: It also seems natural that brands will start to partner with streaming companies to help amplify their audience and reach. Is this something that you guys have been looking into also?

Stephane:We already do it for our TV channel, naturally we are going to extend the possibilities of partnership to Clubbing.live.

 

IUM: Members of the public will be able to watch for free, right? Is the platform free to use for DJs and users etc also? 

Stephane: Yes Clubbing.live will always be free for users who want to watch the streams. DJs will have various plans to stream with us. 

 

IUM: A big issue with streams is copyright and ensuring musicians get paid. Is this something that Clubbing.live is acknowledging?

Stephane: Absolutely, it is essential for us to do our best efforts so that all the copyright chains are respected and not only musicians, authors and composers but publishers and master owners as well.

 

IUM: Are you as excited and optimistic about the future of streaming as you are the future of TV with regards to Clubbing TV? 

Stephane: The future of streaming is even more exciting than the future of TV, some of the ticketing platforms already did a pivot to live “paid live streaming” and built a pay per view model, it is not our intent as we want all music lovers to be able to watch the favorite content for free, but it shows that there is a big market coming up.

 

Finally, if DJs want to start using Clubbing.live what do they need to do?

They need to register on the web site www.clubbing.live or contact at live@clubbingtv.com for onboarding.

For more information on Clubbing TV, check the website here. For more on Clubbing Live check here.