ABSTRACT

COVID-19 brought about numerous changes in the lifestyle of human beings especially after almost all the countries in the world imposed some harsh restrictions on their citizens as a way of curbing the spread of the deadly virus. This led to modifications and changes in different sectors. The music industry has been impressively affected by this virus especially strictly by the social distancing and lockdown rules. This study seeks to identify the impact of virtual music concerts, which is one of the most adopted mechanisms in the music industry, on the development of artists using a case study approach. I chose to explore the development of the artist as it cuts across almost all the departments or sectors in the music industry. The findings of the study focused more on four major factors that dominate or determine the success of virtual music concerts and are also the major factors how that affect artist development. These factors are experience, communication, expectations, and relationship with other key stakeholders in the music industry. A comparison was made their impact weighed and broad findings and conclusions developed. Artist development is the main aim of almost all the departments in the music business. The results and recommendations of this research will help companies and individuals make appropriate strategies in the current world situation.

 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Topic and Context

The oncoming of the COVID-19 pandemic is believed to have wreaked havoc, especially on the concerts, life festivals, and generally the event sectors. This means that artists would no longer enjoy the streaming revenue as the day before the pandemic due to the changed factors and dynamics, which have equally affected the habits (Hidayatullah, 2021). However, artists still have the opportunity of taking advantage of the new available revenue such as online streaming performance that can be utilized in offsetting the current economic losses, as well as providing for fan engagement in the absence of traditional live touring. Perhaps, the suspension of the normal live touring has made it difficult for most of the artists in terms of staying connected while remaining meaningful to the fans. This sounds more problematic for most of the artists in terms of their interest in keeping their fans more engaged. However, some of the A-list as well as the legacy artists have noted the success and potential aspects of the online concerts and events which can be live-streamed without any charges via social media platforms.

For instance, Lady Gaga, John Legend, and Chris Martin, among other celebrities, have been identified with the “Together at Home (One World)”, which is a Global Citizen’s concert series. With the chances to host a virtual music concert, the research is interested in establishing an understanding of whether the concerts would help the artists to grow and develop or not for their future (Hidayatullah, 2021). Based on this research topic, it is evident that some of the areas focus on the revolution in the music industry by defining the experience of the essence towards the virtual concert. It is supported by the development of artists, the correlation of the virtual concert experience and artist development, as well as the impact virtual concerts, have on an artist’s future career. In the context of the research topic, it is evident that the concerns are directed towards whether the virtual music concerts would attract the attention of the artists as they build new experiences (Kusuma, 2020). Moreover, managers and sponsors are rethinking their prime roles while bridging the new experiences that are increasingly extended to different audiences, especially for the younger generation. The latest focus has been directed to the integration of the XR technology which is known for developing the visual presentation known for defining the digital audience.

However, since the oncoming virtual music concerts, it is obvious that the music industry has experienced the growth of baby artists that are increasingly becoming better than before. Questions would be raised over the capacity of baby artists that would face about how their live performance moves forwards once the norms are back after the COVID-19 pandemic. It equally remains uncertain whether the pandemic would come to an end any time soon, which will attract the investors and other stakeholders to rethink the future business model that combining music in the virtual world.

1.2 Basic Outline

The basic outline of this research includes five key chapters that comprehensively inform on different areas that work in tandem as the research process drives towards the conclusion. The first chapter presents the introduction, which provides a glimpse of the roadmap attached to the research process (Ningsih et al., 2021). Under the introduction, the basics alert on the context, which informs on the variables highlighted in the research topic including the concerns of artist development and the purview of virtual music concerts. More interest is served to the basic outline of the research process and the context linked to the research questions. Under the introduction, the research would pay attention to the methodology, which denotes the kind of research method that would be used, the design that would be integrated into the research, the method used in collecting data, and the analysis that would be used.

Other elements of the introduction include the definition of the key terms that would appear in the research, delimitations, the research objectives, and a further chapter outline. The second chapter would provide an extensive background to the research which would provide both the literature review and the kind of theories that would get into the line of the research process. The literature review would provide coverage of relevant research areas that would have been covered across other materials including the journal articles among others. The third chapter would provide the results of the research process and the discussion that would highlight significant themes linked to the findings.

Both numerical and descriptive data would be provided in the context with a reasonable focus on the findings. A summary of the analysis would be provided in the third chapter as the research digs deeper into the insights. Chapter 4 of the research process presents the conclusion of the research. The chapter would provide a summary of the research process, provide the recommendations, and substantiate the future research, which takes note of the gap areas that would have been identified. Chapter five is the final one, which would provide the appendices and the bibliography.

 

1.3 Research Questions

The main aim of this research is to establish the impact of virtual music concerts on artist development. In developing the research around this topic, the research found it more convenient to address the following research questions.

• What is the understanding of the virtual concert experience?
• What are the significant factors that support the development of artists?
• How is the virtual concert experience correlated to the factors supporting artist development?
• How does the virtual concert influence artist development?

 

1.4 Methodology

This section defines the specific procedures, tools, or techniques that would be used in terms of identifying, selecting, processing as well as analyzing the information linked to the research topic. The prime focus is on content related to or components of virtual music concerts and their effect on artist development. The focus directs our attention towards the kind of research method that would be used concerning the context of the study, the research design that would be integrated, the data collection process, sampling, and analysis. Based on the two major research approaches, quantitative which focuses on numerical data and statistics and qualitative which focuses on descriptive data this research adopts a qualitative research approach specifically the case study approach. Different cases related to the topic of study will be analyzed mainly targeting previously researched work closely related to or answering this study’s research questions. The findings will then be used to develop a conclusion on what impacts virtual music concerts have on artist development and reliable recommendation made to various involved parties on how the study results can be used to improve the music industry in general.

1.5 Definition of key terms

Some of the key terms that the researcher would interact within the process include:

Virtual music concerts: Also referred to as V-concerts, which are regarded as virtual events that bring teams together as they listen to live performances from some of the independent artists across the world.

Virtual concert experience: This is the online experience that both the artist and fans would have while taking advantage of the virtual platform.

Artist Development: A process that musicians go through as they develop their craft as well as skills as they build professional careers across the music industry. Indicators of artist development include voice, songwriting, music and video production, image and branding, live performance as well as marketing among other aspects.

Artistic experience: whole states attached to the emotional sensibility that is experienced through the artistic acts of creation, perception, interpretation, and reflection among others.

Live streaming: This is the use of technology that allows one to watch, create as well as share the video content in real-time.

Content management: This is the process of collecting, delivering, retrieving, and governing the overall management of information expressed in a range of formats. The term has been linked to the purview of the digital content lifecycle.

Corona concerts: This is a new term that refers to the kind of concerts that artists have come up with during the COVID-19 pandemic after the establishment of the Coronavirus safety rules.

Virtual personas: These are internet personas, online identities, or internet identities that are established across online communities as well as websites.

Virtual “concert goers”: These are the audiences who attend virtual music concerts.

Communal sharing relationships: Mental representation of the necessary social relation that is bound to mutual intentions and the communal norms.

 

1.6 Delimitations

The thought of the virtual concerts, despite having been in place for some time, has been linked to the recent dynamics that came with the Corona pandemic. This implies that the case studies would capture the latest observations aligned with the efforts seen with the artists, as they strive to survive under the latest safety guidelines due to the spread of the Coronavirus. In addition, the research tools and methods are deemed relevant and possible given a range of the free online databases known for hosting thousands of archival records that would make this research possible.

 1.6.1 Research objectives:

This research aims to establish the influence that virtual music concerts have on artist development. This is supported by the following research objectives.

• To establish an understanding of the virtual concert experience
• To analyze significant factors that support the development of artists.
• To examine the correlation between virtual concert experience and factors supporting artist development
• To determine how the virtual concert influence artist development

CHAPTER 2.0: BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

2.1 Literature Review

2.1.1 Understanding of the virtual concert experience

The scope of virtual concert experience sets the momentum of the research while defining the context. According to Lokki et al. (2019), virtual concerts can be defined within the virtual spaces known to have been introduced by the Digital Interactive Virtual Acoustics research group, which is also denoted as DIVA (Lokki et al. 2019). Therefore, the virtual concert experience attracts both the aural and visual elements that are generated artificially. The DIVA group noted that for one to develop the virtual concert experience, the virtual orchestra is always important in terms of defining the virtual reality elements, which may not be limited to the user interaction, naturalization, sound generation, animation, and graphics visualization.

According to the authors, the virtual concert experience would be bounded to four significant modules. The first module covers tracking the tempo and the rest of the musical characteristics shaped by a live human conductor. The second module encompasses the visualization of the animated virtual spaces and musicians in the presence of the concert halls. The third module includes the generation of sound in the light of physical modeling as linked to musical instruments (Pfafff et al., 2018). The final model revolves around virtual acoustics, which are shaped by neutralizing the sound sources across the acoustic spaces with the help of the multichannel and binaural approaches. Again, the research conducted by Beacco et al. (2021) indicated that musicians have increasingly paid attention to the virtual concert experience, which expresses the reality bonded to the live concerts.

Pursiainen, Erika (2016) argues that virtual reality technology has given the music industry a unique experience that lacked initial presentations or concerts. This has given concerts a new type of experience and benefits. Music consumption has shifted from the then olden experience of compact disks and disruptive music channels and distribution centers. This is supported by Giraldo, (2020) who argues that the transformation in the music industry to virtual world levels was inevitable mainly because of the day-to-day digitalization of our activities as humans (Giraldo, 2020). The author believes that COVID-19 restrictions have only helped spread virtual experience in the music industry quickly to almost all parts of the world with access to the internet. The challenge in the industry, therefore, remains satisfying the urge or need for music consumption in the overgrown industry. Even with the restrictions in place the music consumers or audience still want to get the same feeling, have the same experience and satisfaction from their preferred artists.

Similarly, Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) through their article believe that the transition of music to the virtual world has given everyone in the music industry a different new experience from the consumers, producers, artists, and distributors. For instance, music marketers and promoters can now easily trace and analyze virtual concert attendance in the real world. On the other hand, the artists can easily and cheaply organize a virtual concert and the music consumers can get notified about the event they like or wish to attend and attend it with only a single click.

Charron, J. P. (2017) argues that the transition of the music industry to the virtual world also comes with some difficult experiences in some way especially to artists and event organizers. This is because they are forced to attract music consumers in real-time. The author clarifies that in as much as organizing a concert in the virtual world is easier each event counts, therefore any slight mistake that can distract or discourage the audience in one concert can affect the future concerts organized by the same people. Similarly, if the concert seems outstanding to the audiences they will not only leave a positive review but will accept all notifications from the same organizers or artists and most probably attend future events. This is supported by Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) who clarify that in the virtual world everything and all the plans by the organizers revolve around what the concert-goers want at that time.

Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) further look into the technicality of how the virtual world operates and the reason why virtual concert organizers should always consider and focus on attracting consumers as the priority. To be part of any virtual experience an individual has to possess a virtual object with the ability to collect information about its user like browsing history and inform or recommend to them of any similar concerts in the future. The author uses the case of five concert-goers (A, B, C, D, and E) in different virtual concerts to analyze how the recommendations or notifications about future concerts are made.

Figure 1: Adapted from Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) – A case of virtual concert goers A and B recommended to the concert-“Paul 3”.

In the case above all the concert-goers have a virtual gadget with their previous concert attendance history. All of them have a history of attending an event by an artist named Paul except concert goer D however; there are only two of them who receive a notification recommending them to attend an event.

In the first event, Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) assume that concert-goers A, B, C, and E had the urge to attend an event, and the only event available that fits their priorities was by Paul. However, by the end of artist Paul’s first event from how each of the concert-goers rated the event, only B seemed to be somehow satisfied by the elements of the show or the performance in general with a rating of positive 3. The other attendees’ A, C, and E expressed their dissatisfaction by rating the show negatively, -3, -3, and -2 respectively. But because they had attended the first virtual concert hosted by artist Paul when he organized the second virtual event all who attended his previous concert were notified except concert goer C who according to Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) was completely dissatisfied by Paul’s first event that he made a decision of not attending any of his future events and events blocked all notifications or recommendations about his virtual concerts.

When Paul was live in his second virtual concert the two more artists John and George who may be dealing with the same genre or same type of music like Paul were also hosting virtual concerts which all the concert-goers were notified. B and E were also dissatisfied with Paul’s second virtual concert and decided to try artist John’s concert. B felt comfortable with it and rated it 3, while E was not fully satisfied by artist John’s event and rated it 1 and decided to try the concert by George which satisfied him (4). On the other hand, “concert-goer” A was somehow satisfied by Paul’s second virtual concert but decided to try other similar concerts by John, who he felt satisfied with (3), and artist George, who he felt dissatisfied with (-3). Similarly, C who directly thought of attending a performance by artist George expressed her dissatisfaction by rating -3.

Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) argue that when the third virtual concert by Paul came up only two of the concert-goers will directly be notified about its ‘goer’ A and B because they have been to previous concerts by the same artist and somehow expressed their satisfaction in the concerts. In as much as ‘goer’ C was also present in both events the probability of her getting the notification is very low as she expressed dissatisfaction in two of the previous virtual concerts presented by the same artist. Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) uses this case to emphasize how the music industry has evolved giving more alternatives and power to the music consumers. This case also shows that the changes brought about by virtual music concerts have brought very new experiences with them it has also brought new challenges and opportunities with them. From the virtual experiences in the case study, the author advises the music management o production companies to always align their content with the needs of the consumers while preparing the virtual concerts. They also express the need to take advantage of communication platforms to understand the consumers of their content, interact with them freely to build a strong relationship or bond with them, to understand what they expect from you and what one can offer as an artist.

2.1.2 Artist Development

Most artists grow with time as they walk in the path of experience. Laube (2017) established the fact that most artists tend to develop with the help of the production process. The most outstanding approach that would be used for development may never be limited to the ethnographic and the practice-led approaches. Based on the views shared by Laube (2017), artist development depends on the production process, which defines several elements. First, artist development is made possible through the production styles, types, and roles (Laube, 2017). The music industry is popularly known in terms of sharing the historical figures known for defining the loci attached to the production process. The auteur figures are known for influencing the evolution of the production process. The auteur figures are known for sharing the strong structural and the most underlying cultural as well as social debates linked to the growth of artists in the extensive music industry.

As a result of the production process, most of the artists stand a chance of learning the functions, roles, and styles linked to the process. On the other hand, Albrecht (2019) equally supported the fact that young artists become more versed with the craft, the composition, art, and the entrepreneurial side of production technology. The second element that defines the artist development revolves around the producer-artist relationship, which attracts the formation of trust across the studio (Lehman, 2021). This relationship has always been deemed critical in shaping the dynamics around the production process. Perhaps, the kind of trust and mutual respect provides a platform for the development of the best artists.

The platform is an enabling platform that attracts a supportive environment for artists who would want to experiment, as well as develop throughout the pre-production and songwriting. Again, the trust and the mutual respect between the producer and the artist attract the honest communication between the two, which still stands out as a motivating factor to the development of the artists. Laube (2017) indicated that Producer Tony Visconti and David Bowie had the most exceptional producer-artist relationship after having known each other for around 50 years. Over the years, the two did not only nurture the friendships but also improved on their approach towards music and learned better skills with time. In addition, most of the scholars have cited the fact that developing young artists is possible via the studio, which provides both the time and the environment for artistic development.

 

2.1.3 Factors that Support Development of Artists

A range of factors is regarded as significant in terms of influencing artist development. Based on the research conducted by Tilly (2017), one of the factors that contribute towards artist development includes the new music economy. It is evident that the music industry has been facing inevitable changes for the past 15 years. This is due to the oncoming of the cloud-based services, the dominant use of the P2P networks, the thought of unauthorized file sharing, and the increased use of the internet, especially in the recording sector. However, Tilly (2017) is convinced that new times have constantly led to new rules as well as new income streams calling for aspiring artists to adopt new strategies. New factors attached to the new economy include changing business models with musicians forced to be more responsible for their careers (Tilly, 2017).

In terms of digital creativity, the artists are expected to have a good knowledge of the digital economy as they focus on the production of good quality music without encountering more expenses. Due to this, the gap between professional artists and amateurs has increasingly been reduced with even fans being engaged in the creative process that allows them to produce the cover songs, artwork, remixes and even branding some of the musicians over the world wide web (Kantorová et al., 2021). Perhaps, more artists have the opportunity of developing a direct relationship with the audience. Again, the new digital economy is characterized by high connectivity and little control is given that the prevalence of technology is said to have lowered some of the barriers that used to challenge the use of information as well as intellectual property.

The second factor is the growing concern of artist who is regarded as a business. Most of the musicians are bounded to the assumption that their product, which is the music, would stand out to an extent of making the move to another level of their career. In essence, the music business never differs from the normal business (Hamilton, 2019). This means that artists are compelled to coordinate the accessible resources and activities, the same way a business does, to generate profit via sales made through royalties, merchandise concert tickets, and CDs. The familiarity of the long tail model by Chris Anderson is said to have helped most of the startup artists in understanding the kind of industry they are in and therefore set the goals appropriately. Other factors known for shaping the artist’s development include instrumental support, which covers the physical resources deemed necessary for the growth of the artist. Again, the impact of emotional support may never be underestimated as far as the musical career is put into consideration. Similarly in his work, while trying to understand artiste development and the impact the producers have on artist development especially in the production process Jacob Laube (2017) categorizes his finding into four major themes expectation, experience, relationship, and communication.

 

Expectation

Jacob Laube (2017) describes expectations in the music industry as the preconceived ideas or mental belief that something is likely to happen in the future. This can either have positive or negative results on the music production process or therefore have a direct impact on artist development. He further argues that expectation especially from an artiste affects a lot of important elements that are essential in the music production and presentation process which can lead to a negative or positive experience during production or even presentation. Some of the elements include the attitude of both the artist and producers, the performance of the artist, and communication (Laube, 2017). However, the author clarifies that expectations from the artists, the production, or directing team are majorly influenced by their past experiences. This also helps not only the artists but the whole crew involved in music production or presentation to form realistic expectations.

Also among the expectations that are mostly considered or based on in most musical processes are the listener’s expectations. These majorly influence how the artists and the entire production team plan. Time expectation for instance is a factor that has a huge influence on all the parties and can therefore lead to a negative or positive experience during production or presentation. As Jacob Laube (2017) argues, a positive time experience is possibly realized when an artist expects that the recording or presentation will take a specific amount of minutes and it only takes the same minutes. If the process takes more or becomes lengthy in one way or the other it develops a negative experience for the artist. In his findings, Jacob Laube (2017) notes that seasoned or experienced artists have realistic expectations and therefore have positive experiences in most of the events while the casual or inexperienced artists come with unrealistic expectations in the events and therefore have a lot of negative experiences (Laube, 2017).

Relationship

According to Jacob Laube (2017) how different parties in the musical industry hugely determines not only the quality of work produced but also how long they will get to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses and hence directly influencing how they will develop. The key elements that build the relationship in music are team working skills, the level of personal understanding among the stakeholders, and collaborative problem-solving skills. A good relationship allows the stakeholders to be realistic with each other by correcting what needs to be corrected and at the same time congratulating good deeds. Jacob Laube (2017) argues that in most scenarios criticism and how the artists or producers receive the criticism majorly determines the kind and level of relationship music stakeholders can have with each other. How feedback is given depends on the kind of relationship the persons involved have.

Some artists are seriously affected by the way feedback about their work is given to them. In most cases, these kinds of artists need a positive or light-weighted twist when criticizing them to ensure that they take it positively without a feeling that they are being attacked. This affects the mentality and motivation an artist has in their work and therefore directly affects their work rate and rate of development. Jacob Laube (2017) claims that every producer has to foster an environment that allows constructive criticism and feedback given respectfully to ensure that the artists maintain high morale in their work at all times at the same time correct where there is a need for correction. Professional relationship in form of constructive criticism also creates some form of unity and intensifies the level of trust amongst the stakeholders an element that is so important not only to the artist but also essential in creating positive publicity, a key element in artist development.

 

Communication

Effective communication is highly valued by musicians, producers, and artists as it allows each stakeholder to not only express themselves but also effectively listen to other people’s ideas and enhance effective understanding among them. Also, as emphasized by Jacob Laube (2017) music is all about communicating a specific message in the first place, and therefore if an artist or production team lacks effective communication skills, it will be difficult to communicate to the consumers through music and hence derailing the development of an artist. With the internet taking over most of the communication in the music industry most music production stakeholders have opted to use platforms such as emails or social media or voice messages to pass their messages to intended parties (Laube, 2017). However, the main challenge remains the ability to gauge the feedback received. How an artist discusses issues of complexities with their producers and how the feedback is given and received influences their growth in music. According to Jacob Laube (2017), clear and respectful communication enhances a very positive artist development as it offers an open and honest environment that allows for the experimentation of different ideas.  The article further argues that leadership style is a key influencer in enhancing positive communication amongst people.      According to Albrecht, (2019) a clear and good leadership style will ensure that every step and rule are communicated and at the right time, therefore, living no room for misunderstandings. However, when misunderstandings arise there will be a clear method in place to handle them and live all the parties satisfied. This also simplifies how the producers give artists direction of what to do when to do and how to do it as well as give room for the artist to express their opinions on the direction given politely and respectively (Albrecht, 2019).

 

Experience

Describes experience as overall development in musical development. He further argues that experience affects critical factors in music production and presentation such as the confidence of the artists, collaborations with other artists, and adaptation during concerts. Some of the elements to familiarize me within events and during the production process include lighting systems, how to cope up with unexpected technical issues, and preconceived notions. In as much as long time engagement in music, concerts increase the experience of an individual artist ‘new comer’ artist can also increase their musical experience through increased ‘studio time’, which represents the time the artist dedicates or experiences in the studio environment. The ability of an artist to be comfortable in a studio environment gives them the courage to handle an event well. According to Jacob Laube (2017) studio time directly affects the activities that take place in both the event and studio environment. This is because the artist and the whole crew around them will get develop some level of normality with how they do their work and the timeframe in which a specific activity is done. For instance, enough studio time and auditions give the artists and the whole crew an experience of what technicality to experience and how to handle it quickly without affecting the event. Enough experience will also enable the artists to develop some level of courage as far as facing their audience is concerned at the same time to get to know the dos and don’ts when facing specific categories of audiences.

 

2.1.4 The correlation between virtual concert experience and factors supporting artist development

The integration of technology in the music industry is believed to be what brought the virtual concert experience into place. Again, it is worth noting that the main aim of the artist development is to monetize the artistic activities, live events, and performances. This means that an artist is developed into a business. Based on the views shared by Charron (2017) noted that consumers’ motivations towards attending the performances resonate with the evolution of the social as well as technological contexts. Charron (2017) believes that all this is happening with the interest of making live concerts to generate the most growing shares of the revenue across the industry. The researcher is also encouraged by the fact that the evolution of technological innovation and the preferences of the fans are increasingly influencing the way the music is consumed and distributed at the same time (Charron, 2017).

Perhaps, the ubiquitous access to social networks and digital content is said to positively modify the relation of the consumers to the music in both live and virtual concerts. The research conducted by Charron (2017) indicated that most music consumers are increasingly attracted to the access-based model and possession of music in the digital form. Platforms such as Deezer, YouTube, and Spotify are changing the wave of mass music consumption. Perhaps, music consumers admire to access more online content rather than just attending live concerts. This study indicates a positive correlation between the virtual concert experiences and the artist development as far as the music audiences 3.0 is concerned. This alerts on the service-dominant logic which leads towards the habit of co-creation known for engaging consumers in terms of participating in creating and adding value to the products, experiences, and services.

Chang & Shin (2020) notes that co-creation is becoming part of the extensive artistic experience with audiences being engaged in the imaginal, emotional, and cognitive practices that are increasingly making sense towards the musical performances. In essence, live concerts are known for symbolizing co-creation, which provides an interactive platform between the attendance and the performances. They further argue that co-creation is equally believed to stem from the live performance and the bootleg recordings of the live concerts that can be distributed through social and online networks. It is worth noting that virtual concerts have provided an opportunity for most of the artists to access more ideas due to an extensive audience covered across the world, and increased revenues tapped from online tickets, which helps the young artists to grow. The extensive audience argument is supported by Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) who argue that the music industry has swiftly changed from focusing on the ideas of the artist alone during production to consumer-based production. This is because the artist who is nourishing in the current virtual music industry are the ones who focus more on what the extensive audience want in conjunction with the talent or ideas of an artist rather than purely focusing on the artists’ talent.

Unlike in traditional concerts where the artist was forced to develop content, come up with a piece of music, and then push it to the audience Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) believes that virtual music concerts are now pushing the artist to develop from the “concert-goers”  or music consumers’ preferences and needs. This is because virtual concerts have given music consumers the freedom to choose what they want, when they want, and review or comment on anything they like or dislike. Jacob Laube (2017) calls for the artist to not only find effective ways to communicate to their audience in every virtual concert to understand their preferences instead of blindly having excess expectations on them. This is not only for the essence of their development as an artist in the current music industry but also for their survival in the industry.

2.1.5 How the virtual concert influence artist development

The issue of the influence of live concerts on artist development has been thought along the lanes shared by Pursiainen (2016). The author is attracted to the fact that music defines the path of the general market change as far as the thought of it being a service is put into consideration. Notably, virtual concerts are supporting artist development through the development of service research. Pursiainen (2016) is convinced that the meaning of services for most societies is increasing. In the face of virtual concerts, the music industry is increasingly paying attention to service marketing and service management (Pursiainen, 2016).

According to Paolucci, (2021) technology is thought to have instigated a range of innovations as far as e-services are put into consideration. The developments within the music industry, as a service industry, have brought about the uniqueness of the characteristics that define virtual concerts as an additional value towards the growth and development of the artists. The second way through which virtual concerts influence the artist’s development includes the value co-creation of live music. Perhaps, the thought of value creation is inclined towards the service-dominant logic which emphasizes the essence of service exchange.

 

2.2 Theories

Several theories have been linked to virtual concerts and the associated audience. First, Berkowitz (2016) shares Jaron Lanier’s theory of “The Sound of One Hand”, which reflects on the virtual reality-based instruments and improvisation of the musical instruments. The theory informs on the development of the virtualized environments as well as spatialized sound as far as the virtual reality head-mounted displays and the immersive experience. While considering music as a service, it is worth noting that the research would equally pay attention to the theory of service. The theory of service implies the nature of knowledge that determines what would be normal and what is permanent when it comes to the production of service. The knowledge is believed to have been accumulated in the tacit form as far as the professional skills in the music industry are concerned.

 

CHAPTER 3.0: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

• Results – Presentation of Data
  • Virtual concert experience

Since the invasion of the COVID-19 pandemic, human beings have been forced to modify their way of doing things and adopt new mechanisms in a lot of elements. Swarbrick et al. (2021) explore how music has transformed to although not a completely new mechanism but a mechanism that was not popularly adopted. Virtual concerts became the order of the day in musical performances especially with the social distancing restrictions put in place all over the world. Artists responded rapidly to the restrictions by providing their fans with music. From the analysis of Swarbrick et al. (2021) at first the music concerts fans found it strange to adapt to the new way of doing things since the virtual concert adopted to counter the social distancing requirements could not be able to fully explore the sense of closeness and connection. However, after realizing that the pandemic was not going to be away sooner most of the music consumers developed some form of comfort with the virtual concert. From Swarbrick et al.’s (2021) argument, most people including artists are now used to the virtual world and seem to be enjoying performing or listening to music virtually.

Different cases analyzed confirmed virtual concerts to be consisting of one or even more than one musician performing over the camera in real-time to their audiences who watch them over their devices. The video is often live-streamed to different hosting platforms such as social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Instagram among others. These platforms have a section that allows the artist to interact with the audience, allows the audience to interact among themselves and give real-time feedback as well sections to review artist performance and give recommendations to be adapted in future related events. This is very new and unique as compared to the experience in traditional live concerts. The artists have been given more power to feel the power of owning their audience, directly interacting with their audience during the concerts and even after the concerts are over. On the other hand, the audiences also feel to be closer to their preferred artists as they can interact with the artists, ask questions directly as compared to the traditional live concerts where they were treated as a crowd and only a few individuals were given the opportunity. Similarly, from the studied cases, it is clear that the artist has also been given freedom from their managers because virtual events can be easily prepared, perfectly organized, and managed by themselves on their social media platforms.

Another experience that seems to be outstanding in a virtual concert is technical malfunctions of the equipment used to present especially malfunctions related to the quality of audio, video quality, and video scrambling during the concert. Virtual events with good quality videos and audio tend to attract more viewers or audience members, especially when listening to new music or watching new videos. The audience wishes to get every word, understand, or is eager to enjoy every step in the video. Virtual music has therefore partially filled the gap of the traditional concerts and has even made it more interesting to the artists, audience marketers, and A&R team. With social distancing restrictions, most of the audience wishes to be directly connected to any form of virtual event to ensure that they are in touch with the latest trending music and are also entertained. However, more consumers are mostly attracted by not only the personality or popularity of the artist but also by the quality of the event in general from the audio and video quality, level of interactions among many other factors. Other specific elements that define the experience of any virtual event are denoted by Lokki et al. (2019) can be categorized into the four models which are tracking musical features such as tempo, visualization of the animated spaces, sound generation, and clarity, and finally the virtual acoustics model.

 

• Factors that support the development of artists

In the course of identifying factors known to support the development of artists, the research examined a total of 5 case studies. The first case study is “Measuring motivations for popular music concert attendance” by Kulczynski et al. (2016). While this study focuses on the characteristics of the audience, the same characteristics can still be learned by the artists as they focus on their development. Also, artist development does not base necessarily on how much money or income the artist is making from their work but ranges from a combination of several other music-related elements such as communication skills, experience in different sectors, and how able are they to face and convince the audience. From the study of the relevant cases, the following findings were made regarding the major factors that affect or support artist development in the music industry: motivation from the fans, experience, communication, and expectations.

Motivation from the fans

According to Kulczynski et al. (2016) work, like any other business music business is driven by the rate at which an artist or the work of a specific artist and the entire crew can convince or entertain the consumers. The higher the rate of music consumption the more the artist develops. A huge fan base pushes the artist to their limits and forces them to even go beyond what they think is their ability. In as much as the pressure from the artist sometimes drives the artists in the negative direction in as far as appropriate decision making is concerned based on Albrecht, (2019) in most cases the pressure seems to bring out the best version of the artists. Some of the characters brought about by pressure from a huge fan base include forcing the artist to do more research on different elements that are not only likened by the music consumers but also affect their lifestyle as well and enhancing their creativity. From the data provided by Kulczynski et al. (2016), the artists tend to be stronger in the areas they receive more positive reviews from their fans as compared to the areas they receive negative reviews. However, there are special cases where the artists have showcased a strong development record in areas that they have been widely criticized and negatively reviewed. This mostly occurs to artists who in one way or the other have been in the music industry long enough and can take all the reviews positively and strongly work on their weaknesses to ensure they deliver the best in all sectors.

Experience

From the analysis of Jacob Laube’s (2017) case, experience plays a major role in determining the quality of output that not only the artist gives but also the entire crew involved in music production and presentation. The more an artist engages with the studio or the environment similar to the presentation stages the more reliable they seem to be in their work. This is because most of them develop extreme courage as they go through a task time and again, an element that is so important in music production and presentation. From the case, it is evident that experience in the music industry is not only defined by the many years that the artist has been in the music industry but also by how regularly the artist practices different activities related to music production and presentation. This enables the artist to develop some level of confidence in their songs at the same time minimize unnecessary mistakes that might create a tense environment while they perform. Minimum errors in an artist’s work mean a lot as far as the rate of development is concerned. The frequent the artist is in the studio environment the more experienced they tend to become which results in fewer mistakes made while doing their work as they have quite familiar with all the activities that ought to be done and how to overcome technical errors in case they arise. This kind of courage directly reflects how an artist develops in their work as individuals.

Communication

From Jacob Laube (2017) and Albrecht, (2019) communication forms the basis of a lot of things in the music industry, from how the artist is perceived in the public to how the producers and fellow crew members will be able to address, correct or advise about an issue related to the specified artist. In the music industry, all the levels or forms of communication are relevant, from communication with junior crew members or employees, the fans to managers. It is therefore important to maintain relevant and respectful communication at all times. Also considering that the music industry has some complexities that may lead to misunderstanding amongst the music stakeholders the need to effectively communicate one’s views and in a respective manner is essential (Stewart, 2018). Effective communication skills also allow an artist to effectively listen to the advice given carefully and adopt them where possible or even correct where there is need to correct, this, therefore, gives room for quick development as an artist as it provides a comfortable working environment with minimal time to time confrontations.

Expectations

From analysis of Albrecht, (2019) case what human beings expect in life determines their next kind of action or the decisions they will make in the future. This seems to be directly applicable in the music industry since expectations by the artists directly affect their working attitude, how they perform, communicate, and therefore determines if they will end up making or having a positive or negative experience. An artist having a realistic expectation is expected to learn more from other people and develop a very positive attitude in everything they are involved in. From the analysis of Jacob Laube’s (2017) case, the groups of artists who suffer the most from unrealistic expectations are the inexperienced artists while the beneficiaries are the experienced artists. This is because experienced artists are familiar which the music production and distribution environment, all the processes, requirements, and activities needed to make perfect music. This is something that they have through it time and again, therefore, making it easier for them to adapt come up with the realistic expectation that gives them a positive mindset to their work, perfectly relate and communicate with different other stakeholders. With a perfect way and skills of communicating with other key partners, a positive mindset the performance of the artists will be perfect. This is because they will be in the ability to take critics positively and incorporate them in their plan which directly guarantees them a quick development rate in the music industry.

 

 

3.1.3 The correlation between virtual concert experience and factors supporting artist development

In establishing the correlation between the virtual concert and factors shaping artist development, the research focused on four significant studies. The first case study was the one conducted by Swarbrick et al. (2019) on “How Live Music Moves Us: Head Movement Differences in Audiences to Live Versus Recorded Music”. The reference link is https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02682/full.  While conducting the research, the case study focused on the following demographics.

Figure 2: Demographics in the study adapted from Swarbrick et al. (2019)

Based on the demographics shared in the above section, the study centered its attention on music as being a social phenomenon that is best experienced across live concerts or contexts. Perhaps, the advent of what would be referred to as the recording technology which appeared in the 19^th century and heralded the cultural shift. The impact fell on the way people experienced music as they are served with the low cost and the convenient method attached to the consumption of music. In this context, the correlation between the virtual concert experience and the artist development would be informed through the head movements which stand out as the key parameter in terms of the concert experience, and the number of fans an artist is likely to have through such online platforms. The study considered head movements as the fundamental aspect when it comes to encoding emotional information. Across the study, it was important to examine the paramount effects attached to the life against the pre-recorded music with the fan status indicating the audience engagement. The study registered the neutral-preference listeners as well as the self-reported fans who would be assigned to either one of the chosen two concerts.

Notably, the concert is believed to have served as the fundamental record release event known as the Secrets, which was a 2015 solo album by Ian Fletcher Thornley, who is also a Canadian rock star. For the case of the live concerts, the members would experience the live concerts that were being performed by some of the musicians. However, this was different from the Album playback concerts where listeners would only have the audio recording. The examination of the two cases would take place simultaneously while registering the experience in each of the contexts. It was established that for both cases of the neutral-listeners and fans, the head movements would be more vigorous in the context of the live concerts as compared to the album-playback concert (Beacco et al. 2021). This emphasizes how live concerts are effective in as far as passing a message to the audience and getting the appropriate quick and honest feedback is concerned.

However, the concert status never affected the extent of the entrainment, especially to the beat. Based on the concert conditions, fans would still move their heads as far as the beat is concerned. The vigor defining the head movements would be greater for the live concerts when compared to the playback concert. Notably, the vigor would vary across different songs, and this would still reflect on the listener preference and songs preference. This implies that a range of songs would excite fans compared to the naïve listeners.

The second study was conducted by Goldman Sachs (2020) and it focused on the “The show must go on”. Based on the study, Goldman Sachs postulated that the music revenue around the world would drop by at least 25% as of the year 2020. The projections sounded realistic in the sense that there was widespread disruption, especially to the live events. However, in the long run, the case study anticipated that the crisis would accelerate the significant shift from traditional live concerts to online music concerts, as far as the purview of the artist-fan relationship. Therefore, virtual concerts would enhance the significance and importance of social media to facilitate music promotion and discovery. Goldman Sachs indicated that in 2021, there would be a strong rebound as far as the forecasts in terms of the revenue, in the music industry, which would grow at the rate of 6% in a span between 2019-2030 is put into consideration. This is because there would be structural shifts that would accelerate the music industry to an almost double value before the year 2030. It is worth noting that one of the trends included a shift from offline music to online music concerts. This would still be accompanied by reliance on live streaming and social media to facilitate music promotion and music discovery (Berkowitz, 2016). The streaming wars reflect on the growing competition that intends to capture around 1.2 billion that would be paid for the user opportunity. Notably, the move would imply that the global paid subs would be estimated at 6% as of the year 2030. The trend would equally be marked by a paid subs penetration that would be increased to 21% as from 9% that was realized in the year 2019. In the context of streaming, the study anticipates that streaming would be most resilient across the music industry as far as the COVID-19 pandemic is put into consideration. The study projected that at least 75% of the revenues would be derived from the ad-funded video and the subscription tapped from the surge in terms of consumption. The growth would better be received from the paid streaming penetration as far the expansion of the new services and new markets is put into consideration. This study demonstrates how strongly virtual concert experience correlates with different factors that support artist development.

Also after analyzing Chang & Shin (2020) and Marco Luthy and Jean-Julien (2013) works it is clear that for a successful virtual music concert and for the artist and the audience to have an outstanding virtual concert experience accompanied with positive reviews communication factor has to be on seriously considered. The emphasis the authors made on the evolution of the music industry to consumer-based demonstrates that the consumers have the final say on whether the artist is successful or not. Similarly, the case results show that virtual ‘concert-goers’ reviews are directly proportional to the rate at which an artist develops. A lot of positive reviews guarantee the artist a huge loyal following and a large number of convinced viewers in their next virtual music concerts. On the other hand, a large number of negative reviews discourage the current audiences and even new audiences from not only attending future virtual music concerts organized by the artist but also receiving notifications about their future concerts. This also demoralizes the artist in their future works and some can even quit.

 

3.1.4 How virtual concert influences artist development

 

With the suspension of live events, the majority of the live artists are finding it difficult to be connected in a meaningful manner with their great fans. This is a big challenge for the majority of the artists.  Because the ability to keep fans busy and engaged with the present and the future, as well as the past content, is important to their success. However, a good number of top artists have found the virtual platform to be paramount for their growth. Lady Gaga, John Legend, and Chris Martin, and other great famous names have been noted to have hosted the Global citizen’s at home together series. Keith Urban has also been seen to have performed an online live concert on Instagram with his partner dancing beside him. Whereas this type of online concerts and events provide an effective and simple way for artists to keep being connected to their fans.

In the study, we found out that virtual concerts focus only on one artist while hold concerts can help artists to get his or her audiences excited then add value to the whole art experience. On the other hand, in virtual concerts, the opening act does not have to be a local act. One of the gains of virtual production is that the artist gains wider audiences to talent around the globe. Therefore the opening act of the virtual concert can be joined from a different location across the globe (CHAISIRI & Rachruk 2021).

Secondly, a virtual concert allows the artist to engage personally with his or her audience. This can be done by using the chat feature in most of the products enabling virtual production.  The live chat feature enables the artist fans to have interaction in a way that cannot be done during the live concert.  This allows the audience to even request songs and have direct interaction with their favorite artists. Thirdly, a lot of artists have found it difficult to operate to a maximum capacity because of the requirements of social distancing (Paolucci, 2021). Even when there is no Covid-19 restriction, there are always a given number of funs that any given live music is allowed to accommodate.  With virtual concerts, the event has a bigger chance of reaching a lot of spectators.

Fourth, scheduling a life is quite tiresome and time-consuming. Matching the timing of the event and the artist’s availability is quite a big hustle.  However, virtual concerts can easily solve this dilemma (Chang & Shin 2020). Concert pre-taping and then playing it during the in-person, virtual or hybrid events assist in resolving the logistics and scheduling challenges hence the easy promotion of artistic events.

The virtual concert has increased artists’ revenue growth from the year 2015 when it experienced its initial pick to 2019 when it was at its best. In 2019 the revenue from virtual concerts and streaming accounted for more than eighty percent of the revenues for all the artists globally.  The majority of the people were observed to be listening to the music either on earbuds or speakers and they went to live shows while strictly adhering to the Covid-19 protocols.

When Covid-19 became a global pandemic in 2019 majority of the live events were postponed and others were even completely canceled hence posing a great threat to the art industry due to its potential financial impact (Paolucci, M. G. (2021)). This resulted in the sprouting of many streaming platforms to counter this hard-hitting impact. Certain virtual concert platforms are hosting virtual artists in their platforms.  Whereas it is truly hard to create a real face-to-face concert experience in a personal living room, a lot of digital platforms are making the artist closer to fans.

For instance, platforms such as Tidal are giving art content consumers free access to virtual concerts to be part of the at-home program in which most of them were initially enjoying. Instagram which is the biggest competitor got into space and became the biggest platform for virtual concerts having live performances with more than one hundred thousand live views (Hidayatullah, 2021). For instance, the best free concert was the one done by Scott which attracted more than 10 million viewers

Whereas virtual shows will not be able to replace the former one on one meetups with fans where fans were exposed to one-way music and artists needed to earn more and more money for themselves and the causes that they were supporting (Thery & Katz 2019). With live streaming, the researchers noted that the performance of DJs on platforms was completed with emoticons and shootouts. The events that have been staged within the online platforms for gaming are increasingly becoming essential. The virtual environment is a promising environment for artists and managers as well as promoters to have a deep thought out of the normal. Whereas virtual events are short of delivery, the platform empowered performers to help assist in booking artists which has exponentially increased the number of people who participated.

The brands and performers have also been realized to optimize the number of fans to connect with as long as they are genuine. This new relationship is instrumental in building long-term support and artist’s development (Yakura & Goto 2020). This kind of environment makes the music consumers close to their best artist differently. Other activities such as virtual gaming were found to be instrumental in enhancing virtual interaction.

The virtual concert has helped people to try and alleviate loneliness through engaging with social media (Hollins, 2020) or through listening to such music. The sense of social interaction and connection was able to take the form of empathizing and identifying with the artist of the promoter. Also from the cases studied agree with the notion of the artists being among the greatest beneficiaries around the world as far as using the virtual platform is concerned. This is because the platforms have reduced the cost associated with traditional live concerts. It also assists artists to perform several concerts at ago without having to visit the concert destinations in person. Instead of audiences across the world trying to view the same live performances by an artist in one location they can perform at a different location and then be supported by AR technological effects as well as native adverts.

 

• Discussion- Summary analysis

The creative and cultural sectors are among the hardest hit by COVID-19. However, the artist industry is geared by strong innovation and as a result, it capitalized on the use of virtual concerts to ensure its continuity.  The massive digitalization plus the emerging technologies have created a new form of cultural experience and information dissemination. With the presence of lockdowns, the majority of public and private artists moved their content to the virtual platforms for free to ensure that their audiences are well engaged and hence satisfaction of their increased demand for creative content. Whereas the provision of digitally free mediated content will not be economically viable over time, it has created an avenue to a lot of future innovation and a booming resilience of the artistic sector. Therefore to build on the impact of the COVID-19, crisis well through complementariness such as virtual concerts can be developed. Therefore the increased digitalization has come up with new opportunities for both local and global content development.

From the finding, we have virtual concerts which appear more real because the benefits that accrue from the features provided by the platforms are interesting. Advertisers will use this opportunity to promote their products which will increasingly motivate more people to commit huge amounts of resources because new technologies will allow the brands to have direct interaction with viewers on a real-time basis through various consumer marketing tools. For example, with the proliferation of technologies, advertisers are now able to overlay virtual adverts at live concerts.

From the findings analyzed in different cases, there is a clear correlation between virtual concert experiences and different factors that supports artist development. This is, therefore, a clear indication that in one way or the other, virtual music concerts have a strong impact on how an artist develops. Some of these factors include:

Communication

Communication is a key entity in any music industry and it can shape an artist either positively or negatively depending on how skilled they are and how effective they use their communication skills. From the findings, effective and respective communication tends to shape or develop the artist in a positive way. An artist can be shaped by communication towards a negative or a positive direction. The findings of this study denote that artists who can listen to advise and critiques and take them positively have the highest probability of developing faster in the music industry while those who are quick to react irrespectively to their fans managers or producers tend to shape their music career towards a strong negative direction. Unlike traditional live events, virtual concerts give the artist a unique experience as far as communication is concerned. The artists can receive direct and real-time feedback from their fans and they are as well able to reply to their fans directly. Maintain a high level of positivity and effectiveness by the individual artist while communicating with key stakeholders is the key to their individual development. This is because effective communication will not only ensure that the artist can earn respect from the public as well as the crew members, therefore, creating a loyal consolidated fan base but they will also be able to get realistic feedback of which when incorporated into their work it will able to attract more listeners or music consumers. With direct and real-time communication in virtual concerts, the impact of these concerts on the communication of an artist is very big. Communication being among the strongest pillars that affects artist development showcases that virtual concerts have either a positive impact when the real-time communication is done respectfully and effectively and negative results when mishandled.

Experience

Experience of an artist, in this case, represents the longer the artist spends time in the studio or any other relevant area auditioning or preparing their content, long term engagement in this type of environment gives the artist some level of confidence and familiarity with everything that ought to be done during the main event. With utter courage in what they do, the artists are least likely to make any common mistakes during events that are s sensitive. Virtual concerts are among the sensitive events with views or listeners eager to be entertained without expecting petty errors. Virtual music consumers are among the most sensitive music consumers. Because the internet has simplified how things are done to a greater extent and the speed at which people share information a simple error during a virtual concert can go to an extent of destroying an artist’s public image for a long time. Similarly, most of the virtual concert platforms have given the consumers excessive powers to make reviews and comments that can be seen by any public member. In most cases, this review controls the action the consumers make in the future. If consumers either new ones or loyal ones get a lot of complaints and bad reviews about the previous shows, they are more likely to abscond the show and an artist can end up hosting a virtual event without an audience. On the contrary, when the reviews are very positive future events organized by the artist are more likely to have a lot of viewers each trying to get the best version of the artists. In the music industry, the number of viewers or listeners in a show as compared to the future is a clear reflection of the kind of progress the artist is making, whether positive or negative progress. If the artist lacks studio or presentation experience and they end up getting bad reviews which discourage viewers or listeners in the future the development of an artist is hugely affected. However, good experience builds courage and familiarity with most of the activities to be done in the performance arena, and therefore less or even no errors are realized during the show. This also gives the artist a chance to demonstrate their quality to the public giving them their very best and therefore very many people will be attracted to consume their music, a step that quickens their development as artists.

Artist Expectations

From the findings of this study, expectations as some form of mental belief that an event, categories of events, or activities are likely to occur in the future. An artist’s expectation shapes how they reason, how they make their decision, communicate, behave, and relate with other people. It is therefore a very crucial component in determining how successful an artist can be as it drives them mentally. Expectations by an artist are categorized based on the level of experience the artist has in the music industry and the intentions. Some of the artists however talented they might seem to be only appearing in studios or music platforms for fun or as a passion while these are categorized as seasoned artists. The second category is the casual artists these are artists with talent, passion and have pursued music as their career. From the findings of this study, casual or experienced artists tend to make more realistic expectations as compared to seasoned artists. This is regarding the time management, communication, how organized they should be, or the platform should look like, income expectations, and expectations from the audience or crew members such as directors and producers. Seasoned artists come to a concert with unrealistic expectations and they, therefore, find it hard to manage time and communicate. On the other hand, casual artists have enough experience with their work. In most cases they are patient with their project, take time to plan before launching them. This gives room for adequate practicing and modification to ensure that only the best quality is given to the audience. The two cases are evident in most virtual concerts since host sites provide the platforms for a concert anytime, and anywhere without restrictions. This has caused seasoned artists to host virtual concerts whenever they feel like just for fun without any relevant idea to the public with too much expectation in return, an act that has cost the career of so many artists. In as much as casual artists also enjoy this kind of freedom ensuring that they host many virtual concerts possible to keep in touch with their fans, most of them plan early, spread information to their audience before time, and most important have realistic expectations. Virtual concerts, therefore, help them form some form of connection with their fans and build a high level of loyalty an element that is so essential for quick growth.

Relationship with the fans and crew members

From the study findings relationships in the music industry can either tie different parties together or push them away from each other. The relationship is therefore a very crucial entity as far as artist development is concerned as it majorly determines the impact other factors such as communication will have as far as the progress of an artist is concerned. Relationship with other people in an artist’s environment will determine the level of devotion or how far the other people will be able to go to see that the best comes out of the artist. For instance, in the case of crew members such as the producer or director, maintaining a positive respective relationship will ensure that they find the best beats, do more research on your project, and offer the most appropriate advice in their field anytime they are consulted. This will ensure that an artist comes up with the best possible version of a project. On the other hand, a positive relationship with the fans entails having a constructive and respective conversation with them. Taking criticism positively is very hard but essential in maintaining a positive relationship with the fans and crew members as it creates a comfortable environment for each party to do their part and enjoy music. Virtual concerts are among the events that are driven, or their success is determined by the relationship an artist has to the two major stakeholders, crew members and fans. If the relationship of the artist is poor with either of the parties their development is most likely to be very slow if any. This is because the bad relationship with the crew members is most likely to affect the quality of work produced or organized of the event which will be a discouraging factor to the rate at which fans attend future events by the same artist. Similarly, a bad relationship with the fans will affect the attendance of the virtual concerts however much effort the artist might have invested or prepared it (Ningsih et al.2021). This will negatively affect the development of an artist. Virtual concerts being directly controlled by the relationship an artist has with the public specifically the crew members and fans have both positive and negative impacts on the growth of a musician. A good relationship with the people in the artists surrounding speeds up the rate at which an artist develops, on the contrary, a bad relationship derails their development further.

 

 

CHAPTER 4.0: CONCLUSION

• Conclusion

4.1.1 Correlation between virtual concert experience and factors supporting artist development

In general, COVID-19 came along with a lot of restrictions that have affected different economic sectors. The music industry is one of the sectors affected by the restrictions kept in place to curb the spread of the virus, social distancing, and lockdown rules having the greatest effects in the music industry. How people listened to music or attended events changed from the then commonly used traditional live streaming method or attending concerts physically to virtual music concerts. The experience changed completely at first music consumers finding it hard to adopt but after being used to it a lot of people are now enjoying the unique experiences that virtual music concerts offer. Some of the common unique experiences include the ability to communicate directly, share ideas or even criticize an artiste where possible and directly through the host virtual concert host platforms, the ability to instantly leave a review about the artist and the concert in general, and comment to justify your review. The artists have also had a new experience as far as virtual concerts are concerned since they are now able to independently manage themselves, host as many events possible without incurring heavy costs (CHAISIRI & Rachruk 2021). They have also utilized the platforms in listening to their fans strengthening their relationship with them; get to understand their musical needs and building loyalty. The experiences therefore directly correlate to the four major factors that affect an artist’s development which are relationship, experience, communication, and expectations.

			GOOD

 

Figure 3: Relationship between virtual music concert and factors affecting artist development

Similarly from the case of different virtual concert goers, it can also be concluded that the experience that a music consumer has in one event determines whether they will attend the future events organized by the same persons. Having this in mind in relation to the fact that the success of a concert in the current widely spread virtual music concert era is based on consumer preferences the artist, therefore, needs to keep a close and good relationship with their audience, effectively communicate to them where possible and get to understand what they expect from them and what they should expect from you as artists.

4.1.2 How virtual concert influences artist development

Generally, from the findings obtained in this study virtual concerts influences artist development by directly controlling the four major factors that support affect artist development. This is:

Communication- Unlike traditional live streaming and physical event attendance methods virtual concerts offer platforms that facilitate direct communication between the event organizers artists and the audience. How artists develop is seen to be depending on how the artist or the management uses or communicates in these platforms (Stewart, 2018). When they carelessly communicate with the audience, they tend to lose most of the audience to other platforms and, hence derailing their development. On the other hand, when they communicate to the audience effectively, clearly, and respectably, they tend to add a lot of value on their side building a loyal fan base and hence speeding the development of an artist.

Other factors include experience which grows with time as the artist practices more on his work, rehearses, and familiarizes themselves with all the relevant content and activities required for a concert. Relationship on the other hand develops during the concert, before or after the concert. Maintaining a good relationship with the other key stakeholders gives a chance for the artist to quickly develop.

• Recommendations

The following detailed recommendations provide an insight on how companies or individuals can speed up the development of artists in relation to the widely adapted virtual music concert. The recommendations are categorized into what needs to be done by specific persons or groups of people as far as each factor related to a virtual music concert is concerned.

4.2.1 Artists managers /producers.

Communication: To ensure that the artists develop faster in the current music industry the producer and managers ought to not only manage the communications of the artist to other parties especially the fans during virtual concerts but also focus on ensuring that they as individuals communicate to the artists in a polite, honest and respectable manner. Also, they need to communicate to the artist the schedule of events in advance to ensure they plan well for the concerts. This will boost or maintain the morale of the artist, enhance quality results or output, and therefore speeding up artist development.

Expectations: To speed up at which an artist grows the artist’s managers or producers need to focus on having realistic expectations about their artists. They should raise their expectations beyond their client levels to an extent that they put excessive pressure on them forcing them to make rushed choices. Similarly, they ought not to lower their expectations about the client to levels that derail their self-esteem or discourages the artist further.

Experience- To speed up artist growth through experience the managers and producers need to observe the trends in the market as far as music production and presentation is concerned and then provide space, studio time, and resources for an artist to practice, polish, correct and modify some components before the main event. This will also help them familiarize themselves well with the equipment, activities and build enough courage to give their very best as well as avoid any form of interruption during the concert.

Relationship: Good relationship ties different groups of people in the music industry together and therefore enables them to work together sharing ideas and strengthening the weaknesses of each other n element relevant in virtual music concerts whose success is fully based on the good relationship among the stakeholders. The managers should therefore focus on improving their relationship with their clients at the same time keeps them on balance as far as their relationship with other partners is concerned. This can be facilitated by developing a common conflict resolution mechanism that does not favor anyone and at the same time maintaining honest, respectable communication and positive criticism at all times.

 

4.2.2 Artists

Communication- The artists also need to ensure that they maintain clear, positive, and effective communication to all the stakeholders in their surroundings.  This will simplify the process of sharing ideas as well as politely criticizing or advising where possible. In virtual concerts, effective communication will also develop a high level of a loyal fan base as well as enable the artist to take criticism positively and incorporate some of the changes in their plans.

Expectations- Like the managers the artists should go to any virtual event with realistic expectations or approach every part of their career realistically for them to realize a quick positive development in their career. This can be enabled by doing more research about an element before developing a belief about it.

Experience – The artist should regularize spending time in the studio to learn more each day. Also, they should be at the forefront as far as checking the trending elements in music such as the trending tunes, beats, instruments to establish where the gap exists and exploit it through regular practicing.

 

4.1 Subject to future research

This study offers a solution and base for companies in the music business to make future strategies that can help them grow very fast and recover from COVID-19 effects at the same time boost the career of individual artists. The study aimed to establish the impact virtual music concerts have brought to the development of artists. While recognizing some limitations present in this analysis I believe the study has achieved a huge part of what was expected since the theory was successfully developed, tested and justification made.  All the major elements linked to virtual music concerts with a huge impact on artist development were identified and analyzed using a small sample of case studies. However, through realistic evaluation, there were several limitations to the study. Some of the limitations include the limited number of case studies analyzed most of which focused on artists in virtual music concerts in general while their growth is different depending on the music genre they are specializing in. I suggest that further research should consider analyzing more cases narrowing down to the development of artists in the specific music genre. Also to avoid generalizing the development of artists I suggest that future research on the same be narrowed down to specific categories of artists in specific regions or states. This is because different regions prefer different types of music and some concert-goers in different regions might rate a musician with good creative content negatively because of factors beyond the artist’s control, such as language barrier.