Artists are getting discovered,
Seriously, in all my years working with artists and startups in the digital music space,
I’ve never seen anything so effectively hit at the bottom line:
CREATIVE FREEDOM
MEANINGFUL REVENUE
BUILDING A REAL FAN BASE
IT WORKS LIKE THIS:
You set up a channel on Twitch and play music and talk with viewers live.
Viewers watch and post to the chat to talk with you and other viewers.
You have fun, they have fun.
Twitch has managed to monetize that fun with subscriptions and donations.
WHAT’S THE POTENTIAL?
I’ve seen artists start their music careers from scratch on Twitch and
end up streaming either as a full-time job or as a solid, part-time side hustle.
I’ve seen artists with small fan bases bring those fans onto Twitch and
turn them into superfans.
They all find new fans and it’s because livestreaming delivers
community and intimacy like no other platform.
WHY NOT INSTAGRAM, YOUTUBE, OR FACEBOOK?
Almost everything I teach in this course is applicable to
livestreaming on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
If you are going to stream infrequently (once or twice a month),
then stream on the platform where you already have audience.
If you’re going to stream regularly (at least twice a week),
then it’s worth migrating your audience to Twitch.
The fan engagement and monetization is just so much better on Twitch.
WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS?
To be clear, I don’t work for Twitch and they haven’t paid me to write this.
This is a completely independent project.
I don’t even write music industry education books for artists as a job.
I came across livestreaming, saw it working for music on Twitch, produced
a channel for an artist friend of mine, and thought more artists needed to know about this.
Creating a channel was more complicated than it needed to be and there were no
good resources that covered the process start to finish, so I wrote one.
What I Can Teach You
How to Build and Manage a Channel
Twitch is just where your stream is broadcast from and where viewers watch. You’ll use at least THREE platforms and TWO monetization systems to run your channel. It’s a pain in the neck to figure out. I make it easy.
You’ll learn:
HOW TO USE OBS (a free program) to produce your stream on Twitch and other livestream platforms, including deep dives on encoding settings, bit rates, tricks for making your stream look great, and troubleshooting common problems
HOW TO USE STREAMER SERVICES (also free to use) like Streamlabs and StreamElements to personalize your stream and create interactive moments with your audience
HOW TO USE SONG REQUEST TOOLS (again, free) to manage requests and take donations
HOW TO MONETIZE YOUR STREAM with tools from Twitch, Streamlabs, and StreamElements in ways that are FUN for your audience
Why Streaming Works and How to Do It
Livestreaming is unlike any other social content platform you’ve been on. People aren’t just pausing for a minute on your post while they infinitely scrolling their social newsfeed - they are hanging out with you. It’s a whole different way of creating content.
You’ll learn:
HOW STREAMING DIFFERS FROM ALL OTHER PLATFORMS - it’s the opposite of everything you’ve learned about creating content for social networks
WHY VIEWERS TUNE IN and how to create content that responds to that
HOW TO DO A 2-4 HOUR STREAM and have the time fly by
How to Grow an Audience
Right now is such a great time to start streaming on Twitch. The music category has good musicians and viewers excited to watch indie artists, but it’s not saturated like YouTube and Soundcloud. You can still get discovered starting from zero, and the fans you bring with you to Twitch will become superfans and your biggest advocates.
You’ll learn:
HOW DISCOVERY WORKS ON TWITCH
HOW TO WORK WITH OTHER STREAMERS to help you both grow
OPTIMAL TIMES TO STREAM and how long you should be streaming during each session
HOW TO CROSS-PROMOTE YOUR SOCIALS with your Twitch channel
The Book
I hope you like reading
because you’re about to do
a lot of reading.
Everything you need to know is in the book. It’s mostly tech tutorials, so even though it’s 300+ pages, it’s full of screenshots and is a quick read.
You’ll learn what livestreaming is all about, how it’s similar to / different from your other socials, how to produce a channel, and what to do when you’re live and in between streams.
Note that this book came out in 2020. MUCH has changed with the user interfaces of the services I talk about and some of the features they offer, but the basics of what you’ll learn are still valid and it’s easy to figure out how to use the services in their current form.
PODCASTS & BLOGS
How to Build a Sustainable Music Career and Collect All Revenue Streams: Fun w/ NFTs, TikTok, & Twitch via Karen Allen
This is the podcast version of Emily White’s #1 Amazon best-selling book of the same name, an absolute must-read for indie artists. We cover livestreaming, TikTok, Twitch, and NFTs.
Music Marketing Manifesto Podcast: Learn How to Generate Income from Your Music on Twitch
We talk with John Oszajca about how livestreaming on Twitch works and how DIY musicians can benefit.
Canadian Musician Podcast: Twitch for Musicians - Boost Your Fanbase and Bottom Line
Canadian Musician Magazine Senior Editor Michael Raine asks all the right questions and we cover a lot in this podcast.
Innovating Music Podcast, UCLA Herb Alpert School for Music
“Twitch Streaming for Musicians.”
Symphonic Distribution Blog:
5 Reasons Why Every Musician Should Be Using Twitch
Great intro to why artists should consider livestreaming for audience growth and revenue.
DIY Musician Blog: How Musicians Can Use Twitch to Build an Audience
Podcast: A Musician’s Guide on How to Use Twitch, The Live Video Streaming Platform
Jay Gilbert and Michael Brandvold have worked with A-list rockstars for decades and ask all the right questions about the bottom line for artists on Twitch.
LinkedIn Live: Livestreaming for Musicians
Mike Warner talks with us about Twitch for Musicians. He wrote a fantastic book called Work Hard Playlist Hard about getting on playlists on streaming services like Spotify.
Testimonials
“With Karen’s guidance, we created a quality channel and in a few short months started developing a really cool community of global followers. Not only do they contribute to our channel on Twitch, they buy and stream our music, join our fan club, and tell their friends about us. Literally every time we get on Twitch, our fanbase grows.”
“Karen has helped me in a huge way. She produced my show, coached me on my technical setup, and made it easy for my existing fanbase to follow me over to Twitch. I’ve been taking a break from touring, so the income and regular connection with my fans couldn’t have come at a better time. Karen’s a total pro and really knows what she’s doing.”
““Twitch for Musicians” is a must-read for any musician serious about using Twitch. It’s laser-focused on execution—a welcome departure from the majority of writing on Twitch + music (including my own), which tends to focus on strategy.”
The amazing Fantastic Plastics can be seen on Twitch at twitch.tv/fantasticplastics.
PRESS
Guest Column: Five Things Melissa Etheridge’s Livestreamed Concerts Get Exactly Right
I break down what livestreaming looks like 5 months into the Covid pandemic.
Rolling Stone, “Coronavirus is Giving Livestreaming the Chance to Prove Itself”
Guest Column: What the Twitch? Why Artists Can and Should Use the Live-Streaming Platform
I wrote a guest column for Variety on how livestreaming and esports are working with the music industry.
HITS Magazine, “Twitch to Scratch”
American Public Media’s Marketplace Tech with Molly Wood
In the heat of Coronavirus cancellations, we talk with Molly Wood about some options for artists when their live dates go poof.