54 LIVE MUSIC
Le Ferrailleur
explained by Amussat-L’Hôtelier, “The ATEM switcher is super compact, just like the cameras, which means the production set-up doesn’t disrupt the venue’s atmosphere, neither does the audience feel inhibited or watched’.” 4G TO THE RESCUE One of the main obstacles at the start of the project was the club’s rather poor internet connectivity. Although France is making better progress with fibre optic deployments compared to many of its European neighbours, it seems that ultra- high-speed broadband networks have not yet reached Le Ferrailleur. “So we use 4G mobile networks,” said Montupet. Latency, or the delay between what is seen and heard, has proved to be an extremely challenging problem, and remains one of the technical team’s biggest bugbears. “We sometimes find a way to resolve this,” said Montupet. “Sometimes it works, sometimes not. But it’s still very unstable on Facebook, mostly because of Facebook Live itself.” BUILDING UP FANS Aside from the technical matters, it is also necessary to obtain permission from the band before a broadcast can go ahead. Montupet said the idea is to create videos that will go viral, and most bands are receptive to that idea. The other thorny issue is, of course, how to raise money to ensure the ‘concerts canapé’ concept can be financially beneficial both for the club and the bands. This is clearly still a work in progress. As Montupet pointed out, many of the bands
LOW-FI Le Ferrailleur doesn’t benefit from an ultra- high-speed broadband connection, so the concert streaming project relies on using 4G mobile networks.
FUTURE SOURCESOF INCOMEMIGHT ALSOCOME FROM SPONSORSHIPDEALS. BUT IT’SNOT JUST ABOUTMONEY added Montupet. “We just do all of it by ourselves.”
at Le Ferrailleur are playing for the first time, and one option is to charge them a one-off fee of about €1000 for the right to use the video taken by the Le Ferrailleur team for promotional purposes. Future sources of income might also come from sponsorship deals. But it’s not just about money; it’s also about creating something viral and spreading the name of the club further afield. “Our club is private, we have no money from the city,”
So, how have people responded to the streamed band performances? Montupet said the first two gigs were relatively quiet affairs, “but the third one was crazy”. Concert Canapé #3 was organised for a gig by Scottish punk band The Exploited, and reached almost 120,000 people with over 7000 Facebook interactions, 39,000 views and over 1000 ‘likes’. It was also shared almost 800 times. MONETISING THE MUSIC Concert Canapé #4, snappily titled The Hellfest Warm Up , reached over 125,000 people. Other bands in the series also include The Rumjacks (a punk rock/celtic folk band from Sydney), American hip hop bands Reverie and Camp Lo, France- based band La Belle Bleue, Led Zeppelin tribute band Crimson Daze and US-based metalcore band Conveyer. Looking ahead, the team is already planning on expanding its technical systems to support bigger events, such as outdoor concerts. As already noted, the three main challenges will continue to be reducing latency, finding new ways of raising money, and selling the videos to bands. As things stand, there are no plans to move the project beyond the Facebook Live platform, although the team at Le Ferrailleur has certainly considered
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