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SANDS FILMS

ands Films is one of the industry’s great unsung

MUSIC ROOM Sand Films’ facilities stream live music to audiences who compensate companies and artists with donations

magic factories. The south London-based company has specialised in costume construction and design for 40 years and has dressed characters from countless major costume production – most recently, Little Women and Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield . The location offers a picture research library, sound stages for rent and has an ethos that puts workers and wellbeing first. In the middle of last summer, with production slowing to a halt, company director Olivier Stockman decided to open up the company’s facilities for streaming live entertainment. Over the past few months, performers have included classical quartets, jazz groups and even lectures, in what has been dubbed the Sands Films Music Room. “A lot of music practitioners cannot even earn a living at the moment,” notes Stockman. “If you look at reports from The Musicians’ Union, there is a huge number of young musicians who are looking at changing career paths, because they cannot earn a living.” The Music Room streams live music performances in HD simultaneously to multiple online outlets, including Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook and the artists’ websites. Its business model

relies on a donation, offering content for free, encouraging people to give what they can. Stockman makes sure performers get paid first, regardless of takings. Then, after running costs are covered, any profit is split evenly between the artists and Sands Films. The resulting content is owned by Sands Films, but available to the artists for promotional purposes. “My view is that culture, art and music are essential parts of life and they need to continue somehow,” he says. “There’s a lot of debate about it, but my concept of culture and the arts is that they should be freely available. With the internet, you can deliver musical culture free of charge, and you don't have to ticket the event.” The internet, Stockman believes, allows viewers to select content as they please, rather than being locked into a ticketed event that they have to stick with, even if they dislike it. He does offer ticketing through Eventbrite, however, which includes free, £1 and unlimited donation tickets. “At a live gig, the audience comes to you – they become hostages. When you do a live performance online, it’s the reverse. You enter their space, on their terms and on their timescale. That's an interesting concept, an interesting shift of power if you like, and I’m offering the opportunity for the performer to reinvent how they deliver their art,” says Stockman. Beyond questions of company profit, Stockman already sees huge value in what he has done so far. “We haven't made a lot of money, but when we do a show and see money coming in from around the world with people’s comments, it's very heart warming. That's worth a lot. For the musicians, it's an opportunity to work. A lot of them haven't had the chance to perform for months. They get quite excited to do it.”

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