As many restaurants/venues around Central Illinois were allowed to open up for inside dining again this week, people all over the area let out a very small sigh of relief.

And by small, I mean imagine the sigh you’d let out if you were one of six kids crammed in the backseat of a car and a grown-up from the front said, “I’ll hold your coat up here if it helps.”

It’s not what we want, or really what we need, but we’ll take it.

While we all struggle to pivot within our new realities, we also have a little hope because we know we’re one step closer to the freedom we desperately want back. One step close to live music in every corner of the area. One step closer to a weekend show list with 50 bands/artists on it. One step closer to having our precious music festivals back again.

Many have been finding live music however they can. Between semi-secret mini-music festivals, private jam sessions in artists’ homes & practice spaces, and some music venues choosing to remain open despite threats from government, there have been occasional in-person shows, even when it’s been too cold to meet outside.

What has really taken off, is the number of livestreams that are taking place. The availability of livestreams over the last year has skyrocketed in nearly every level and genre of music.

And while many artists have been hanging on until live in-person music is an option again, I can’t say it enough: Livestreaming isn’t going away.

The business of music is something has constantly changed over time. Often it’s technology that brings change. This time it was a pandemic that forced us to use the technology we already had in new and different ways. If we’ve learned anything from past metamorphoses of the music industry, it’s that some things will always stay the same, but the new things never disappear.

What is really important to me right now is that musicians understand that not only is livestreaming not going away, but it is and will continue to be a viable piece of the business plan for artists who want to make a living as a musician.

Because I know this is true, I have been putting a lot of energy into to sharing what I’ve learned (and am still learning) about livestreaming and ways to make the goal of being a self-supporting musician attainable for artists. Much of that knowledge was released in an eBook about a week and a half ago.

I so appreciate those of you who have already supported Peoria Music Live by buying this guide. In fact, anyone who pays full price for it on the Peoria Music Live website will be getting a special thank you gift from me soon.

However, in order to get the word out and give more people access to this as a resource, I will be giving away the PDF copy of the guide.

Until the end of January, I’m offering the PDF version of the Musician’s Guide to Facebook Live for FREE from our merch store: bit.ly/pmllivenotes Coupon Code: FREEGUIDE21

It is also available on Amazon.com as an eBook. You can find it here: Musician's Guide to Facebook Live on Amazon

There are artists who are still weary of the whole livestreaming concept, or maybe just change in general. Change, for the most part, has been good for musicians over the years. Learning to embrace changes not only opens you up to new experiences, but puts you a step ahead when the next round of changes comes. And they will come.

Logical arguments can be made about the issues that could arise from having recordings of music out that’s not played perfectly, as well as having recordings available for free at all. But we can combat that just by looking to one of the greatest touring bands of all time.

The music industry as a whole was astonished when The Grateful Dead refused to try to stop people from making recordings of their live shows. Of course, back then we were talking about actual taping with a mic and a tape recorder. Dan Healy, sound mixer for The Dead, is quoted as saying, “There's never been one shred of proof — none whatsoever — that live recording hurts anything. If anything, it makes it better.” There is no question these days that those recordings, unedited and freely available, made the band’s music accessible to a much broader audience.

For some of the same reasons we’ve had artists and labels who have resisted the kind of promotion Peoria Music Live has done since we got started, but I don’t think there is any doubt that we have made a positive impact in the area and on our music scene for both artists and fans. Livestreaming is an extension of that. When you make your music available to a broader audience, everyone wins.

Lastly, I’d like to point out that learning to livestream is not just important for the near future, but it’s also a step towards the future many aren’t even considering yet. Artist who look at livestreaming as a fad now are more likely to be left in the dust when Virtual Reality catches up with us. As the cost of video recording equipment needed to produce a VR experience comes down, along with the cost of the headsets people use to “attend,” this could be a very real trend in the next several years.

Live shows at bars and venues aren’t going to disappear, and I can’t wait to see the local venues, stadiums, and festivals packed again as soon as we can make it happen! But the possibilities musicians have right now are endless and benefit those who are used to playing in front of fifty just as much, if not more than, those who are used to performing in front of thousands at one time.

You just have to be willing to evolve.

Who’s ready to schedule a livestream with us?
Check out our automatically updating calendar to see what dates we have available to livestream a show directly to your fans on Peoria Music Live. We had 38,000 minutes of live music watched in December, let’s make some of the watched minutes in January or February YOURS.