Live music on JTV dead?

[sw0mgt]

I set up a channel where I play guitar and sing.

I play for an hour and a half and I do not get a single person clicking my channel. So it's obviously not that I suck. It's that nobody cares.

So is JTV a bad place for live music?

[12familialiga]

LOL bro!! I always go looking for music.. and i don't think i'm the only one.. but it just people's likes... so there should be someone who like the kind of music you play... just keep it up.. as every stream it takes time.. there are too many channels and your channel is not the only one. so never give up..

[GilMensch]

Originally Posted by sw0mgt

I set up a channel where I play guitar and sing.

I play for an hour and a half and I do not get a single person clicking my channel. So it's obviously not that I suck. It's that nobody cares.

So is JTV a bad place for live music?

There are several live music channels I know of that attract an audience. For example, check out Trenched who is on several nights a week and Cogcode who is on Friday afternoons/early evenings (US times).

[GilMensch]

I was thinking about your post and wanted to put up a little more info for you on how to attract an audience for your performance cast. This is kind of basic stuff and is just my opinion, but wanted to offer it anyway.

#1 - Make sure your channel is technically up to snuff. That means decent video and quality sound. You can't use the native JTV casting tool because of the low bandwidth audio stream. You need to use Adobe FME, Wirecast, or something similar to give you a good audio & video stream. Obviously, your computer and internet connection have to be sufficiently robust.

#2 - Know who your core audience is. In other words, have an idea of who your ideal viewer is and what they are looking for when they come to your channel. And then play to that core audience. You will get non-core viewers, and that's fine, but make sure you keep the core viewer happy.

#3 - Be entertaining and engage the viewers. This is kind of related to #2, but #2 is about identifying your audience and trying to "program" to them. #3 is about delivering quality content.

#3.5 - As part of #3, have a decent-looking channel design that is consistent with and appeals to your core audience. The look of your channel should reinforce what your channel is about. Hank's Lounge is an excellent example of this, among many others.

#4 - Critique your performance in order to improve. Watch some of your casts after the fact to see if you like what other people saw. You might notice some things you would like to change or improve on based on this different perspective.

#5 - Make sure you categorize your channel to be where your potential viewers are. And that likely means being in the Social category, not the Entertainment/Music category or another category that few people visit.

#6 - Establish a regular schedule. If you don't set a schedule, it's tough to attract recurring viewers.

#7 - Related to #6, set a schedule that's mindful of other casters preexisting schedules. For example, if you were doing a beer-related show, you probably would be foolish to put it on late Friday night when CraigTube casts on the same subject. On the other hand, counter-programming can work well, meaning, you can go up against a popular show and be successful if your show is sufficiently different.

#8 - Finally, have some good mods that understand your vision of your channel and will perform their duties accordingly. This is a little bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, because you need SOME viewers before you can recruit some good mods. But because you will be busy performing, you can't do that and moderate, too. "Bad" viewers will tend to drive out good ones, so if/when you get chatters that you don't want, you need to get rid of them in a timely manner.

So, I hope this was useful, if not to you then perhaps to someone else. Good luck.