Imagine you’re at a concert of one of your favorite bands, and they pull out a deep cut from an early album that feels like a gift just for you. Then they bring a special guest up on the stage or play a mind-blowing cover of something out of left-field. Your first instinct may be to pull out your phone. But instead of holding your camera aloft to get some crappy audio or video that you’ll never revisit, Stereocast would rather you just hit the button that says “buy track” and put the phone back in your pocket.
The NY-based company backed by music-industry veteran Charles Koppelman unveiled the new app yesterday with a short set from Brooklyn artist Kevin Andreas. His six-song performance was available for download within 15 minutes of the last note the band played.
“We are merchants of the moment,” Stereocast president Randall Satin says. He doesn’t envision as many full concert downloads as he does people capturing those special tracks, like when Taylor Swift brought Mick Jagger out on stage for a song. And it’s easy for concert-goers to think back on those moments where we wished something like this existed.
Stereocast tracks are mixed from a separate feed off the soundboard, and they’re only available to those that attended the concert. It’s a digital souvenir of the concert experience that can be downloaded before you get to your car and listened to on the way home.
“We consider these like stamps in a passport that you can collect along your musical journey,” Satin says.
The app geo-fences the venue to ensure that only attendees can get the music, which only plays within the app. Stereocast plans to make sure participating venues get a boost to their wi-fi so anyone can download without a problem. Once the concert is over, there’s a short time limit to purchase.
The idea was to create a new revenue stream for artists who increasingly rely on live performances to make money. The $2.99 per song price point isn’t cheap, but after Apple or Google, the venue, the wi-fi provider and Stereocast take their cuts, that leaves a full $1 per song going directly to the artist.
“You can basically double or triple your revenue from a show,” says Andreas, who plans on using the service for gigs. “Not to mention getting a real well-recorded version of your songs to fans.”
Andreas is planning on releasing his first full-length album in the spring, but says the app will let him sell tracks beforehand as part of his live show. Satin adds that it’s up to artists whether to limit sales to people at the shows.
You can check out the app at stereocast.com.