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I've only tuned in for one, and never played for one. But it was cool, and I was attracted to a lot of artists that I wasn't to before.
regardless of streaming or not, I'll still sit in my bedroom self-indulgently fiddling with a kaoss pad*. 
*I don't own a kaoss pad
I'm not going to tell people how to do it because as noted I have been working on ideas of my own with the local crew for sometime and don't want to spoil anything.
Well, regardless of what you do, I'm extremely proud to have something as great as SoundBytes in my own hometown. You're definitely doing something right!
I see a lot of potential in streaming performance, so I want to comment badly, but I also have an understanding that streaming performance may not work well for me.
Disclaimer: my tastes are not visually driven.
Positively, streams (audio or audio+video) give the opportunity to create an instant intimate setting. If you're only looking at doing 20-60 minutes by yourself with a few friends/fans, why not open a skype session, google hangout, or stream some songs?
Streaming doesn't have to be performance or DJing. I've seen streams where it's basically "ask the celebrity" and the person talks about things, but like a blog, you have to be interesting enough to hold the audience. Anybody consider streaming "lessons" or "howtos?"
I don't completely agree with "do what would be interesting on television" because then all I would do is play football and race cars. 
If you can't get a quality stream going or get an audience to show at a time that's good for you to broadcast (my reservation about the process,) you can still make an effort to make your other releases feel as live and intimate as possible. The scrolling text isn't just ripping off demoscene, it's banter with the viewing audience! The same is true about release notes and cover art.
I agree with the negatives stated, that if you're just going to spin a preprogrammed set without addressing your internet audience in any way, just share it on YouTube or SoundCloud. There is probably more success in that, in the longer term.
The notion of four nights in a row of streaming is neat, since it's something you can put on in the background throughout the day, but there must be a strong social-connecting aspect to keep people interested. It's the only thing I can say about something like that worldwide chip event, because it was held at the busiest possible time of year in my profession and therefore I couldn't watch any of it. Of course, if that's when the greater audience can watch, that's when it should be.
I'll preface my ideas by stating that I just played a webshow for WWCW 2 days ago,
I've never really understood the appeal of webshows, usually the audio/visual quality is poor, the performances are often unpolished, and most of the material is available for download in good quality elsewhere. This being said, I performed in the WWCW because I knew that even though I don't care for webshows, many other people do like them, it was an opportunity for me to get new material out there and a good excuse to rent a KPQuad for a while. Overall I was relatively disappointed with the way the WWCW went, it was a cool idea, but it was long, and there were technical glitches throughout.
I enjoy the radioshow format (like TrueStar's Noisechannel) it provides an avenue for discussion about chip, interaction in the IRC with a Radio Host moderating discussion (I also love that TrueStar actually reads and comments on things in the IRC). Listening Parties are probably my favourite, you get to listen in tandem with other chipfans and discuss particular elements of songs (usually with the original artist answering any questions) and the stream is actually of decent quality.
I'd love to see more chip talk shows, Q/A sessions, and discussions of Scene related events with a panel of esteemed artists. I love talking shop about chip and discussing different techniques and exploitations, and the quirks about our scene and I'd love to have a forum in which to discuss, or hear guided discussion about these topics.
I'd also be completely open to doing a streamed Q/A and lesson segment, I've gotten quite a few questions about some of my more advance LSDJ tricks and I'd love to walk people through them on air (G+ hangouts work FANTASTIC for this, built-in Screen share and stream to youtube).
Last edited by Zef (Dec 18, 2012 2:10 am)
I watched a video performance of you on ustream.tv not too long ago. I was very happy with the quality of your songs. Great stuff, really.
That said, watching the video was boring as shit.
haha, i'll be the first to agree with you there. originally i was thinking of ways to incorporate visuals but didn't have enough time/skillzzsz.
as such, i've realized that trying to come up with visually meaningful things for my physical person to do in an empty room - things that deserve attention for the full duration of a set - is REALLY difficult and not sustainable for most people except the most charismatic folk.
the only real novelty is in those moments that you know that you're watching someone live, but that novelty fades pretty quickly after the initial realization.
i think i'd be more comfortable streaming if there was a common expectation that no, you don't have to "put on a show" if it's not natural for you. i wouldn't mind focusing more on chatting in-depth with the audience while my tunes are playing. that's something that adds to a more tight-knit community, too.
I think it's great, although after a little while I'm bored of watching artists play with knobs.
It'd be really great to incorporate some actual performance along with the chip, for example muting one of your pulse channels and grabbing a real keyboard instead to play along with.
That's why non-chip or non-dj shows are exiting because you're witnessing a lot of skill and muscle-memory, not to mention the potential for huge failure.
But I write my LSDj stuff in a way in which it demands consistent triggering or it loops over and fucks up everything!
(and the LSDj ps/2 keyboard is where it's at)
Last edited by Invisible Robot Hands (Dec 18, 2012 2:22 am)
I'm curious, how many people replying have seen our monthly Clipstream webshow?
It's gotten some big names and a lot of consistent views and followers. A lot of the suggestions that have been addressed in this thread have already been implemented. (Like more visual and performance oriented artists, intermissions, smooth transitions, etc.)
I believe every artist adds something to their songs live that you don't get from a recording online.
If streaming's not for you, than it's not for you. But it is gaining in frequency and people are definitely stepping it up.
Edit: oh and this is coming from somebody who's done like 5, if that matters.
Last edited by Auxcide (Dec 18, 2012 2:34 am)
celsius wrote:I'm not going to tell people how to do it because as noted I have been working on ideas of my own with the local crew for sometime and don't want to spoil anything.
Well, regardless of what you do, I'm extremely proud to have something as great as SoundBytes in my own hometown. You're definitely doing something right!
Hey, thanks man 
Kristy, myself and (our recent addition to the crew) Alex work hard to put on a good show. We get lots of positive feedback and it's really the driving factor in our continued efforts to throw killer parties. Come say hello and introduce yourself next time. It's always nice to put a face to an online alias
Yeah, Clipstream crew runs their shows a lot better than the way WWCW turned out. The guy who was doing most of the organizing 'n stuff for that seemed pretty inexperienced and a lot of the problems that the stream had stemmed from his inexperience and lack of adequate planning.
Also, there was quite a bit of drama happening behind the scenes, of which I won't go into detail until the people actually involved are comfortable enough to share it.
Last edited by VCMG (Dec 18, 2012 2:55 am)
IMO stream shows are cool precisely BECAUSE they are more, eh, candid(?) than regular shows. chipmusic started as a genre where there was very little separating the person in the audience from the performer on stage (still is really). even bigger shows like those that happen here, philly and NYC, often 80% of the people paying the cover charge are other chip artists! so web shows to me really feel like "how it was": a bunch of random internet people hanging out and playing music for each-other; only with the stream shows you can hang out internationally, which is SUPER AWESOME. But Ive seen some really weird, almost "vehement" opposition to it from some people, and i for the life of me cant figure out why that would be.
disclosure: i play webstreams self-indulgently jacking off all over my kaoss pad but at least i use live mode ^_^'
i can understand a lot of the criticism about webshows in this thread. the ones i have seen and been a part of up until now are usually too long, and too visually boring to get through more than a few artists at a time (which is why i put them on in the background and stuff). BUT the music that i have been exposed to through them has been on the whole, fantastic. there are a lot of parallels im seeing between the development of chiptunes webshows and the early development of other nerdy streaming media (like starcraft etc). people are trying things out and figuring out what works and what doesnt. Consistently preventing down time, solving sound issues off stream, and clear content presentation are all hurdles still to be cleared. i think were on to something here though. there is a lot of raw enthusiasm for live internet music, and if it can be done well, it has a lot of potential. having discussions like this will be crucial to developing this new format into something that could really reach out past the maginot lines.
Streaming is good for exposure, demoing new tracks, and getting live feedback. It is literally a sort of radio show, and people are performers. Given, Roger (b3tabot) basically tried to run the whole production himself, and it turned into a mixed bag of results.
Streaming is cool, but it is not a concert. The typical viewer is sitting in their chair doing something else on their computer while they listen, unless there is a real performance involved. Then, if you add clinics and stuff, that would be so interqctive I would say it goes a step above performance into th e realm of presentation.
I feel that simply playing your music (even in LIVE mode) over a dtream does not justify a broadcast. I feel that people who are playing along live and giving the audience a more unique experience merits a stream. A presentation would be great to see moved to a video chat forum, where the presenter(s) can unmute people as need be for Q&A but wveryone can be in a chat room.
I think people who stream just audio should stream on web radio stuff, performers should video stream, and clinics would be a great compliment to either.
HEY GUYS
so this whole thread is a little tl;dr but i read a post or two (hi james), and i felt that i should reply
I may or may not have been seen posting tweets such as
https://twitter.com/pixls/status/280173238515015680
and
https://twitter.com/pixls/status/280175195845697537
I absolutely meant what I said. Streaming a performance can be really awesome, and is totally cool do at least once in a while. However, streaming a whole host of artists as some kind of webshow seems kind of silly. Streamed sets are really neat for sharing some new music, or just kind of playing music for people who wouldn't get to hear it otherwise, but making it into a show kind of misses the point of a live show I think. At an actual live event there's this unique kind of relationship between the performer and the crowd. While that relationship can exist in a slightly different way in a stream, because of the nature of the medium, it requires that they be reading comments that come in and be responding in the stream, or respond in the comments. Doing either of those, even just reading comments, will detract from any kind of performance. To manage this you see a couple of different approaches. Indifference to the crowd, so there is more of a performance; a kind of medium balance, which leads to a silly kind of attempt at replying or acknowledging comments while also giving some kind of performance; or the sit-at-desk-with-your-music-playing, which leads to a very direct relationship with the viewers, but also means no real performance, even if they are doing live-mode whatever kind of stuff. This all makes streaming seem like kind of a silly platform for a show replacement. Sure, it's cool for sharing some music, or just playing some new music, one time Mr. Spastic decided to stream some music he hadn't released late at night one time, and getting to see that was awesome. But at the same time, when you have all of these "webshows" happening that treat themselves like big events, it really just feels a little silly.
I probably have more to say about this, but this is already too long, basically streaming is neat, but it not a supplement for an actual show by any stretch.
OK ALSO JUST WANNA SAY
chip shows aren't like some weird irl gathering for internet chiptunes, they're an actual show, where sure, a bunch of people who come also make their own chipmusic, but that's the way underground shows ALWAYS are. The people who come to see unknown artists are going to be other artist and the artists' friends. AND REALLY i meant what i said about streaming a set being cool for sharing your music, but real shows are partially about people coming together to share their music and have a good time, and partially about sharing it with new people who wouldn't hear it otherwise. That won't happen with a stream, because the only thing a person has invested in watching this set is having their browser page open. ALSO this shit ain't "how it was." Part of what has made this a scene and not just a subreddit is that it was made up of people who were encouraging real life growth through real life shows. Having an internet community has always been essential to the chipscene, and I would not debate that, but to say that streaming shows is 'how it was' misses the point entirely. Some of the sweetest memories people have from chip music come from either their first chip show, or the first time bringing a friend to a chip show. That shit is real and it is tangible, and it is something that a stream can never and will never replace.
sry for the double post but I have FEELINGS