Coachella live-streaming innovative, but not equal

This year, Coachella has earned itself a new moniker—“Couchella.” Thanks to a partnership with State Farm, Coachella was able to stream Weekend One of the festival live and for free via YouTube. The stream was met with rave reviews and empowered many fans states away.

The enormous viewership of Coachella’s live stream has brought the future of music, concerts specifically, into question. Music and film have become increasingly intertwined as technology in both sound and visual effects has progressed. But the live streaming movement was completely unprecedented. Bands have followed suit in the precedent set by festivals, beginning to live stream concerts for free via their official websites.

Acts as well-known as Paul McCartney or as underground as The Kills have all utilized live streaming as a means of connecting with fans and marketing their music.

Live streaming offers a convenient, interactive option for fans that do not have the means to attend a festival or concert. With Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Outside Lands all releasing lineups and unleashing tickets for sale, festival season is in full swing.

But a weekend packed with amazing music and hanging out with friends comes with a hefty price tag. All-weekend passes for most festivals lie in the upper-end of $200 and could even reach thousands with V.I.P. packages. As college students in an uncertain economy, staying in the comfort of our own homes and watching from afar on a laptop screen seems so much more practical.

Even in the early stages of its own existence, live streaming has created its own art form. The bond between music and cinema continues to strengthen as more and more advances in sound and visual technology are made. “Shine A Light,” the Rolling Stones documentary and concert film directed by Martin Scorsese, combined classic rock music with cinematic art and was met with wide critical acclaim.

More recently, Jack White personally selected actor Gary Oldman to direct his live concert webcast from Webster Hall April 27. This live stream is just one of a series produced by American Express that has already featured Arcade Fire, Coldplay and My Morning Jacket.

Rolling Stone reported last year that concert attendance in North America has dropped 24.4 percent and concert ticket sales have dropped 26 percent. Many blame live streaming for this drop, but the accusation seems quite hasty. Dedicated fans will attend concerts as long as it is within their means to do so. But sometimes, the stars are unable to align and band devotees are left with nothing but a single-digit bank account and a pile of bills with no way of purchasing a coveted concert ticket.

Web streaming is a way to make live music more accessible to the masses, which is really the aim of any art form. Anyone who has ever attended a concert knows that there is no way to replicate that sharp buzz in your eardrums, the adrenaline high from bouncing through a crowd, the sore throat from screaming lyrics that have gotten you through the best and worst days. While a concert DVD or YouTube feed may come close to the real thing, it’s only a matter of time until we all must realize that we’re just staring at a bunch of clustered pixels.