INTERVIEW
PUSH LIVE One of the forerunners in the flourishing world of livestreaming, PUSH LIVE’s Executive Director, Production and Operations, Jonnie Coffin, and Global Head of Marketing, Steve Munachen, walk TPi through their cloud-based operating system and outline how distribution of content is the key to any virtual experience. TPi’s Stew Hume reports…
“Streaming is the opposite to Field of Dreams – it’s not just a simple case of ‘if you build it, they will come’,” explained PUSH LIVE’s Global Head of Marketing, Steve Munachen, while he and fellow PUSH LIVE colleague, Jonnie Coffin, chatted to TPi via Zoom. “In short, to build an audience, content needs to be streamed to channels and destinations where audiences already congregate.” Although this year has marked a significant rise in the number of artists, promoters and productions having to adapt to this developing form of a ‘live’ event, PUSH LIVE had been making inroads into this format for several years, and the company is now poised to present a solution for the future of live music going forward. “We have been developing the PUSH LIVE software for a number of years, offering a streaming solution for live events,” remarked Coffin. However, clever coding and technical infrastructure is what sets PUSH LIVE apart from others on the market. “We are able to take a single video feed, and then in the cloud, customise it, break it apart and send it out to
any number of destinations that we choose.” Effectively, this means that a performer could play a show in a venue, which would then be streamed simultaneously on any number of other channels online, all of which is done without a platform having to hand over their social login details. “We have a sharing URL, which we setup for all our projects,” stated Coffin. “This means the channel owners can go the PUSH LIVE interface and connect with our API to then stream on YouTube, Twitch or any other platform they choose.” The other benefit is that all additions to the feeds – sponsor logos or extra VT elements – can be made in real time in the cloud, meaning that each individual feed is customisable instantaneously, even though all streams are coming from the same source or event. This means platforms can customise the content to feel unique to their audience. Personalisation of content is one the key foundations of PUSH LIVE projects. “Audiences these days have a repertoire of channels they visit each day,” stated Munachen. “From subscriptions to certain YouTube 62
