In a bid to establish a major presence among Internet streaming music services, VEVO and YouTube have made public their partnering with American Express in initiating a live-streamed concerts to be called "Unstaged: An Original Series From American Express."
On August 5th, the first of five concerts commences with an event in Madison Square Garden featuring the group Arcade Fire. It will be concurrent with the band's August 3rd release of "The Suburbs", their latest album. Also performing in the event are The Roots and also John Legend, both of whom have album releases this year. The Arcade Fire concert in New York is only the beginning of this outstanding program of five musical events planned by VEVO,YouTube and Amex.
Once again YouTube and VEVO are pairing with American Express to do a National live stream concert. This time the concert features Arcade Fire, The Roots and also John Legend. Arcade Fire had a new album being released on August 3 while The Roots and also John Legend have new ones coming out later this year.
This concert coincides with Arcade Fire's album release and it's hoped that as much success will follow for them and also for VEVO, YouTube and American Express as occurred when Alicia Keys and Brooklyn's The National performed earlier this year on the video site.
High Violet, the latest album of the National's was streamed on the website of The New York Times, after it was leaked in April into the Internet. The albums success could have been due to this publicity and also the live-streamed concert held in May along with their rising popularity. After a week's sales, they were at the number three spot. Besides the sales, it was also a major breakthrough for Vevo, YouTube and Co. The webcast being directed by Oscar nominee Chris Hegedu for The War Room, which is the upcoming act Kings of Pastry and D.A.Pennebaker of Don't Look Back, Monterrey Pop fame.
This time, the concerts are going to feature handiwork of some acclaimed directors. There will also be other media additions like "Choose Your Cam", an interactive experience that lets your audience control whether they view through the director's stream or the second camera. This means that one can check out footages from front rows, backstage happenings, and everything in between. Then, there's "Digital Happenings", which allows an artist to work with an audience online. And, while the Arcade Fire show is going on, fans will be able to send in pictures of their suburb, possibly being featured on stage, amid the performance. (Recall the title of the album: The Suburb) Surprise guests are expected, too.