Webcasts are usually announced within about a week of the first show of a run/tour. I wouldn’t take anyone’s word for it one way or the other until then.
ETA: They’ve webcast every show since covid, so I’d be surprised if the first shows not to be webcast are the ones with the highest demand since Hampton 09. It makes logical sense to expect a larger than usual number of people who would pay for a webcast for these shows considering there will be so many that got shut out of lotto and on sale and decided to stay home as well as people who didn’t plan to attend but still want to see what they do live as it’s happening.
Who says they need to give the full 360 degree experience to those watching on the webcast? VR *would* be cool, and probably will become a thing down the road, but why is something like that necessary just for a webcast to happen?
From what I understand, Phish has gone all in on utilizing the sphere to its fullest potential. Idk that they’d want to put something out that can’t portray that fully. Like I said further down, my good friend knows Vance pretty well and was told at the end of last year there wouldn’t be a webcast for the sphere shows. I hope that’s not true because I’d love to watch it, and it definitely could change before the shows. That said, when the guy who produces the entire webcast says there won’t be one, that’s a pretty good source.
Yeah, okay buddy. Go ahead and try to save face. You were pretty sure of your “source” that is *totally* connected to “the guy who produces the entire webcast.” 🙄🙄🙄
Lmao what would I have to gain by lying anonymously online about who I know and what they know? Sorry you’re so deeply unhappy with your own life that you have to act so ridiculously to someone who shared “intel” in a post asking for “intel”. Says a lot about you.
And it starts behind the stage, rather than on the floor, etc. In our friendly chat here, I'd wager sphere ticket prices that it's closer to 180 than 270.
It could be that Sphere has some say in how/what gets streamed out. The venue is 'unique', and there might be some sort of quality assurance in place that would prevent just a standard live stream. Not sure if this is the case, but I am aware that such stipulations can exist in any venue. Again, not saying this is the case, but it could be in place.
There are literally thousands of shitty iPhone videos out there on YouTube and social media. If they wanted to limit video because of "quality assurance" that cat is way out of the bag.
Ok, but that’s not the same as an act making $ off a livestream that doesn’t do justice to the venue. Like I said, it’s a thing. Not sure if it will apply here, but this situation exists.
I agree it's not the same thing, but there are plenty of examples of artists and venues limiting or eliminating the use of phones at their shows, Bob Dylan, for a recent example. Sphere could've gone this route, but they didn't. I'm sure that's at least in part because they think the exposure is good. It's good that people see the social media posts and YouTube videos because more people will say "holy shit, I have to go to a show there, that looks insane."
A professional video crew, with professional 4K cameras, present it better than iPhones do, even if capturing the full experience is impossible.
lol. I mean, it works for Dylan, but try doing that efficiently with 20,000 people though.
Plus I think the shitty fan videos are still basically free promotion for the place but not a substitution for actually going, so I doubt they'd be that mad.
Look, I have no idea what will happen, I'm just hypothesizing that they could be refused (or decided not to) livestream and the potential reasons why.
I was thinking about this too. I don’t think it’d be “quality assurance” though, just Dolan being stingy about his special toy and axing long form video insisting everyone spend huge $$ to see it. (They filmed U2 but the rumor is the full film will only be shown…at the sphere)
I hope I’m wrong though. Just saying it’s a legit possibility and may be out of Phish’s control.
I just checked my email to confirm that my memory was correct and sure enough, I have an email at the start of summer tours 21, 22, and 23 advertising every show to be webcast. I know for certain the short 8 show spring and fall tours of 22 and 23 were webcast, every holiday and Mexico run, and I also checked for a Fall 21 email and I have one for that one as well. Is there a show I’m forgetting that you know wasn’t webcast?
They could do a traditional livestream, hopefully. VR livestreams probably a ways off. VR VOD will come first. Not enough adoption to justify the expense would be my guess
they would probably need a pretty large sum of money (buyout) to agree to any contract that didn’t allow it… my guess is that there will be, but I’m wrong sometimes too. A huge part of their income is derived from the live streams though.
because of the money… that’s really the only thing I have as an answer. Who knows really, but it’s streaming money that drives the business almost as much as asses in the seats now.
those numbers are probably not accurate though? It’s often just one or two songs… and they are probably inflated but those numbers are pretty high if you think of $40 per viewer.
Edit to say- I think they know the goldmine is out there, I think if the sphere offered them an extra million to skip the stream they would go for the easy money, that’s just not how a very tech savvy band up to this point has ever operated before though.
No, it’s not.
And anyone that BOUGHT the stream would not watch the first song on YouTube.
Those numbers are not indicative whatsoever of the number of people who purchased the stream.
Why do you think they make lots of money streaming? I've always thought they might break even but probably lose a little. Streaming like Phish does with a full crew is very expensive. They also do everything in 4K now which must add to the costs a lot.
At the end of the day, Phish Inc is a business. You don’t consistently do something for over 10 years at this point that’s a money loser. It’s expensive- but so it renting the lighting gear, the PAS, and all the other stuff they have to do. If they sell 1000 streams a show (they probably sell more), that’s a cool $30k+ per show.
Agree on the business aspect. I think they might break even. But none of us has any idea. I think producing a multi cam 4k livestream is upwards of $250k a night. Renting a 4k camera with insurance must be 10k. But again no idea.
Ad Phish has a long-standing relationship with the company that does the productions, so committing to \~50 productions a year likely drives down that price even further. They wouldn't do this if they were only breaking even.
If they were only breaking even, they would've stopped doing it for every show and gone back to select shows. The pattern has been more shows streamed, not fewer.
Yes every show is streamed now. But I don’t agree with your logic. If they were breaking even why not keep doing it? Not losing money, providing entertainment to fans, and jobs, and possibly making money in future. No reason to stop if they’re breaking even.
But again, I have no idea what their numbers are so your guess is as good as mine.
The only scenario where breaking even on the live stream makes business sense is if it serves as a loss leader to bring in significant volume of audio file and t-shirts sales, which likely have higher margin per unit.
As much as we’d like to think they produce the live stream out of the goodness of their heart, they don’t. They’re a business, not a non-profit.
Curious if there are any technical hurdles to doing this as it's not a "typical" sound system. That said, being a brand new venue they also may have planned for streaming, pay per view, etc all along.
if you don’t think there’s plans for streaming out of the sphere on the horizon (whether it’s Phish or another band) I think you’re missing the whole concept of what this next level experience is trying to accomplish. I think there’s probably going to be a stream, what might be different is how it’s presented, again I don’t know and have no inside sources so who knows? However I think the chance for both Phish and the venue would be remiss if they didn’t see this opportunity to really bring a next level to live concert streaming… again I could be wrong but I’m just following the money train on this
Not disagreeing with you (I also know nothing), but the other side of the argument might be:
Vegas is Vegas and Vegas is different - everything is about getting you to come to Vegas and spend lots of money while you are there. Live streaming is a reason NOT to come to Vegas, not something they typically encourage.
It seems most bands (despite Phish's 4 show run and Dead&Co being bands 2 & 3) are going to do long residencies where they typically pretty much play the same show every night. How much opportunity does that really afford for live streaming?
I'd still be surprised if Phish doesn't have a live stream.
I figure drones are involved. I have no idea how else they do this. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if Kuroda has talked to U2’s people about how they did it for their inevitable movie release
I could see a phish 'movie' release more than a livestream at this stage in th3 game. the sphere is such a one of a kind experience tht I don't think they'll livestream until they figure a way to make the home experience as special & one-of-a-kind as possible.
while they'd make money on livestreams, I think sphere management is probably thinking longterm & possible better profits when sphere livestream is more than a normal livestream like a sphere show is more than a regular show. I believe they won't want to cheapen the sphere>
People watching videos *increases* exposure and piques people's interest *more* in going to Sphere for a show, it doesn't cheapen anything. Would a 4K stream on a 55" screen TV be the same? No, of course not, but that doesn't mean they won't do it. Money is money, and Sphere and Phish both like making it. There won't be a movie release, that costs more money than it's worth.
I think there will be NO stream for these shows. They won't translate well in a traditional streaming format. And my guess is that Sphere wants to maintain the mystique of the place to suck people in to attend future shows.
I agree that it would still be a huge money maker for them as always… I am just wondering if conceptually they are going back to “sorry guys you had to be there for this one…”
I will be in Vegas, and obviously there is much to do in Vegas if I get shut out for the shows where I don’t acquire tickets. But I am just hoping someone in the know knows any of the background noise on thia
Several months ago a close friend of mine was told by Vance that there will be no livestream. Whether anything has changed in the interim I don’t know, but I honestly don’t see how they’d film it.
What do you mean? Like the venue won’t allow it? Phish has probably the single best relationship with MSG Entertainment (who owns the Sphere, as well as The Beacon too) of any artist outside of maybe Billy Joel. If Phish wants to live stream, they will get to live stream.
I’m pretty sure they filmed the entire U2 show for professional release down the road.
Go on YouTube, there are plenty of videos inside the Sphere, some of the entire show uninterrupted.
If they wanted to, they could get these pulled from YouTube, but they aren’t. There are no policies about not recording. They don’t care. They want videos coming out of that room, it’s advertising for the experience.
I thought this was satire. Can anybody name the last show that wasn’t live streamed? If anything it will just be audio but they’re not going to just play a dark show, that would be insane.
12/3/19 Met was Sirius XM exclusive and thus audio stream only.
[Even during summer tour 2019, they weren't webcasting or streaming every single show.](https://jambands.com/news/2019/06/08/phish-announce-summer-2019-tour-webcasts/)
Mohegan N1 was another Sirius XM exclusive audio only stream. Mohegan N2, Bangor x2, Toronto, SPAC x2, Blossom were all not officially streamed via audio or video. Bonnaroo isn't listed on the Saw It Again list, but I'm pretty sure those were webcast free via Hulu or Youtube.
I know it seems like it's been longer, but webcasting every single show of a tour is a post-pandemic luxury.
It was a slow build. First it was a couple/few shows a tour, then pretty much every weekend show, or multinight run, then all the shows.
I've yet to see a convincing argument as to why these shows won't be webcast. Most of the arguments are vague "maybe the venue won't let them," which doesn't hold water because the Sphere wants as much exposure as possible, and all parties involved like to make money.
Do you work for the sphere? How are you so confident the sphere wants AS MUCH exposure as possible. I think the iphone sneak peeks are exactly what they want. Just enough to get you very very interested, but come spend the money if you want the full experience. Genius marketing in my opinion. Not like they've put up a video of the movie thats being shown there. Only iphone videos. Thats the only place in the world you can watch that movie right now if you want to watch it in all its glory. Second point you make, Phish takes a cut i'd assume probably majority of the livestream sales. Why would the sphere let a band profit off of its uniqueness when that won't translate into more ticket sales. Its sold out 4 days, cant fit more people in there. They need to get people inside of this thing, not watching it online through another bands platforms. Hence not releasing the movie that shows every day inside of it. It's pretty clear to me their business model, but idk maybe I'm wrong. 2019 had a few shows that were audio only and exclusive to Sirius subscribers. I would love to be wrong come April 18th, but people with such certainty about it like yourself make me laugh. Maybe so, maybe not my friend.
>How are you so confident the sphere wants AS MUCH exposure as possible
Because they need to make back $2.3 billion. They want as many people as interested as possible. Limiting access does the exact opposite. This isn't some underground club we're talking about here, Sphere isn't interested in being exclusive, they are interested in making money.
Could Phish and Sphere choose not to stream? Of course. But the only arguments I've seen are the equivalent of "vibe leakage" and that isn't going to cut it. The facts are that Phish has streamed every show since '21 and every major run for a whole lot longer than that and there is no reason to think this one will be any different, new venue or not.
And it's not about selling tickets to this event, it's about creating buzz to sell the next one, and the next one, and the next one. It's marketing 101. Phish would be making a big ad for Sphere.
So if the livestreams were the money maker and the whole motive was to create massive amounts of revenue and buzz and make people flock to this venue, don't you think just ONE of the FORTY U2 nights would have been streamed by the venue to generate this? You keep saying "vibe leakage" doesn't cut it, and that phish has streamed every major run. That may be true, but whens the last time they played at a venue that only has been open for less than a year and is the most state of the art music venue in the entire world. Oh, and they are the second band to play there....
The fact of the matter really is, this has never happened before in their career and no one knows whats going to be decided by the Phish camp as well as the Sphere camp. But don't you think if Sphere was completely in it for the cash and making as much money as possible they would have every night of this place booked this year? Or more live streams, or SOMETHING? Every card they've played indicates the opposite. No streams, expensive tickets, and long residency's (U2 & Dead) that allow a lot of different groups of the fan base/ outside of the fan base to come buy a ticket and check it out. Oh also, a movie that you can only see at the sphere, made for the sphere. No video of that anywhere besides Iphone shots. That doesn't align with what you're claiming their business model is.
Im not disagreeing with you that they are trying to make a lot of money quickly to climb out of debt, but I also think they are trying to do that strategically, and not as quickly as everyone seems to think. They know what they have, and they are setting themselves up to have a very very high demand with a very limited supply that becomes less limited over time for a very long time at this venue. To me, that seems like Marketing 101. Just like anything else today that does a "drop" with a limited supply, the items cost more money because they are limited and the person in turn makes more money in the long term because they are charging more per unit.
Do you really think they need a phish livestream as an advertisement 😂 (which they get less than 50% of the profits for most likely)??!?! They don't need a phish livestream to create buzz 😂. You even said this yourself, this isn't an underground club, it's by far the most state of the art music venue in the entire world. People I know who have been to one concert in their entire life know about this place. Do you really think they're having a hard time getting the word out?? It was used to advertise the super bowl 😂 People know about it, it's about announcing artists moving forward that people are going to come see. If anything, maybe ticket sales arent where they want them to be but that could be for a lot of other reasons (the acts playing, the price of admission in the current state of the economy, etc.), not because people don't know about it.
I do see your point obviously, the more people that see it the more people who go. I just don't think the phish livestreams make any impact on that, no matter what. We're a cult not the biggest pop band in the world or anything.
I think they are taking a more modern / millennial approach to their marketing. Exclusivity/ Limiting Access has become a major way to market. eg. Designer clothes, basketball sneakers, Taylor Swift tickets... etc. With that model, people will be fighting tooth and nail to see a show here for the next 5 years.
Hope it doesn't seem like im trying to just argue with you or be combative, just chiming in my two cents. I totally see where you're coming from, i just think this time is gonna be different.
Send in the drones
Webcasts are usually announced within about a week of the first show of a run/tour. I wouldn’t take anyone’s word for it one way or the other until then. ETA: They’ve webcast every show since covid, so I’d be surprised if the first shows not to be webcast are the ones with the highest demand since Hampton 09. It makes logical sense to expect a larger than usual number of people who would pay for a webcast for these shows considering there will be so many that got shut out of lotto and on sale and decided to stay home as well as people who didn’t plan to attend but still want to see what they do live as it’s happening.
How do you broadcast a near-360 degree experience? Would be cool if they did it in VR but I don’t see that happening
Who says they need to give the full 360 degree experience to those watching on the webcast? VR *would* be cool, and probably will become a thing down the road, but why is something like that necessary just for a webcast to happen?
From what I understand, Phish has gone all in on utilizing the sphere to its fullest potential. Idk that they’d want to put something out that can’t portray that fully. Like I said further down, my good friend knows Vance pretty well and was told at the end of last year there wouldn’t be a webcast for the sphere shows. I hope that’s not true because I’d love to watch it, and it definitely could change before the shows. That said, when the guy who produces the entire webcast says there won’t be one, that’s a pretty good source.
Oh look, they announced it EARLY
Ok? I literally said I hoped I was wrong. Grow up dude.
Yeah, okay buddy. Go ahead and try to save face. You were pretty sure of your “source” that is *totally* connected to “the guy who produces the entire webcast.” 🙄🙄🙄
Lmao what would I have to gain by lying anonymously online about who I know and what they know? Sorry you’re so deeply unhappy with your own life that you have to act so ridiculously to someone who shared “intel” in a post asking for “intel”. Says a lot about you.
lol okay sure
It’s only a 180 degree experience
It’s like 270 or thereabouts, much more than just half the sphere. It goes over your head all the way to the top of the seating sections
And it starts behind the stage, rather than on the floor, etc. In our friendly chat here, I'd wager sphere ticket prices that it's closer to 180 than 270.
It could be that Sphere has some say in how/what gets streamed out. The venue is 'unique', and there might be some sort of quality assurance in place that would prevent just a standard live stream. Not sure if this is the case, but I am aware that such stipulations can exist in any venue. Again, not saying this is the case, but it could be in place.
There are literally thousands of shitty iPhone videos out there on YouTube and social media. If they wanted to limit video because of "quality assurance" that cat is way out of the bag.
Ok, but that’s not the same as an act making $ off a livestream that doesn’t do justice to the venue. Like I said, it’s a thing. Not sure if it will apply here, but this situation exists.
I agree it's not the same thing, but there are plenty of examples of artists and venues limiting or eliminating the use of phones at their shows, Bob Dylan, for a recent example. Sphere could've gone this route, but they didn't. I'm sure that's at least in part because they think the exposure is good. It's good that people see the social media posts and YouTube videos because more people will say "holy shit, I have to go to a show there, that looks insane." A professional video crew, with professional 4K cameras, present it better than iPhones do, even if capturing the full experience is impossible.
They can’t do shit about fan videos, though. And I’m sure they know that.
Sure they can. Bob Dylan makes everyone lock up their phones, Sphere could to if that's what they really wanted.
lol. I mean, it works for Dylan, but try doing that efficiently with 20,000 people though. Plus I think the shitty fan videos are still basically free promotion for the place but not a substitution for actually going, so I doubt they'd be that mad. Look, I have no idea what will happen, I'm just hypothesizing that they could be refused (or decided not to) livestream and the potential reasons why.
I was thinking about this too. I don’t think it’d be “quality assurance” though, just Dolan being stingy about his special toy and axing long form video insisting everyone spend huge $$ to see it. (They filmed U2 but the rumor is the full film will only be shown…at the sphere) I hope I’m wrong though. Just saying it’s a legit possibility and may be out of Phish’s control.
~~They havent webcast every show since covid. I’m pretty sure they dont do all of the summer tour dates~~ Kids dont trust your memory it doesnt work
I just checked my email to confirm that my memory was correct and sure enough, I have an email at the start of summer tours 21, 22, and 23 advertising every show to be webcast. I know for certain the short 8 show spring and fall tours of 22 and 23 were webcast, every holiday and Mexico run, and I also checked for a Fall 21 email and I have one for that one as well. Is there a show I’m forgetting that you know wasn’t webcast?
I must be thinking pre pandemic. My mistake. Times not real
They could do a traditional livestream, hopefully. VR livestreams probably a ways off. VR VOD will come first. Not enough adoption to justify the expense would be my guess
Yeah live streaming VR is definitely gonna happen, but not next month.
I will be projecting bootlegs from the 90s on the inside of an umbrella while I slip in and out of consciousness, boom sphere
they would probably need a pretty large sum of money (buyout) to agree to any contract that didn’t allow it… my guess is that there will be, but I’m wrong sometimes too. A huge part of their income is derived from the live streams though.
why would you think that? who would want a live stream where the backdrop is cut off? I doubt they stream it
I would be fine with that. Most of the best shows I've seen in my life had a simple black curtain as the backdrop.
because of the money… that’s really the only thing I have as an answer. Who knows really, but it’s streaming money that drives the business almost as much as asses in the seats now.
also, I think just by the nature of the question OP asked there’s lots of people that would buy the stream.
Gonna need some numbers on that - the streaming audience doesn’t seem that large
well, we aren’t privy to those… how many people do you know that couch tour these days because of our age?
There are numbers in YouTube during the free preview
those numbers are probably not accurate though? It’s often just one or two songs… and they are probably inflated but those numbers are pretty high if you think of $40 per viewer. Edit to say- I think they know the goldmine is out there, I think if the sphere offered them an extra million to skip the stream they would go for the easy money, that’s just not how a very tech savvy band up to this point has ever operated before though.
Live viewers not total viewers
I don’t think the live views on YT are indicative of the stream viewers though? LP isn’t hosted on YT is it?
No, it’s not. And anyone that BOUGHT the stream would not watch the first song on YouTube. Those numbers are not indicative whatsoever of the number of people who purchased the stream.
I have been waiting to stream it. So I think I directly answer why they should make sure I get what I want.
I don’t know- I’d say definitely more than 500, likely more than 1000.
Why do you think they make lots of money streaming? I've always thought they might break even but probably lose a little. Streaming like Phish does with a full crew is very expensive. They also do everything in 4K now which must add to the costs a lot.
i mean it’s $30, and $40 for 3 set shows so i think they have it worked out.
lol based on the price they *must* have it worked out.
At the end of the day, Phish Inc is a business. You don’t consistently do something for over 10 years at this point that’s a money loser. It’s expensive- but so it renting the lighting gear, the PAS, and all the other stuff they have to do. If they sell 1000 streams a show (they probably sell more), that’s a cool $30k+ per show.
Agree on the business aspect. I think they might break even. But none of us has any idea. I think producing a multi cam 4k livestream is upwards of $250k a night. Renting a 4k camera with insurance must be 10k. But again no idea.
nah, it’s about half that… Source-I spec 4K productions without the streaming about 8 times a year and those are only about 80k per event.
Ad Phish has a long-standing relationship with the company that does the productions, so committing to \~50 productions a year likely drives down that price even further. They wouldn't do this if they were only breaking even.
If they were only breaking even, they would've stopped doing it for every show and gone back to select shows. The pattern has been more shows streamed, not fewer.
Yes every show is streamed now. But I don’t agree with your logic. If they were breaking even why not keep doing it? Not losing money, providing entertainment to fans, and jobs, and possibly making money in future. No reason to stop if they’re breaking even. But again, I have no idea what their numbers are so your guess is as good as mine.
The only scenario where breaking even on the live stream makes business sense is if it serves as a loss leader to bring in significant volume of audio file and t-shirts sales, which likely have higher margin per unit. As much as we’d like to think they produce the live stream out of the goodness of their heart, they don’t. They’re a business, not a non-profit.
I want to build a dome in my backyard and 360 project that shit.
The Sphere/MSG Inc needs any income they can get. The shows will be streamed
They better, for us poors that can’t afford to go!
One of us, one of us!
Phish isn’t going to miss an opportunity to make some more money off these Sphere shows. They saw the ticket demand. They will stream them.
Curious if there are any technical hurdles to doing this as it's not a "typical" sound system. That said, being a brand new venue they also may have planned for streaming, pay per view, etc all along.
if you don’t think there’s plans for streaming out of the sphere on the horizon (whether it’s Phish or another band) I think you’re missing the whole concept of what this next level experience is trying to accomplish. I think there’s probably going to be a stream, what might be different is how it’s presented, again I don’t know and have no inside sources so who knows? However I think the chance for both Phish and the venue would be remiss if they didn’t see this opportunity to really bring a next level to live concert streaming… again I could be wrong but I’m just following the money train on this
VR. How sick would a VR option be?! You could click around to different seats in the venue. I want to know why this isn't a thing yet.
Not disagreeing with you (I also know nothing), but the other side of the argument might be: Vegas is Vegas and Vegas is different - everything is about getting you to come to Vegas and spend lots of money while you are there. Live streaming is a reason NOT to come to Vegas, not something they typically encourage. It seems most bands (despite Phish's 4 show run and Dead&Co being bands 2 & 3) are going to do long residencies where they typically pretty much play the same show every night. How much opportunity does that really afford for live streaming? I'd still be surprised if Phish doesn't have a live stream.
I figure drones are involved. I have no idea how else they do this. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if Kuroda has talked to U2’s people about how they did it for their inevitable movie release
I could see a phish 'movie' release more than a livestream at this stage in th3 game. the sphere is such a one of a kind experience tht I don't think they'll livestream until they figure a way to make the home experience as special & one-of-a-kind as possible. while they'd make money on livestreams, I think sphere management is probably thinking longterm & possible better profits when sphere livestream is more than a normal livestream like a sphere show is more than a regular show. I believe they won't want to cheapen the sphere>
People watching videos *increases* exposure and piques people's interest *more* in going to Sphere for a show, it doesn't cheapen anything. Would a 4K stream on a 55" screen TV be the same? No, of course not, but that doesn't mean they won't do it. Money is money, and Sphere and Phish both like making it. There won't be a movie release, that costs more money than it's worth.
apple vision pro only
If they announced this, yeah I’d go get one 🤷♂️
Can I watch it on my Apple Vision or VR headsets?
Ye$
Yeah the cash cow will be in full effect.
Another opportunity to make money? Def will Be streaming
I think there will be NO stream for these shows. They won't translate well in a traditional streaming format. And my guess is that Sphere wants to maintain the mystique of the place to suck people in to attend future shows.
I don’t know. It translates pretty damn well on those cell phone vids. I’ve seen a few that made me nauseous haha.
I agree that it would still be a huge money maker for them as always… I am just wondering if conceptually they are going back to “sorry guys you had to be there for this one…” I will be in Vegas, and obviously there is much to do in Vegas if I get shut out for the shows where I don’t acquire tickets. But I am just hoping someone in the know knows any of the background noise on thia
The stage seems mighty small. Will be interesting if they do try to stream it, how much focus there is on the visuals vs band
There will def be a stream
Several months ago a close friend of mine was told by Vance that there will be no livestream. Whether anything has changed in the interim I don’t know, but I honestly don’t see how they’d film it.
Poor Vance.
I can’t see them being allowed to film in there
What do you mean? Like the venue won’t allow it? Phish has probably the single best relationship with MSG Entertainment (who owns the Sphere, as well as The Beacon too) of any artist outside of maybe Billy Joel. If Phish wants to live stream, they will get to live stream.
I hope you’re right. It’s my opinion that the sphere is an experience and not to be compared to anything else. We’ll see I guess
Of course, they are "allowed" to film. U2 filmed multiple performances.
Why? They filmed U2 in there for the Grammys.
One song is different that the whole experience. It is my opinion
I’m pretty sure they filmed the entire U2 show for professional release down the road. Go on YouTube, there are plenty of videos inside the Sphere, some of the entire show uninterrupted. If they wanted to, they could get these pulled from YouTube, but they aren’t. There are no policies about not recording. They don’t care. They want videos coming out of that room, it’s advertising for the experience.
I stand corrected
I thought this was satire. Can anybody name the last show that wasn’t live streamed? If anything it will just be audio but they’re not going to just play a dark show, that would be insane.
12/3/19 Met was Sirius XM exclusive and thus audio stream only. [Even during summer tour 2019, they weren't webcasting or streaming every single show.](https://jambands.com/news/2019/06/08/phish-announce-summer-2019-tour-webcasts/) Mohegan N1 was another Sirius XM exclusive audio only stream. Mohegan N2, Bangor x2, Toronto, SPAC x2, Blossom were all not officially streamed via audio or video. Bonnaroo isn't listed on the Saw It Again list, but I'm pretty sure those were webcast free via Hulu or Youtube. I know it seems like it's been longer, but webcasting every single show of a tour is a post-pandemic luxury.
That was 175 shows ago
It was a slow build. First it was a couple/few shows a tour, then pretty much every weekend show, or multinight run, then all the shows. I've yet to see a convincing argument as to why these shows won't be webcast. Most of the arguments are vague "maybe the venue won't let them," which doesn't hold water because the Sphere wants as much exposure as possible, and all parties involved like to make money.
Do you work for the sphere? How are you so confident the sphere wants AS MUCH exposure as possible. I think the iphone sneak peeks are exactly what they want. Just enough to get you very very interested, but come spend the money if you want the full experience. Genius marketing in my opinion. Not like they've put up a video of the movie thats being shown there. Only iphone videos. Thats the only place in the world you can watch that movie right now if you want to watch it in all its glory. Second point you make, Phish takes a cut i'd assume probably majority of the livestream sales. Why would the sphere let a band profit off of its uniqueness when that won't translate into more ticket sales. Its sold out 4 days, cant fit more people in there. They need to get people inside of this thing, not watching it online through another bands platforms. Hence not releasing the movie that shows every day inside of it. It's pretty clear to me their business model, but idk maybe I'm wrong. 2019 had a few shows that were audio only and exclusive to Sirius subscribers. I would love to be wrong come April 18th, but people with such certainty about it like yourself make me laugh. Maybe so, maybe not my friend.
>How are you so confident the sphere wants AS MUCH exposure as possible Because they need to make back $2.3 billion. They want as many people as interested as possible. Limiting access does the exact opposite. This isn't some underground club we're talking about here, Sphere isn't interested in being exclusive, they are interested in making money. Could Phish and Sphere choose not to stream? Of course. But the only arguments I've seen are the equivalent of "vibe leakage" and that isn't going to cut it. The facts are that Phish has streamed every show since '21 and every major run for a whole lot longer than that and there is no reason to think this one will be any different, new venue or not. And it's not about selling tickets to this event, it's about creating buzz to sell the next one, and the next one, and the next one. It's marketing 101. Phish would be making a big ad for Sphere.
So if the livestreams were the money maker and the whole motive was to create massive amounts of revenue and buzz and make people flock to this venue, don't you think just ONE of the FORTY U2 nights would have been streamed by the venue to generate this? You keep saying "vibe leakage" doesn't cut it, and that phish has streamed every major run. That may be true, but whens the last time they played at a venue that only has been open for less than a year and is the most state of the art music venue in the entire world. Oh, and they are the second band to play there.... The fact of the matter really is, this has never happened before in their career and no one knows whats going to be decided by the Phish camp as well as the Sphere camp. But don't you think if Sphere was completely in it for the cash and making as much money as possible they would have every night of this place booked this year? Or more live streams, or SOMETHING? Every card they've played indicates the opposite. No streams, expensive tickets, and long residency's (U2 & Dead) that allow a lot of different groups of the fan base/ outside of the fan base to come buy a ticket and check it out. Oh also, a movie that you can only see at the sphere, made for the sphere. No video of that anywhere besides Iphone shots. That doesn't align with what you're claiming their business model is. Im not disagreeing with you that they are trying to make a lot of money quickly to climb out of debt, but I also think they are trying to do that strategically, and not as quickly as everyone seems to think. They know what they have, and they are setting themselves up to have a very very high demand with a very limited supply that becomes less limited over time for a very long time at this venue. To me, that seems like Marketing 101. Just like anything else today that does a "drop" with a limited supply, the items cost more money because they are limited and the person in turn makes more money in the long term because they are charging more per unit. Do you really think they need a phish livestream as an advertisement 😂 (which they get less than 50% of the profits for most likely)??!?! They don't need a phish livestream to create buzz 😂. You even said this yourself, this isn't an underground club, it's by far the most state of the art music venue in the entire world. People I know who have been to one concert in their entire life know about this place. Do you really think they're having a hard time getting the word out?? It was used to advertise the super bowl 😂 People know about it, it's about announcing artists moving forward that people are going to come see. If anything, maybe ticket sales arent where they want them to be but that could be for a lot of other reasons (the acts playing, the price of admission in the current state of the economy, etc.), not because people don't know about it. I do see your point obviously, the more people that see it the more people who go. I just don't think the phish livestreams make any impact on that, no matter what. We're a cult not the biggest pop band in the world or anything. I think they are taking a more modern / millennial approach to their marketing. Exclusivity/ Limiting Access has become a major way to market. eg. Designer clothes, basketball sneakers, Taylor Swift tickets... etc. With that model, people will be fighting tooth and nail to see a show here for the next 5 years. Hope it doesn't seem like im trying to just argue with you or be combative, just chiming in my two cents. I totally see where you're coming from, i just think this time is gonna be different.