In 2020, with most people confined to their homes, digital solutions became a lifeline in so many ways. And it turned out that the right mindset and some unexpected equipment can do wonders. Streaming live music with network surveillance cameras? You bet!
In 2020, when we probably needed it the most, the whole entertainment industry practically shut down. Covid-19 hit the music scene extremely hard. With lockdown and attendance restrictions, there was simply no room for live music.
However, desperate times call for ingenious initiatives. Not everyone was satisfied to wait to see what would happen. All around the world, people were finding new ways to record and perform and getting their music out to an audience.
Malmö Live, the concert hall in Sweden’s third-largest city and home of Malmö Symphony Orchestra (MSO), is a prime example. Starting in March 2020, concerts were canceled or rescheduled. Despite the new, totally unforeseen playing field, Malmö Live’s management acted fast.
They considered what it would take to live-stream concerts – to build a Digital Concert Hall. Of course, you could assign an external professional producer, but this is an expensive solution which would limit the number of concerts. Malmö Live is publicly funded, and its function is to arrange concerts, classical music, and other genres, catering to existing and new target groups within and beyond the region.
New application for surveillance cameras
It was pretty clear that the weekly, full-scale symphony orchestra concerts required an external producer. These productions were just too advanced to produce in-house. But would it be possible to stream the smaller-format concerts, such as chamber orchestras and jazz ensembles? To get these concerts out to an audience stuck at home.
The Malmö Live IT and tech team got just a couple of days to evaluate the situation and report back to management. Without many precedents to learn from. As luck would have it, Malmö Live had previously initiated a project focusing on digital concert solutions. This project had already provided the concert hall with several Axis network cameras.
“We had these cameras, which got us thinking,” says Anders Tannlund, head of IT at Malmö Live. “The first step was to check if we were allowed to use them in this new way. We contacted Axis and got the go-ahead.”
Strong commitment saved the day
The obvious second step turned out to be trickier – how to do it. How do you use cameras typically used for surveillance to broadcast live music? Anders says: “We took what we had and made do with that as best we could.”
With just a few days’ advance, the tech team broadcasted the first live stream using the Axis cameras and in-house equipment in April. Looking back, Anders says, “We dove right in. We didn’t have the technical experience, but the entire tech team got involved. The first two concerts were a bit touch and go. Sure, there were some technical issues, such as lagging. The production could also have been smoother and more professional, but we saw that it could work, and we learned a lot from it.”
Continuously improves the equipment
A crucial step was to invest in a new computer better suited to the task. There were also investments in hardware and peripheral equipment to up the production quality. Today, the system is based around vMix live video streaming software and new AXIS V5925 HDTV 1080p PTZ (pan–tilt–zoom) network cameras.
During an average production, three persons handle the camera feeds from the concert room in the control room. They are in constant contact over intercoms with the producer, who sits in an adjoining room, deciding what is streamed to the viewers. In the concert room, there is a sound engineer and a lighting technician.
The quality of the productions has improved steadily over time. With some 30 live streams as well as pre-recorded and edited videos, the team’s self-confidence has improved significantly.
Every aspect of the productions is so much better today, Anders says
Attracting a worldwide audience
Looking at the number of viewers, Malmö Live’s Digital Concert Hall has been a success. Counting both in-house and external productions, there have been some 675,000 views. Interestingly, for a primarily regional concert hall, there have been viewers from across the world. And the word has spread. Other players in the same situation have approached Malmö Live, curious about how they can start their own digital productions.
Clearly, without the technical team’s total commitment and enthusiasm, it wouldn’t have worked. The work has often been stressful but also provided a positive challenge. And it has built excellent team spirit.
Mattias Tufvesson, Technical Director, says: “You often wish that you could control the cameras more creatively and have more time for pre-production. You want to improve the quality even further. But most of all, it’s been incredibly fun. And it still is. We’ve rotated, so everybody has had a chance to try their hands on the different tasks. We’re still on our learning curve but have certainly come a long way.”
Axis cameras enabled a quick switchover
Malmö Live’s Digital Concert Hall has also meant significant changes for the musicians. Orchestra Manager Björn Lovén says,
Initially, it was a bit overwhelming, but the audience was our focus from the start. With our sheer range of music styles and formats, from one solo pianist to maybe 100 musicians, we need different digital set-ups. Having the Axis cameras, we got a quick start and could go ahead with many of the planned concerts.
Björn says that the orchestra and the musicians are grateful for the fast switchover. They have been able to perform continuously despite the dire situation. “Professional musicians are like athletes,” he says. “They need to perform, not only practice. That said, it can feel strange to perform in front of an empty concert room.”
The right partner crucial for success
Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say. For Malmö Live, the one positive thing about Covid-19 is that they have managed to establish a digital concert hall that complements the physical concert hall. “We have seen what you can achieve if you work with the right partners,” Björn says. “And we will keep that in mind going forward.”
Nothing has been decided yet, but the Digital Concert Hall at Malmö Live will likely continue in some form in the post-Covid future. “The digital format can never substitute live concerts, the feeling of being present in the hall when the music is created,” Anders says .
But the Axis camera set-up can provide an extra layer to the live concerts. For example, we’ve seen that we have reached people that for geographical or other reasons can’t attend the live concerts.