IROCKE Launches Live Streaming Concert Hub [FREE BETA INVITES]
IROCKE is a recently launched hub for live streaming music concerts. The site features embedded live streams from such sources as Ustream, YouTube and Justin.tv. The aim is to become the "go‐to place for live streamed concerts" and they're off to a good start with their open beta launch. To check it out and make sure your info is included check the end of this post for special invite codes for Hypebot readers.
IROCKE is definitely in beta. It has some glitches but the basic service is fully sketched out and offers discovery features, personal accounts and social media elements. Artists and venues involved with live streaming music should start making sure your shows get listed on IROCKE sooner rather than later.
Introducing IROCKE
IROCKE was envisioned by COO Allen Sanford who began streaming live concerts online from his Saint Rocke venue in Hermosa Beach, California a few years back. Like many clubs that started streaming live shows, Sanford didn't have a business plan but thought it would be a cool thing to do that would also provide some marketing for his club and for the bands.
Eventually Sanford came up with the idea of IROCKE to develop a central location for the rapidly growing livestreaming music scene.
Sanford met CEO Karl Rogers through the Manhattan Beach Pumpkin Race, believe it or not. Rogers was seeking music for the annual event and once he found out more about what Sanford was doing with streaming music he took a weekend to think about it and decided it was a great idea. So he came onboard bringing his background at Universal Interactive Services and Time Warner's Roadrunner to the mix.
Now the cofounders have launched IROCKE as the:
"first and only entity dedicated to organizing the global marketplace of live streaming concerts by connecting artists to audiences, and audiences to all the world's stages. IROCKE is a website, guide and virtual venue which aggregates, organizes and curates every live streaming concert listing, artist and source on the globe and delivers it free to music‐loving consumers in an easy‐to‐use interface."
IROCKE is certainly needed. Unless you seeks out news of live streaming concerts or one your favorite bands announces such a show, it seems most shows fly under the radar. At this stage, IROCKE doesn't have comprehensive listings that go around the clock but if they are able to develop what they say they intend to develop, IROCKE will become a great spot for dropping in to see what's available in the moment from around the world.
For now, IROCKE offers an easily navigable site that leverages the fact that most live streaming concerts from services such as Ustream and Justin.tv are available for free and can be embedded on one's site. This allows them to offer a free service, build an infrastructure and establish an audience.
Since you can directly submit your show to the site that means that even though IROCKE is still emerging, you can have some visibility before this whole phenomenon gets out of hand. As IROCKE's audience grows, bands will have further incentive to be involved and the opportunity to build a wider fanbase.
As Allan Sanford states:
"It's something we are really proud about…We are trying to get it right for the artists, and we are trying to get it right for the fans. It kind of brings it back to what music really is – the origination of music is the performance. The recorded medium started to become more important than the live performance, and this returns it to what is really important to those of us in the live world…We are really trying to bring it back to the true essence of an artist performing for an audience."
Beta Invites for Hypebot Readers:
Use this code: www.irocke.com/?inviteKey=HYPEBOT.
The signup process was a little glitchy when I tried it. I registered but got an error code. After trying that a couple of times, I then went ahead and tried logging in and succeeded. So after you sign up, try logging in even if the error code is appearing.
More: Broadcast Live Video To Your Facebook Friends With Ustream's BFF iPhone App
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (@fluxresearch) blogs about music crowdfunding at Crowdfunding For Musicians (@CrowdfundingM). To suggest topics for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
