Bringing the intimate experience of live music home.

Because concert venues are closed, we have seen artists organizing online streams or drive-in concerts. However, nothing comes close to having an immersive live listening experience. Several companies challenged this by coming up with an innovative combination of product design and event planning.

A new speaker ‘Oda’ brings the thrill of experiencing live music while we remain socially distant. Oda uses a direct feed from artists’ studios to bring live music straight to your home. This speaker system (sold as a kit) aims to create a very direct line of communication between artist and fan, creating conditions that invoke deep listening.

Nick Dangerfield, Oda’s co-founder says, “visual information sometimes clogs your imagination and limits the depth of the musical experience.” Oda’s tech disseminates sound as it naturally occurs, made with cherry wood + a simple vibrating panel inside that embeds calmness and honesty into every output. This simplicity and technological transparency (which is in contrast to smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Nest) are most appealing.

On the other hand with online streaming becoming more popular- a new platform ‘Sessions’ co-founded by Tim Westergren, was built with music performances in mind. Artists using Sessions can charge for their shows and bundle merch with online ticket sales. This platform also taps into gamification + interactivity that helps artists earn revenue with microtransactions in the form of virtual gifts or stickers.

These one-of-a-kind digital environments make the fans feel they’re a part of something and the connection built between artist and fan is very powerful. It also means that we are moving towards radically new ways of listening to music and experiencing events.