CastRooms co-founder Mitali Mookerjee on connecting live music with virtual experiences | Digital

The concert livestream boom may have slowed since the pandemic, but the tech is evolving to provide new possibilities for artists.

Using its own VideoCrowd technology, Leeds-based start-up CastRooms aims to bring the real and the virtual world together as an interactive experience, rather than just a linear pay-per-view screening.

Artists who use CastRooms can share a high-quality video livestream link of their gig with their followers globally with options for paid ticketing. Online audience reaction is visible to the artist, who can interact with fans and even take requests.

Here, co-founder Mitali Mookerjee shares her vision for the platform…

What was the opportunity you saw for live video and music communities virtually? 

“I imagined a world where people, no matter what their circumstance, can experience the joy and togetherness of live music. The thing that makes live music special for me is sharing that moment with friends, vibing with other fans, showing love to the artists and the artist showing love back to us. That interaction and feedback doesn’t exist with live music online. In fact, traditional livestreams are a lonely experience – the opposite of what live music is all about! Humanity is experiencing an epidemic of digital loneliness where all interaction is asynchronous and content hangs about forever. 

“CastRooms is different – you all register for tickets, and show up at the same time for a gig on a webcam-enabled device. When you join, you land in the videocrowd along with fellow online fans and friends where you can see each other alongside the high quality broadcast designed for music. The twist is that the videocrowd appears on a big screen in the venue, so you’re right there in real-time along with the in-person crowd. It doesn’t take long to get used to CastRooms – I wanted it to be as simple and accessible as possible using devices and technology that people are familiar with. There’s no headset to put on – just put on your outfit, turn on your cam and party away!” 

Have there been any key events with artists or DJs, what lessons did you learn? 

“We have been blessed to have hosted a variety of incredible artists from around the world, representing different genres of music and performance. Lots of different music communities have shown a demand for engaging from home. Some notable names include Femi Kuti, Mr Scruff, Afro Celt Sound System, Amber D, Rampage, DJ Ace, Skatalites, and Bimini.

“One of our early adopters is Queer House Party, whose hybrid club nights provide a safer space for LGBTQ+ people – inclusivity and accessibility is integral to their ethos. It’s rewarding to see people tune in who couldn’t have joined otherwise – those who live abroad or in a rural location, or those who are limited by accessibility needs or rely on digital spaces as a safer space to be themselves.”

What does a successful event using CastRooms look like from your perspective in terms of interaction?

“An event looks successful for us when we see the interaction between the online crowd and the in-person event, whether that’s the artist shouting out and having fun with the people at home, or the in-person crowd joining the online text chat to say hello. When we see that feedback loop created between all sides of the event, it proves to us that we are breaking the typical interaction barriers of traditional livestreaming and providing a sense of togetherness for everyone at home. 

“It’s beautiful to see people from around the world come together, not just through messages but smiling and dancing together and being present in the moment. Our VideoCrowd technology takes away the anonymity and disconnected nature of engaging in a livestream and brings the energy of a crowd atmosphere into online event spaces.”

When we see that feedback loop created between all sides of the event, it proves to us that we are breaking the typical interaction barriers of traditional livestreaming

Mitali Mookerjee

How has live-streaming evolved since the pandemic in terms of the audience’s expectations and the technical options for artists? 

“The development of video call technology was accelerated by the pandemic. During the pandemic itself, we all experienced the issues with it – terrible laggy video causing fatigue, stuttering, poorly compressed audio, and awkward tumbleweed moments on video call software. Livestreams were ok but fundamentally quite boring as it’s just like watching TV. Lots of companies popped up trying to do online concerts using software that wasn’t ready for the use case. They tried and understandably failed, when things opened up again as no one really wanted to do the online thing anymore because it was a poor experience and sort of harked back to a weird time for humanity. 

“Things are a little different now – CastRooms is riding the crest of the wave that was created with the rise of videocall tech in the pandemic and we are able to handle thousands of user videos as well and low latency livestream so make the experience feel seamless. We can start to play with the video content and work with artists to create new artforms triggered by fan interactions and remixing fan video. 

“There’s so much happening on video and the live music industry hasn’t taken up the opportunity, scarred by experiences during the pandemic. We built CastRooms to preserve the magic of live events. If we don’t take ownership of this space now, we will fail to capitalise on the shift and lose control of live experiences to big tech and virtual worlds.”

What are the benefits for artists in terms of engagement with fans in this way?

“For artists, they get to develop an authentic relationship with their online fans and share genuine moments together. Amber D is a CastRooms pioneer, who has developed a big following on Twitch. said the ability to see online fans who she’s engaged with for years online completely transformed the relationship she has with them – we all know what that feeling is like when you can finally put a face to the name! With CastRooms, artists can also develop their superfan relationships, test out new music and performances with them and get instant visual feedback from people.”

How are you developing partnerships with artists and their teams as well as labels and live promoters? Does it work particularly well for certain genres?

“We’ve been in a pilot phase while we watched and learned how people and artists interacted with each other, so our relationships have developed fairly organically so far just by talking to people and aligning with those who can see the vision and care deeply about the fan experience. This can be across any genre to be honest. We’ve been working closely with Manchester’s iconic Band On The Wall, who love the accessibility of CastRooms, and they have been wonderful at introducing us to artists performing at the venue and we deliver Band On The Web for them. Those artists then consider us for future gigs, take us to new venues, and the cycle continues! For labels, we can host online global listening parties and offer VIP experiences for fans pre-ordering releases.” 

You partnered with the BPI and more on a music and tech conference, how is CastRooms becoming increasingly involved with the industry? And do you feel part of a growing music sector in the North?

“The BPI has been extremely supportive of the emerging music-tech sector, working with founders in the Grow Music programme . I think the music industry is quickly realising that it has to keep its hand in tech – rather than letting the tech platforms determine the industry’s fate. It’s inevitable the live events will move online – already we’re seeing moves into games and virtual worlds. 

“CastRooms is different to other technologies as we are helping to Keep Music Live by working with live promoters, artists and venues – we are additive to the live music industry by helping to access new global audiences and take a share of the growing at-home immersive market. And on the flipside, we’re helping to give people access to live music culture and support the artists and venues they love. The music industry has really started to embrace the concept of CastRooms because we’ve kept the human experience at the heart of everything.” 

What are the plans in terms of new features/products, staffing and International opportunities? Are you planning any funding rounds?

“We are developing our interaction features on the VideoCrowd further to read signals from the livestream and video feeds which will trigger special effects in the platform – so for example, a joint action from the online audience could trigger visuals in the room. This stuff is our special sauce however so you’ll have to follow our journey to see where we head with it! 

“We are looking for angel investors to help get CastRooms to a point where we can scale the service and really build out our vision.”

PHOTO: Kane Fulton

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}