Written By Chloe Diehl
I attended a panel highlighting two artists who have used Twitch to enhance their fan engagement with their work. Over the past year on Twitch, approximately 69.2 million users watched music-tagged streams, and music streaming has become increasingly popular on the platform. Additionally, Twitch is known for highlighting teases and providing backstage-exclusive moments during streams. Meek Mil and Friends streamed part of their concert, and the audience members filed in. Charli XCX even debuted her premiere of the “Brat” remixes.
During the panel, the head of marketing at Twitch interviewed two musicians who have enhanced their fan engagement on the platform: Tierra and DJ Dave.
For Tierra, she used the platform to highlight her lifestyle in an effort to take the guard down, letting her fans get to know her on a more personal level. She does not focus on high performance. Her content ranges from her trying out unique side quests around her city to her simply making and eating breakfast. For her, the streaming is not performative; it’s instinctive.
For DJ Dave, she streams her music process as she live codes. In live coding, there is an emphasis on transparency. Many of her fans from past gigs asked her to share more of her “raw moments” online. So, over the past 6 months, she has been streaming her music and coding live.
What was interesting about DJ Dave was her upbringing and how she became a musician. While studying fashion in college, she enrolled in a live coding elective course. After taking the course, she pivoted and continued to practice live coding. For the past six years, DJ Dave has been transcending the avenues for STEAM projects.
While their streaming content differs, they both appreciate how the platform has allowed these artists to show much of their humanity. They found beauty in embracing their mistakes. For Tierra, sharing her daily life gives fans something to relate to, allowing them to see her as her grounded self rather than a high-status artist. For DJ Dave, streaming has made her more comfortable with her workflow. She used to be her own worst critic, stubborn to make every line of code on point. As a young woman with no proper STEM background, she felt even more pressure, worried about the backlash the audience might have to someone like her in the live coding space. However, filming her process has dismantled her obsession with perfection.
Streaming has become a new way to engage fans, creating more exclusive, intimate settings through a connected environment. Twitch has the longest user retention rate, and artists have leveraged this value proposition to maintain more humane relationships with their fans. These women have pioneered that.