Explores the experiences of musicians using Twitch to connect with audiences and achieve financial stability, revealing both the creative opportunities and the pressures of maintaining success in a gamified, attention-driven ecosystem.
Musicians on Twitch: Creativity, Challenges, and the Reality Behind Live Streaming unpacks the untold stories of musicians who have turned to Twitch as a platform to share music, engage with audiences and seek financial stability. While on the surface Twitch appears as a hub for creativity and innovation, this book reveals a more complex reality where opportunities and challenges are in constant tension and where creative freedom is constantly negotiated against the demands of visibility, engagement and monetisation.
Through a multi-method qualitative research design, including interviews with this new breed of ‘musician-streamers’ and extensive observations of their mediated, online lives, this book explores what it takes to succeed, or simply survive, as a musician on Twitch.
The book begins by examining Twitch’s evolution from a gaming-centric site to a space where live music performances have gained traction. Whether driven by creative freedom, financial aspirations or a desire to connect with global audiences, this book examines who these musicians are and what draws them to the platform. Throughout this chapter, key concepts and terms are introduced to provide readers with a clear and accessible framework for understanding and analysing the evolving landscape of online live music.
As the book progresses, its focus turns critical, exposing the challenges that underpin Twitch’s creative ecosystem. From the ‘happy-few-take-all’ dynamic, where only a small elite garners the majority of audience attention, to the gamified, attention-driven environment that creates relentless pressure to remain ‘always on’, many musicians are flirting with their breaking point.
Through these lived experiences, Musicians on Twitch provides a nuanced, unfiltered, at times brutal, exploration of Twitch’s promises and pitfalls for musicians. It is an important read for anyone curious about the intersection of music, technology and creative labour, and what it really means to be a musician today.
