Kat Parsons performs songs from her EP “Talk to Me” on the website Stageit, accompanied by her brother Jon.
I’m at a concert right now – in my home office.
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Kat Parsons, a fellow Northwestern alum, is staging a show online to celebrate the release of her new EP, “Talk to Me.” Sure, she had a live release party in LA. But she has a cadre of supportive fans across the United States and around the world that she wanted to share the experience.
She is performing live via a website called Stageit. Kat and her brother Jon appear in a 5″ by 4″ window that can be expanded to fill the computer screen. The sound quality is good through my iMac’s speakers, though I had to crank up the volume all the way. If the window is minimized, there is a running commentary to the right from fans watching the show – which gives one the feeling of watching with other people. Kat seems to know most of the folks making comments and responds between songs, which makes the interaction amusing and genuine.
It is an intimate show – as intimate as one can be online. Only 40 tickets were available – Stageit handled the transactions – and the concert sold out in the hours before Kat came online. Its run time is under an hour, probably less time than it would take getting to, and returning from, an “in-person” concert.
I hope to use a future blog entry to get in-depth with Kat about how she employs social media to expand her audience and market her music. In the meantime, this unique online show was nice opportunity to see Kat perform live without having to drive the six hours to LA.
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Stuart J. Robinson does writing, editing, media relations and social media through his freelance practice, Lightbulb Communications. He also blogs about Hawaii Five-0 and other shows for the TV Tyrant website.
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