Can Online Concerts Be Socially Engaging and Satisfying? Results and Implications from Two Global Virtual Music Events

Abstract

Online and hybrid music events are the future. These new formats offer unprecedented audience reach with substantially reduced financial and labor requirement. Not only are they increasingly feasible with the advancement of affordable personal computing and communication technologies, but also they are ever-more needed because of the increased awareness of carbon footprint and the social distancing due to the global pandemic. But the challenge is also clear: Concertgoing is a highly social activity, and replicating the social experience and satisfaction through computer-mediated communication has been difficult. In 2021, a new virtual conference and concert platform named Deck 10 was designed and developed specifically to address the various social and user experience barriers for web-based music events. A 2022 study was conducted to analyze two Deck 10-powered global online music events (involving 512 users from 38 countries) to evaluate the effectiveness, technology acceptance, online social presence and overall user satisfaction. The results indicate that online music events can deliver a socially engaging and satisfying audience experience. This presentation will go over the case studies, the technical aspects, and discuss key elements that contributed to online social presence and user satisfaction. The session will also discuss implications of the online and hybrid music event formats.