Twitch And Shout. Rolling Loud Announces Second ‘Loud Stream’ For Halloween Weekend

Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif are at it again. The Rolling Loud founders continue to engage with their global community bringing another free live streaming virtual festival on Twitch. Loud Stream 2 will play live on Friday October 30 and Saturday October 31 from 5 PM EST to 11 PM EST. The first Loud Stream held on September 12 and 13 drew more than 3 million unique visitors. For Halloween they’ve upped their game. Fans are encouraged to come in costume and in return they may find themselves on the live stream. If you missed the first Loud Stream, a recap is available here.

I spent some time with Matt and Tariq on the True AF podcast last week talking about their roots, the way they grew Rolling Loud and their truly heartfelt concern for the fans whom the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting. It is brilliant brand building to bring a free festival with big names and high production values to a world were even relatively unknown musicians are trying to sell tickets on Eventbrite

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for pre-recorded events or live streams. I mean how hard a choice is it? Spend the weekend on Twitch and Loud Stream or fork over $10 to watch Tuba v. Trombone* live over spotty WiFi. (*Tuba v. Trombone may not actually exist. However, I have confirmed widespread occurrences of spotty WiFi.)

Rolling Loud has a lot of content daily as part of their partnering with Twitch. They may be early in a new trend of morphing a festival brand to an all media content provider. How meta would it be if their video appearance on the True AF podcast anchored a Twitch segment? That would certainly summon the Halloween spirits and ghouls to appear.

Matt and Tariq are a true team in the way they operate their business. I watched fascinated as the conversation bounced between them while they articulated the goals of their business and how it was being adapted to this new pandemic environment. These guys have built a solid brand by identifying Hip Hop as an underserved market and fearlessly bringing it to fans worldwide. They’ve produced events in Miami, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Sydney, with their Portimao, Portugal event currently scheduled and selling tickets for two back to back events in July 2021. Their Miami festival is currently set for February 12 – 14, 2021 pending clearance of Covid-19 concerns.

The Rolling Loud team has a terrific grasp of what suits their audiences. In part this is because they are still young enough to be their own target audience. Their youth is one strength, another is their work ethic. You can’t just fake your way to holding multi-day festivals around the globe. It is essential to be grounded, diligent and constantly learning. I know this industry very well and was smiling all the way through the discussion we all had as they knocked out insights like a long ball hitter at a home run derby.

I’ve declared the Halloween weekend at my home to Hip Hop themed. We’re all really interested to see how Matt and Tariq up the ante in what a live stream can be. Live Music has never before intersected well with streaming. The pandemic inspired efforts by musicians to stay connected to fans has changed the metric. It will be the pioneers like Loud Stream who lead the way. If I were a betting man (full disclosure: I am) I’d wager that streaming revenues will become significant over the next 12 months. And, having had the chance to better understand the work ethic and consumer focus at Rolling Loud, I say this team is way out in front and creating a sustainable change in consumer behavior.