The Digital Box Office

Renaissance Rebirth: The Flagellation of Christ by Piero della Francesca (1450)

[This report contains hiding links, click them for deeper background.]

"Shelter-In-Place”

at the

Digital Box Office

by Jamie Jobb

In early March 2020, these pages reviewed a terrific memoir titled “Ghost Light” – a term used when an audience exits and the theater goes dark. That particular light is the normal nocturnal feature of an empty house. But within two weeks, stages from the East Bay to the West End, from Broadway to Berlin, had all gone dark all day. Nobody hosts any audience these days while the urban world shelters-in-place to avoid COVID-19.

So ghost lights remain lit on stage “until further notice”. Quickly a global viral madness forced performers and production companies large and small to re-evaluate their distribution methods. With their box offices closed, how could theaters sell any tickets? Who could sit in any seats under this novel form of “house arrest”? Arenas, stadiums, music halls, night clubs, pubs and other “non-essential” interior spaces also faced the same existential dilemma. Human contact was deemed verboten for any immediate vicinity. All tickets suddenly became “deadwood”. People had to stay home or risk contacting The New Plague.

The shuttering of public entertainments also took a sudden toll on all sorts of gig workers, particularly those here in California who were facing enough turmoil in their lives over the unintended vagaries of California’s AB 5. That 2019 law upset the common understanding of how “free-lance work” gets compensated/accounted/taxed.

Suddenly gig workers of all stripes were unemployed – busboys, bartenders, waiters, ushers, musicians, dishwashers, retail clerks ... all sorts of performers, crews, athletes – all standing by, idling in situ. High-salaried MLB, NBA, NFL players and famous guys like Jimmy Kimmel (bless his heart) can afford to stay home during such a crisis. But unendowed small-time performers live by the tip jar, if not door receipts. Now what?

Part-time workers immediately had to isolate their “meat” from their “gravy”, cut back to essentials. But for how long? Two weeks to 18 months??? What if you’re poorer than sin? Could anybody pay rent? How would you keep your spirits up while hunkered down at home, if you were lucky enough to have a home? And, of course, where would you find toilet paper?

* * *

“Dark” Berlin Opera House: deep upstage point-of-view facing empty orange seats

(from Google Street View)

But everybody’s newfangled public detention forced creative people everywhere to get evermore creative as we adjust to our virtual ankle-bracelets. Who knew the dire straits of soft “martial law” could marshal in new ways of finding and tapping an audience? Although at least 28 national touring companies, The Tony Awards, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, New York City Ballet and The Championships at Wimbledon all shut down, others refused to quit.

The Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna State Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, The National Theatre of London, Royal Court, Berkeley Rep, Left Edge Studio Theater, San Francisco Jazz Center, National Museum of Natural History and others announced “streaming” performances or virtual tours that could be seen by an “audience” seated home alone. Simply sign up on line, or on your phone!

Could these on-line options herald a Renaissance of crowd-sourced innovation – the new Digital Box Office, selling electronic tickets to a venue of unlimited seats – with opportunities to tip the performers as well? Yes, that does indeed seem to be the shifting situation.

At States our local coffee shop, barista Sam Gonzalez points out the obvious advantage for an audient listening at home on line. “You save a lot of money NOT GOING to the show – on transportation, parking, dinner, drinks, merch. I usually end up spending a hundred dollars after I get tickets. Some of that can go right into the tip jar.”

Buy a Ticket & Tip the Band!

My son Sach lives in Tokyo and is cofounder of iFlyer, Asia’s go-to resource for club, concert and music festival news. Recently he sent notes about a revolution sweeping show business in Japan. Most of what he sent involved a new company, Zaiko.io.

ZAIKO offers what it calls “paid electronic ticket system live distribution” which allows event organizers to easily set up paying gigs on line. The payment for Zaiko is built-in with a number of options – credit cards, PayPal, WeChat, Alipay, etc.  It also accommodates a wide range of currencies and languages. The producer determines:

* the money-change system,

* the archive period – show start and end dates,

* presence or absence of comments and other social media participation.

Sach reported that the independent Japanese pop band Cero – an inventive trio not widely known for odd tunes like “Poly Life Multi Soul” – created a big stir when their March 13 "Contemporary http Cruise" concert refused to “sell out” after only two days notice! The band had expected to sell 400 tickets for the one-hour streaming event. Final tally was over ten times the expected turnout.

In other words, when no fire marshall restricts the number of people entering the virtual house, the box office doesn’t know when to cut off sales! And the concert was set up so attendees could add to the band’s good fortune through an electronic “tip jar” in increments of 500 yen ($4.5 US dollars).

Kakubarismaku Kakubari was so impressed with how well the concert turned out, he posted this comment: “If venues such as live houses and theaters nationwide that are currently being canceled can make good use of these [electronic tickets], couldn't we follow everyone who works hard on the spot? Also, even if this situation has calmed down, if you sell additional distribution tickets to sold-out performances, the capacity will expand indefinitely, [to include] people who have difficulty [getting in] or who can not go to live [concerts] with children.” Indeed!

Zaiko intends to expand the interactive nature of its digital ticket-and-tip system soon, embedding live-chat and other real-time social features into the experience. These plans are based on anticipated boosts to interactive communication speeds with this year’s introduction of fifth-generation wireless format, aka “G5”.

Of course, these initiatives are not unique to Japan. It appears Zaiko is borrowing heavily from Stageit, the original virtual venue which as been around for over two decades. For a decade, talented bands like New Orleans’ Tuba Skinny have made a living off tips from their busking French Quarter streets and their ubiquitous YouTube presence. With no middle management, the band operates like Walk Off The Earth, Randy Rainbow, or others working YouTube audiences as “monetizers” (a sort of salary and tips combined).

* * *

The Marsh Mainstage, San Francisco, dark until further notice

* * *

Performers Learn to Zoom and RushTix

Here in the San Francisco region, it appears that Zoom is becoming the platform of choice for musicians, teachers, theater companies and others to organize on-line sales and monetized chats. Some musicians and art instructors are learning how to conduct paid classes on line, similar to the Master Classes offered by famous folks like David Mamet or Neil DeGrasse Tyson. And some of these efforts are moving beyond Zoom!

Celik Kayalar, charismatic founder of Film Acting Bay Area (FABA) in Emeryville reports his brick-and-mortar school now offers one-on-one Skype class sessions on line for actors enrolled in his program. A local beneficent improvisation company, Improv for Good, is also exploring on-line interactive classes and performances, according to toastmaster Randy Wight, an integral member of the group. Professionally-connected broadcaster Brian Copeland, well known for his evocative solo performances at the Marsh and elsewhere, is now exploring the podcast format for his shows.

Then there’s this news from angelic San Francisco comedian Jill Bourque whom I met in a Dan Hoyle workshop at the Marsh. She arrived to class late, held up by an over-long meeting downtown. Jill, an energetic focus-pulling redhead, rushed into the rehearsal room with such energy that she immediately floored us with her impression of what she’d just witnessed downtown. She immaculately mimicked four people at each others throats in the meeting she’d just left! Dan, a master of journalistic theater, and the other classmates were beyond impressed by her stand-up chops. But that’s not what makes Jill special to independent Bay Area performers.

For the last five years, Jill has been developing RushTix, her event-membership live streaming service. Sheltered-at-home with the rest of us, she’s now actively promoting “watch parties” with live chat and donation options, just like Zaiko.io.

Jill expects to announce big news next week with the launch of Rushtix Livestream. Their first offering is Heklina’s Happy Hour live from Palm Springs with cocktails and chat. The ticket is sliding scale. And we can see from Heklina’s photo that the cat appreciates tips. No need to wait, however. Anyone can sign up to RushTix right now and choose among seventy performances all over the world that the platform currently offers.

“We’ve created the largest and most comprehensive listing of livestream shows from around the world,” Jill said. Now she’s creating a new platform to produce original content with artists. “We help artists livestream and figure out how to adapt the medium to their particular style – all with a mind toward revenue generation. We’re combining a virtual venue and a social community to create an engaging and immersive experience.”

In other words, she’s performed before tough crowds as a stand-up; now she’s helping her performing friends learn how to support themselves in tough times. That makes her a Local Hero in my book!

Thirty Thinkers Peek Forward

The prospect of staying sequestered at home for months has already reoriented everyone's relationship to government, the economy, health care – indeed, even our physical relationship to each other, and the very nature of “performance”. Politico interviewed several authorities in various disciplines to anticipate what might become unfamiliar or unsettling in the coming months. They attempted to address hard questions like: Will borders stay closed? Will touch become taboo? What will happen to restaurants?

Of course, crisis moments also present opportunity. The quoted experts anticipate more sophisticated and flexible use of technology, less popular polarization, a revived appreciation for the outdoors and life’s simple pleasures. No one is certain what will come, but Politico’s guide examines the unknown ways that society will change. Find the full report here.

27 March 2020
(second of three parts)