Metallica and Apple stage an early major-artist Internet concert webcast
Metallica's fan-club concert at Slim's in San Francisco was distributed online with Apple's involvement, placing a globally famous band among the early adopters of concert webcasting.
Historical context
Music companies, computer firms and artists were beginning to test whether live performance could become an Internet medium. Consumer connections were still overwhelmingly dial-up, making these webcasts technically difficult and far lower in quality than television.
What happened
Metallica performed a private fan-club concert at Slim's on June 10, 1996. Apple Computer worked with the band to make the performance available through the Internet using its multimedia technology, giving fans beyond the venue access to an event that had traditionally been limited by physical capacity.
Consequences
The webcast helped demonstrate that major recording artists could treat the Internet as a live-event distribution channel. Artist-controlled online concerts, fan-club webcasts and eventually large commercial livestreams became increasingly common in subsequent years.
Related people
Sources
- Heavy Metal Metallica Plans to Rock Cyberspace / Apple Computer to 'Webcast' band's concertSan Francisco Chronicle / SFGATE
- When Heavy Metal Ruled the NetWIRED