The crowd surfers may bump into the living room couch, but that’s the only glitch you’ll find with the live streaming experience that Brightcove delivered for top performers like Dropkick Murphys, Willie Nelson and more. Without pausing, buffering or any other issues, fans enjoy a rich experience that brings them every drum beat, every guitar chord and every word with the clarity and emotion that makes them feel like they are right there in the stadium.

9 MILLION VIEWS

When Dropkick Murphys decided to live stream their concert, called “Streaming Outta Fenway,” the venue they chose was Boston’s historic Fenway Park. Due to the pandemic restrictions, only 35 people were allowed inside the huge stadium, and that included the band and the crew. But those 35 people were soon overshadowed by a slightly larger number—9 million. Over 9 million views of “Streaming Outta Fenway” were seen worldwide, in living rooms, backyards, roof decks, on screens large and small, giving everyone a front-row seat to this amazing performance. With 12 different streaming endpoints, and over $700,000 raised for charity, it was a rousing success. 

AMAZING PICNIC, NO ANTS

When Willie Nelson’s iconic “4th of July Picnic” had to pivot to a virtual concert, Brightcove was right there to live stream the concert from Willie Nelson’s Luck Saloon and Chapel. Bringing millions of dedicated fans together virtually to experience the music they love, Brightcove’s leading live streaming technology delivered  Willie Nelson’s loyal fanbase a high-quality live concert experience. The event featured interviews with characters from the Picnic’s past, as well as new, live performances from their favorite artists such as Sheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley, Margo Price, Steve Earle, and Kurt Vile. 

MEET THE NEW MUSIC INDUSTRY

“The music entertainment industry is forever changed, and video is at the forefront of its evolution. Even beyond the pandemic, we’ll continue to see organizations use video to connect with their audiences as it’s the only way to deliver the authentic, real-life experience that viewers crave,” says Sara Larsen, CMO, Brightcove. With top performers such as Dropkick Murphys and Willie Nelson, Brightcove has demonstrated how its technology is essential to a thriving entertainment industry as it connects performers with their audiences. If you have a performance in search of an audience, talk with Brightcove and see how our superior live streaming will deliver an experience the fans will never forget. 

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Over the past couple of weeks, our team at Brightcove has taken a hard look at our core values, not only as a business but as members of the global community. What is clear is that now is not the time to be silent. 

Treating one another with respect and dignity is central to who we are and what we stand for as an organization. As a leading video technology company, Brightcove’s objective is to bring stories to the eyes of the world through video, even if these stories are sometimes disturbing  and challenging. 

We need to look inward as a team and admit that despite not having all the answers yet, we must be clear that we are committed to ensuring we live in a society that embraces anti-racism, and stand strongly together with the black community. 

Meaningful change requires commitment. At Brightcove, we know we have a lot of work to do, but we have never been more dedicated to ensuring we investigate and implement new training, programs, and procedures to evolve our organization to continually support the black community now and in the future. 

We’re committed to making real change at Brightcove. This is our promise to ourselves and our employees: 

• We will establish better hiring practices that improve the representation of black employees and employees of color at all levels.

• We will engage employees on the topic of diversity and racism and provide all employees transparency on our diversity profile and the steps we are taking to improve diversity

• We will continually evaluate the full scope of our employee experience to ensure that we create conditions that promote inclusion on a daily basis. 

• We will educate our employees on what it means to be inclusive – from teaching people how to build new habits to how to recognize and call out micro behaviors. 

• We will create a change program that will engage our employees to champion anti-racism, inclusion, and diversity across all of Brightcove.

 We’re committed to supporting our community in building a diverse future:  

• We will create a college-level internship program and create entry-level job opportunities for black and minority students.

• We will partner with organizations that support younger students in underserved communities to inspire interest in STEM careers, in an effort to help build a future workforce that is more diverse.  

• We will provide video services for non-profit organizations that support this movement and prioritize our free onboarding program for those non-profits that need assistance in the establishment of their video presence, and in telling their story.

It’s time for businesses across all industries and sizes to step up and have these sometimes uncomfortable conversations and make progress. The dialogue and hard truths that come out of these conversations will help to foster change through action, not just statements, but systematic change.  We invite business leaders and individuals around the world to take part in these commitments to build a better future for all and hold us accountable to the commitments we have made. 

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Welcome to the “Lone Star State” of Texas, home to what many refer to as the “Live Music Capital of the World” , the capital city of Austin. Throughout the years this city has been home to a parade of music lovers, disco dancers, indie rockers, and all sorts of talented musicians. From every street corner to even the smallest cafe, those who have come to visit this melodic jungle have always been sure to find a live stage where they can swing and sing to any kind of rhythm. However, much like the rest of the world, this vibrant city has recently been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. 

With the cancellation of Austin’s famous SXSW conference, that hosts a variety of film and music festivals throughout the month of March, the city has seen a drastic loss in tourism revenue, and that’s just an addition to Austin’s already struggling economy. From businesses having to close their doors and industries like entertainment, tourism, and hospitality taking a direct hit, the city has faced a whirlwind of challenges throughout the past few months much like the rest of the world. 

Breathing a live-music hub back to life: If history can teach us anything, it’s that when communities face trials and tribulations, there are a few inspiring heroes that arise to grace the cause. For renowned singer and songwriter Paul Simon, wrangling together a talented cast of friends and artists for A Night for Austin is just what the city needs. 

Simon, along with musicians such as Willie Nelson, James Taylor, and many more, has joined forces with Luck Reunion and the Austin Community Foundation to bring a live benefit concert to the music-loving fans of Austin, Texas as well as viewers around the world. This 2-hour live-streamed performance will happen on Wednesday, June 10 at 8:00 PM CT (9:00 PM ET) and be streamed for free on Luck Renunion’s Twitch channel and broadcasted to CBS Austin. 

Benefiting the community in more ways than one: This commercial-free, telethon-style event will do more than give the residents of Austin a night of much-needed entertainment; it will also benefit the community by raising money to help those who have been financially or physically affected by the global pandemic. 

Brightcove is here to help: To ensure this event can be streamed to homes all over the country and the world, we’re proud that Luck Reunion has chosen to partner with our team at Brightcove. As rewarding as it is to have yet another opportunity to demonstrate our technology’s ability to reach millions of viewers around the globe, we’re even more excited to be a part of something bigger: an opportunity to spread the power of music and to support a great community. 

Want to learn how Brightcove also helped put on a live Dropkick Murphys concert straight from Boston’s historic Fenway Park? Tune in to PLAY TV to hear from the lead singer himself, Ken Casey, as he talks about supporting the city of Boston and how they kicked off the summer with Brightcove.  

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The bases are loaded at Boston’s historic Fenway Park, but this time the field isn’t filled with major league players. For the first time, in what seems like a millenia, the park will re-open its gates to a whole new kind of ball game, one that will kick off summer and rock music fans across the globe. 

On Friday, May 29, 6pm EST, one of Boston’s all time favorite bands, the Dropkick Murphys, will be streaming a live benefit concert straight from the field of Fenway park to audiences everywhere.

Fun Fact: This will be the first time in Fenway history that a band has played right on the baseball diamond! A stage that certainly won’t disappoint.

_{The Line up: The inner field at Fenway Park, geared up for a night of epic entertainment}

There will also be a special guest performer, “the Boss” himself, Bruce Springsteen, who plans to stream virtually to the park, right on the big screen, making this a double stream for a home-run kind of experience.  

Music for the Cause:  While fans around the world can tune in and enjoy this historical performance for free, the band hopes to turn this virtual experience into something bigger than just entertainment. The Dropkick Murphys, in collaboration with their guest performer Bruce Springsteen, will be raising funds to help support organizations that are on the front-lines of the global pandemic such as the Boston Resiliency Fund , Habitat For Humanity Greater Boston , and Feeding America . 

Not only are they helping to keep the spirits high for typical summer concert goers (now stuck at home), they’re also helping to bring financial and supportive aid to those who need it most. 

Taking the park and the world by storm: The event anticipates a global audience of over 10 million virtual viewers who will tune in from 5 different channels on the band’s Facebook , YouTube , Twitter , Twitch , and https://www.dkmstream.com .

What’s the point of hitting a home-run as big as this one if no one can see it? To make sure they’re able to rock fans everywhere on any device, the band will be partnering with Brightcove to provide a high-quality, reliable streaming experience for their fans. I don’t know about you, but I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to sing along to my favorite songs in real-time, without missing a beat.   

And the Dropkick Murphys aren’t the only ones looking to create a reliable engaging experience for their audiences. As companies all around the world are having to make the shift toward more virtual solutions, innovative business leaders look toward video as the most effective way to reach viewers everywhere. So no matter the type of content, businesses can still rock the socks off their audiences with the power of video. 

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True leaders are individuals who know the way, show the way, and go the way, and at Brightcove, we take those words to heart. Ensuring that everything we do and accomplish is on behalf of our customers. We’re proud and honored to be recognized for our position as a true industry leader and to be named this year’s Global Market Leadership Award recipient from Frost & Sullivan. This award is presented to organizations that have demonstrated proven excellence in their field from business growth, product differentiation, brand strength, among other data points. 

Here are three examples of what Frost & Sullivan valued in Brightcove and how we are committed to each one.  

Customer experience: Enterprises, brands, and media companies alike are looking to build secure yet immersive experiences for their customers and employees that are just as engaging as they are reliable. Brightcove’s solutions offer a unique access management system enabling businesses to confidently engage their audiences without sacrificing the security of their information. Additionally, Brightcove’s solutions offer users a deep set of viewer analytics for unique visibility into content performance. Brightcove’s innovative offerings provide customers with a robust video platform experience that meets their every video need.         

Product Quality and Performance: As business leaders seek a video platform with the scalability to support the volume of their operations and the reliability to ensure prompt delivery of content, one name stands above them all. Unlike other cloud solutions, Brightcove’s powerful technology prioritizes fast and scalable video streaming so businesses know they are reaching their audiences no matter where they are. The Brightcove advantage is having a seamless web application that allows users to quickly upload or stream video to any device without disruptions, ensuring audiences everywhere are getting the high-quality content experience they deserve.  The Frost & Sullivan report called out Brightcove’s performance even at scale — streaming over 800 million videos to over 550 million viewers globally in a week in 2019

Growth Strategy Excellence: Year over year Brightcove maintains its reputation as a forward-looking video-technology company. With the recent acquisition of Ooyala’s OVP business in 2019, Brightcove strengthened the capabilities of their current offerings by combining them with the Ooyala technology stack, providing faster and more efficient video workflows for customers. Furthermore Brightcove continues to provide its customers with new and innovative applications that enable them to reach more viewers, quicker, with deeper visibility and insight, offerings such as Brightcove BeaconTM, Brightcove EngageTM, and Brightcove ContinuumTM. 

Brightcove continues to provide an industry-leading online video platform (OVP) supported by an extensive list of third-party integrations to ensure our solutions fit every scenario. The Frost and Sullivan 2020 Global Market Leadership Award recognizes Brightcove for its dedication to customer experience, security, and on-going growth in the video technology market. We are incredibly proud to have received this distinction and look forward to continuing our path as a leader in the industry, paving the way for a brighter future in video.

“No other market participant provides the same breadth of usability and reliability, allowing customers to invest with confidence in Brightcove deployments.” – Frost and Sullivan 

Who is Frost and Sullivan? Frost & Sullivan is a trusted growth partnership company focused on foundational research, providing unique frameworks and growth strategies for organizations based upon their carefully selected qualifications. Partnering with over 1,000 global businesses, Frost & Sullivan stands as an industry benchmark mastermind. Through the deep analysis of market, technical, economic, and financial best practices, they’re not only able to identify those who are performing best-in-class, but they’re also able to fuel emerging businesses to sustain powerful growth.

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Whether you permanently work from home or not,  being able to shoot a decent video has become a core skill set required for just about everyone wanting to communicate effectively. The fact is that as we become more global, we need to capture, show, demonstrate, and communicate, and video is a great way to do that.

The good news is that as gear gets cheaper and more affordable, it also gets better in quality and easier to use, making it more accessible to the rest of us. Today we will look at some gear and techniques that must meet three qualifications:

1. It has to improve something dramatically. It has to affect the quality of your end product directly, otherwise what’s the point?

2. It has to be relatively affordable. “I’ll give you a few options to choose from depending on your budget.”

3. It has to be easy to use. “I don’t have time to learn a complicated piece of tech.  I just need it to work” We’re talking more or less plug and play here.”

We’ve all been subjected to that video of a person shooting up their nose, with what looks to be Edison’s first light bulb illuminating them, talking to us from an echo chamber, or sitting in front of a window as if they were in the witness protection program.  The good news is that each of these problems is easy to fix.  All you need is a little bit of knowledge and, in some cases, an affordable piece of equipment.

Let’s start with audio.  Good audio is arguably more important than good video. The truth is people will tolerate a lower quality picture before they tolerate low-quality audio.  

1. My recommendation is this $60 video mic by Rode . Simply plug it into your phone or camera, and presto you’ve dramatically improved your audio. It’s affordable, makes a massive improvement, and couldn’t be easier to use.

2. If you want to take it to the next level, we need to get into a lavalier mic set up. Typically a decent one of these with a mic starts at $700-$1000. I present to you the Rode Wireless Go for $200 . One end plugs directly into your phone or camera while the other clips onto you. The cool part is that the transmitter has a mic already built-in. With this setup, you can be as far away from the camera as you want, and the audio is still crystal clear. Once again, affordable and sounds excellent, and is plug and play.

If you do nothing else after reading this, get a good mic. It will immediately set you apart from the others.

Next, let’s talk about lighting. No matter what camera you are shooting with, if you have bad lighting, it will look bad. The opposite is also true. No matter what camera you are shooting with, if you have good light, you can get some fantastic results.

1. My recommendation is the $45 Aputure AL-M9 . Aputure is known for its high-end lights, but this tiny light packs a punch with very complimentary soft light. It can easily be attached directly to your camera or any 1/4 inch screw compatible stand. I’ve even taped it to the wall. Additionally, you can easily adjust its brightness to suit your shooting needs. For this price, it’s a no-brainer.

2. If you want a lot more light, with more control and convenience, the $169 Core SWX TorchLED Bolt 250W is a fantastic option.  This light is very bright, and you can adjust the color and brightness with a convenient remote. I like it because not only does it look beautiful, it’s also compact and easy to store and still affordable.

Next, let’s talk about the camera. I’ve been hinting at this, and it’s true you CAN get started with your phone. So long as you know your phone’s strengths and weaknesses.  

1. Its Achilles’ heel is light, or the lack thereof. Phone cameras do not do particularly well in low-lit rooms, including most offices, whether home or in an office building. Hence the importance of having an extra light in your kit.  Having said that, don’t wait to start shooting because you don’t have a fancy camera.  Start with your phone, add in a good mic, and a light, and you’re ahead of the curve.

2.  If you want to upgrade your image quality substantially, I recommend one of the entry-level mirrorless cameras on the market. 

   • They are relatively inexpensive.
   • You graduate to a camera with upgradable lenses, so it’ll last you longer.
   • They perform better in low light.
   • You get that beautiful shallow depth of field, which we all think looks so cinematic. (ooo ahhh)
   • Examples of a camera like this would be a Canon EOS M50 or a Sony a6000 , both of which you should be able to pick up for approx $500 with a kit lens included.

Finally, let’s talk about stabilizing your shot.

1. You’re going to need something to put your camera on while you film yourself.  For beginners, a simple tripod will do the trick. I’m a big fan of the $39.99 Neewer tripod . It’s small, lightweight, and does the trick.  There are many more expensive options out there, but for starters, this is all you need.

2. If you want a smaller tabletop solution, you can look at something like the Manfrotto Pixi for around $50.

Let’s take a moment to talk about composition (or pointing your camera). When you talk about a tripod, you automatically imply that you’re going to set your camera on it and point it somewhere. How you point it and how you frame your shot can make a huge difference in how professional your video looks. Best of all, this part is free.  So here are your completely free composition 101 tips.

• Clean up. The less you have in your shot, the better. Get rid of anything and everything you can. Take a moment to look at what is behind and around you. Is your kid’s toy in the shot on the floor? Dirty laundry in the room down the hall? Is an unsightly extension cord hanging out of the wall?  Little things like this go a long way.

• Rule of thirds. This is the easiest way to make sure your shot looks a bit more interesting. Simply draw two vertical lines and two horizontal lines across your screen.  Now place your subject on any of the intersections.  

• Take advantage of any pre-existing lines.  A simple rule is to try to have any existing lines point toward your subject. This will naturally draw the viewer’s eyes to the subject.

Remember that these composition techniques apply whether you’re shooting a blockbuster movie or a webinar with your webcam. 

Bonus Tip – B-roll & Gimbals

1. If you’re already using a lot of the gear and techniques discussed above and want to take your video to the next level, add some B-roll.  B-roll is footage that demonstrates what you are talking about in your main video (unofficially called A-roll). You can use this footage to add interest and help explain or show what you are talking about.

2. One of the coolest and now most affordable tools to help you capture cinematic B-roll is a gimbal. In a nutshell, it stabilizes your footage while you move your camera around, allowing you to get some beautiful moving shots without all the shakiness. While there is some technique to be learned to master your gimbal, straight out to the box, it will already improve your footage immensely. For your phone, I suggest looking at the $139 DJI Osmo Mobile 3 .  If you’re using one of the mirrorless cameras mentioned above, take a look at it’s $439 older brother the DJI Ronin-SC .

And that’s it. I hope you’ve found these tips helpful. As you can see, it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated to dramatically improve your self-shot videos, no matter where you are shooting.  

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