Last year was a bad year for my internet concerts. Maybe I tried too many things. Maybe Concert Window was just failing to deliver. But my income from every show dropped lower and lower. That's one of the reasons I decided to stop the concerts over the holidays. I needed time to rethink my strategy.

You see, it's difficult for me to put on evening internet concerts. Evenings are time with my family. Sometimes it's rehearsal time. If I have an evening concert it needs to be worth my time. I hate to sound mercenary about it, but it's true.

Happily, I had two very successful gigs this month. And by “successful” I mean I made more than a hundred dollars. That's worth my time performing as well as promoting the event. If every evening show pulled in a hundred bucks, I'd be willing do them more frequently.

Concert Window vs. YouTube

I've used Concert Window for a number of years. They have a great setup. And I know some musicians who are kicking butt with that side. I am not one of them.

Yes. This month's income on CW was pretty good. Sure it's half of what I made when I started, but they are still taking their 30%. I'm happy to share it if people keep paying. But I'm afraid people have trouble using the site.

In fact, I had technical difficulties during the last show so I ended up shooting it on my phone.

So on the 18th, I decided to use YouTube. But I also used the same successful ideas of Concert Window. The result was I made more money and had an easier time making it happen.

I'm not convinced this is the way forward though.

You see, the problem is YouTube is a free platform. I was super fortunate to earn $69 in tips through YouTube's Super Chat feature.

What made this whole thing work was the ticket pre-sales. Yes. You can watch the show for free. But I sold tickets which also gave you an audio download of the concert. I would not have hit my goal without those tickets. I earned an additional $75 thanks to the generosity of several hardcore Gunn Runners.

This is BRILLIANT news for me. But will it last for the long-term? Will each of these kind people keep laying down $10 a head to keep me putting on evening concerts?

Time will tell. Right now, I am keeping the show on YouTube. I'm also gonna promote them as free shows. But I will try to sell more audio downloads while educating viewers better on the Super Chat feature. We shall see if it works.

I'm also developing a detailed program on how to put on a successful live streaming internet concert. I hope to educate other musicians if I can find a decent magic formula.

Register to Watch the Next Concert

In the meantime, I am asking Gunn Runners to register to watch the next #CeltfatherLive concert on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 8 PM CST. The show is free to watch.