Are you missing the prospect of karaoke at the office party this year, or the opportunity to hear carol singers? Then Encore Musicians has the answer with its Virtual Experience, a new service aimed at helping musicians recover lost income but which is proving popular with customers too.
Encore Musicians is the UK's largest online platform for booking musicians, with over 5000 active members and last year generating £1 million in revenue for musicians who were booked across 2,000 events across genres. Like everyone else, Encore has seen its members' work plummet, so they have come up with a new virtual business model to help musicians suffering from Christmas cancellations.
The company launched its Virtual Experience in November. The service helps musicians earn money by being booked to perform at virtual events, like office Christmas parties on Zoom. The experiences include songwriting workshops, quizzes with live musicians, live-streamed performances and (the most popular option) hiring a musician to jump into a call unannounced to perform a song (a ‘Zoom bomb’)!
These virtual services are proving popular, and musicians are recovering money lost from cancelled bookings, so that Encore has seen its business revenue boosted by 36% in November.
Encore's CEO, James McAulay explains:
'The idea for virtual experiences came from one of our own work socials on Zoom - we realised that being creative as a team is actually one of the best ways to stay connected while we’re socially distanced. We spotted a chance to help our musicians make a living, and keep companies connected during their Christmas parties. Everyone is bored of Zoom quizzes by now!'
Further information from Virtual Experience website, and there is also an explainer video.
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