Startups, The Stones, and Streaming
2 days and 27 years ago, MusicTech really got its start when The Rolling Stones did something that no other band had done before.
I share this, today, two days after that anniversary, because MusicTech is incredibly hot in Texas right now and tonight, they’re playing Austin’s Circuit of The Americas.
On November 18th, 1994, the Stones broadcast their November 18th Dallas concert live to the internet
The Stones were hesitant, understandably. “The only way I could sell this idea to the Stones was to say to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: ‘Look, this is really cool, and it’s never been done before. And if you don’t do it, I’ll do it with Aerosmith,’ “ Stephan Fitch, president of the production company Thinking Pictures who proposed the idea as a publicity stunt to drive pay per view sales their Voodoo Lounge Concert Special.
Jagger’s reply, “We hope it doesn’t all collapse.” It rather did as those of us familiar with the internet of 1994 recall was possible; choppy and with rough audio, only about 200 people were even able to tune in. Regardless, it’s an incredible reminder that Streaming Media started almost 30 years ago, MusicTech is far older, and we can keep getting excited about how quickly innovation progresses.
I LOVE how we can learn from the arts, and history, how to succeed as entrepreneurs, and wrote a fun perspective on what we can learn about Startups from the Stones, check it out:
And tune in to this flashback to the news of the Stones streaming live in 1994:
