Looking Fine on Television: Phila Street Venue Launches CaffeLena.TV

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs’ Caffe Lena is moving its live streams off Facebook and YouTube to a new donate-to-watch platform called CaffeLena.TV. 

“Streaming is here to stay. It has become an essential tool in keeping artists and venues afloat and audiences engaged. We need to make it a great experience for the viewer, and economically viable for the producers,” said Executive Director Sarah Craig, in a statement.

Heading into a fall when the music industry was hoping to return to normal, the Delta variant is once again causing tour cancellations and venue restrictions. Bands that had hoped to off-load their home streaming rigs on eBay are rethinking the decision. “While our first choice is to have everyone here in person, it’s exciting to be connecting this legendary venue with a worldwide audience,” said Craig. “It feels like the right moment to move our streams off the free platforms. If streaming is going to be a core part of the performing arts, we can’t treat it like a give-away.”

Revenue collected from viewer donations is split between the performer and venue. “Through a virtual tip jar, viewers supported our live-streaming performers to the tune of $100,000 during the shutdown. But since we reopened for in-person audiences in April, donations and viewership have dropped significantly. Now the job is to figure out how to make this delivery system something people will want to pay for, and to drive home the message that live music will only survive if people support it,” Craig said.

Caffe Lena recently removed past shows from its YouTube channel out of concern for licensing restrictions. For a monthly donation of $15 or more, viewers will have unlimited access to the nightly shows as well as a large vault of past shows.

Caffe Lena picked UScreen.TV because it allows the venue to offer content on a flexible pay-per-view basis. A single show may be viewed for a donation of $5 or more. 

Concerts will be streamed through Caffe Lena’s high-definition broadcasting system. Streams are produced by multiple Grammy-award winner Joel Moss, with three robotic cameras and a state-of-the-art sound system.  For more information, go to: www.caffelena.org