Monday, August 12, 2019 - Online Concerts Big Changes

I have really been enjoying doing my First-Sunday Online Living Room Concert series for this past two and a half years. It’s a great way to connect with friends on a regular basis who can’t be where I’m playing. I have been using Concert Window for these concerts, and it has been overall a fairly good experience although sometimes the quality has been glitchy, and some of you have had trouble logging in or getting booted off during the show. Well, Concert Window just announced that they are closing their service on September 16th, so I’ll be switching to another service. I could either switch to another service similar to Concert Window that I’ve found called StageIt or I could switch to Facebook and use Facebook Live. I do my concerts for free although some of you are very kind and throw a tip my way. StageIt takes a higher percentage of tips (approaching 40%) than Concert Window does at 30%, while with Facebook I could put a PayPal.me link in the video description that would take 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction. Both StageIt and Facebook are very good quality video and audio. StageIt is set up specifically by musicians for musicians, so there are other parts of their service that may be helpful. I may have a lot more viewers on Facebook. There are other services like YouTube Live and Twitch, but they each have their comptomises. I am open to other suggestions you might have. I did quite a bit of research on each service. So what do you prefer? My fear is that some people who like Concert Window will be opposed to using Facebook while others who are Facebook friends and have never particularly liked Concert Window will be reluctant to try a similar service in StageIt. Let me know. I so value these concerts and the opportunity to play for you all, and I want this to be a smooth transition.  

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What have I been up to? 

Last Monday was a fun day at the Royal Gorge Bridge with many folks stopping by the stage to listen and interact - even a group from Korea! 

Thursday was a huge group of folks for the next-to-last barbecue at the Yellow Pine. We had to turn away a bunch of people. It was a wonderful evening.  

Friday was my concert at the Merc in La Veta with Daniel Market, and it was a heck of a night! We swapped songs and stories, and some folks said it was the best show they’d ever seen at the Merc. That’s awfully high praise, and it was a joy to be a part of.  

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What am I up to this week? 

Monday, Tuesday, and Friday 12:30-4:30 I’m at the Royal Gorge Bridge with Dennis Mills. We’ve really been enjoying these afternoons, and I’d love to have you there if you’re up for a fun time at the Royal Gorge.  

Thursday 6:30-8:30 is the last barbecue of the season at the Yellow Pine. There will be an evening there of BYO A&W (appetizers and wine) on Thursday, September 5th that I’m also playing for, but this is the last barbecue. If you’d like to be there I’d suggest calling right now - 719-742-3528. As I said above, we had to turn away a lot of folks last week, and I’m sure this last week will be the same. I can’t wait! 

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That’s it for this week. Let me know what you think about the online concert venue choice.  

Best always, 

Tom 

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Details this week: 

Who: Tom Munch and Dennis Mills 
What: playing and singing  
Where: South side of the Royal Gorge Bridge on the big stage 
When: Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, August 12, 13, and 16, 12:30-4:30 pm 

Who:  Tom Munch  
What:  playing & singing at the barbeque  
Where:  Yellow Pine Guest Ranch, Cuchara.  719-742-3528  
When:  Thursday, August 15, 6:30-8:30 pm

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