Twitch is one of the leading live-streaming platforms currently on the market.
In 2020, the platform averaged around 26 million daily visitors and 7 million unique streamers each month (source). From 2012, the year it was founded, Twitch has grown exponentially, attracting more and more viewers and streamers.
Although it developed as a gaming platform, Twitch has expanded its offer and it now presents endless streaming categories. With more and more musicians finding a new home on Twitch, the Music category is one of the fastest-growing on the platform.
Despite the success of Twitch, however, small streamers can still struggle to gain a decent following and some good results.
While having a lot of viewers and followers can surely help your growth, I personally found that the focus should be on the quality of your community rather than on the quantity. And to build a great community, you have to offer a great stream.
In this article, I will guide you through five Twitch streaming tips for a beginner Music streamer. The goal of each tip is to make your live streaming show a tiny bit better until it is ready to reach its full potential.
Take it easy: it can take a lot of time to learn all the tricks needed to have a killer stream. Meanwhile, I hope this little guide will make your life on Twitch a bit easier.
Tip #1: Listen to your audience
No matter if you average 3 or 300 viewers each time you stream on Twitch. The platform is heavily community-based and the people hanging out in your chat are not just viewers. They are there to hear you, but also to be heard.
Honestly, this is something I have struggled with. I have always had a more "traditional" perspective, where the musician and songwriter is a lone wolf creating in the solitude of their room. The fruits of their labor, in my old mindset, were to be shown afterward, on a "hit or miss" basis. Being an introvert, who feels truly recharged only in solitude, I still struggle with this mindset sometimes.
However, the beauty of Twitch is that it is filled with strong communities, where bonds are real and feedback is shared very often.
Even when your community is still very small, you can start listening to it. Take song requests. Encourage people to give you feedback on your setup. Ask for suggestions to improve.
I basically re-designed my whole studio by listening to the feedback of my audience on my setup. It took time and I had to fight some inner resistance to change, but it worked.
If you feel stuck or a bit uninspired when it comes to your Twitch streams, just listen to your audience!
Tip #2: Keep improving your setup
I explain everything you need to know about your very first live streaming setup in this article.
As I suggest there: start small but keep improving.
As you learn new skills and earn some more money, make some upgrades.
It doesn't have to be a major change.
You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on a new microphone or a super professional camera.
Maybe you could just learn how to add filters and plug-ins in OBS to make your audio and video sources better.
Or you could buy some lighting gear to make your video look more professional even when you don't have the money for an expensive camera.
Here's another idea: if the room or space you stream from doesn't look great, you can invest a bit of money in a green screen and add interesting virtual backgrounds.
Keep in mind that, as musicians, we should always prioritize the quality of our audio source. For this reason, it is essential to have at least a good-quality microphone and audio interface.
If at some point you can afford to upgrade some of your gear, I suggest you start from the audio.
Here's another warning: this journey probably never ends. Through time, you will find more and more ways you can improve your setup.
Never settle for what you have. Always try to make your stream a tiny bit better, either through some new investments or some new skills.
Tip #3: Make your stream interactive
This tip is somewhat connected to tip number one, but it is a bit more specific.
Twitch is designed to be an interactive platform, where viewers can also be the protagonist of a stream.
There are many ways in which musicians can interact with viewers during their streams.
Twitch itself helps you in this endeavor with tools like Hype Trains or fun extensions.
My suggestion is: think about at least two ways in which your audience can actively interact with you while you are streaming.
Here are some ideas.
First of all, a great classic. No Twitch musician can do without this tool: a songlist!
With StreamerSonglist you can create a list of songs you play live. Viewers can access this list and request any song they'd like. This is a simple but very effective way to keep the conversation going with your audience.
If you have enough time to study new songs quite often, you could also encourage your viewers to leave suggestions for new songs to add to the list.
Another great idea could be to play games with the people in the chat.
During long streams, I sometimes play musical quizzes with my viewers. It is usually a fun moment that both they and I enjoy. It is also a great strategy to catch my breath between songs.
Twitch presents a lot of options when it comes to minigames and other interactive tools. Have a look at the extensions available and install the ones you feel would be good for your audience.
Tip #4: Play the songs you love
When I started streaming on Twitch, I worried my repertoire was a bit too "old" to attract viewers. I mostly play folk and rock songs from the '60s and the '70s. I have a lot of originals too, but still in that style.
Turns out I was wrong: the Twitch Music community has different niches you can count on. This means you can totally concentrate on the genre of music you love, without having to compromise too much on the repertoire.
Singer and songwriters are quite popular on the platform. Musicians who play peculiar instruments or with peculiar techniques can grow at a very rapid rate. If you use a loop station and know how to integrate the good ol' guitar with new technologies in music, then you can grow even more rapidly.
However, none of these categories can find success, unless what they offer is sustainable in the long run. In other words: if you start streaming a genre of music or an instrument you hate just because you think this will make you popular on the platform, you are set to fail. Chances are you will grow tired and your stream will lose most of its value.
Try to find your own voice, instead. You don't need to do something "cool" or different or re-invent the wheel each time you stream. Just be yourself and bring your own perspective, personality, and approach to music to your audience. It might be a hit or miss, but it will surely be more sustainable in time.
Tip #5: Repurpose your streams
A great way to reach new people and keep connected to fans who are not familiar with Twitch is to repurpose your live streaming content.
By using snippets and clips from your Twitch performances, you can also grow on other platforms like YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. If people find you on any of these social platforms and like your music, they might join your Twitch channel and start attending your streams as well.
This is a great way to optimize the effort you put into your streams, leveraging not just on platform, Twitch in this case, but also other social platforms you have at your disposal.
I hope these five tips were helpful!
If you have any other tips to share, feel free to post them in the comments!
See you on Twitch three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!