What I’ve Learned from Doing Livestreams as an Independent Musician (and How to Make Them Better)
Hey everyone — Alexander here. I wanted to share some thoughts from my own livestreaming journey as a composer, improviser, and multi-project creative. If you’re a musician just starting out with live content, here’s what I’ve learned — and how to make your streams not just more visible, but actually engaging.
When I started livestreaming my neoclassical piano improvisations under The Hollow Vale, I was honestly shocked by how few people saw them. Sometimes I’d have zero impressions, or only a handful of views on a beautiful 18-minute piece. It felt like shouting into the void.
But here’s the thing — YouTube doesn’t hate you, it just doesn’t know who you are yet. Live videos work differently from Shorts or regular uploads. The algorithm looks for consistency, metadata, and whether your stream is worth showing to an audience. So keep going live. Schedule your streams, give them meaningful titles — not just “Improv Session #4,” but something atmospheric like “Solace in G Minor – Live Piano for Rainy Mornings.” That’s the kind of content YouTube can understand and show to the right people.
🎛️ How I Use OBS to Enhance My Livestreams
At home, I always prefer using OBS Studio. Why? Because it lets me turn a simple webcam performance into an immersive, layered experience. Here are some of the ways I make my streams more interactive and visually rich:
Text overlays — Add titles, captions, or poetic lines that float over the visuals as you play. Even subtle ones like the piece name or the current chord progression can guide the viewer’s ear.
Screen captures — I often load up Sforzando, or sometimes Ableton, to trigger my soundfonts. I’ll screen-capture these windows in OBS so viewers can see the VSTs in real time, and understand how the sound is shaped.
Camera angles — I set up multiple camera feeds: one on my hands, one on the keys, sometimes even one on the piano itself from a distance. OBS lets me fade between them, giving a more cinematic, “live session” vibe.
Visual branding — I use subtle overlays from The Hollow Vale aesthetic — soft visuals, faint watercolour-style backgrounds, a bit of branding that reminds people who I am without being pushy.
It’s not about gimmicks — it’s about letting people enter your creative world.
🎹 Studio Setup: When I Keep It Simple
When I’m in the professional piano studio — just me and a grand piano — I actually switch to the YouTube Studio mobile app. It’s fast, low-hassle, and gets out of the way when the instrument needs to take centre stage. Audio holds up well if the room is acoustically decent, and you don’t need fancy overlays when a Steinway is doing the talking.
Final Thought
If you’re going live and not seeing results, it’s not because your work isn’t good. It’s because YouTube hasn’t learned who your audience is yet. Keep streaming. Pair your lives with Shorts. Use the tools that make your personality and process visible — and keep showing up, even if only 9 people watch.
Sometimes, those 9 are more important than 9,000.
