CCB Magazine

SPECTYOU is the first streaming platform for the field of performing arts in the German­speaking world – bringing together dancers, theatre makers, performers and art lovers. Can streaming in the performing arts work? What’s it all about?  We talked to founder Elisabeth Caesar.

INTERVIEW   JENS THOMAS

CCB Magazine: Hello Elisabeth, your streaming platform SPECTYOU will be online soon. How does it work? 

Elisabeth Caesar: SPECTYOU is a new location­independent networking platform for theatre professionals. Video recordings of German­language productions in the fields of dance, dra­ma and performance – in full length and free of charge – can be uploaded. We offer a safe place for this, and tech­nologically up to date. Our goal is increasing the reach of the performing arts. 

CCB Magazine:Who exactly can upload and create a profile? Can anyone do that? And are all recordings free for the user? 

Elisabeth Caesar:All theatre professionals can create a profile. However, only the rights holders, ie companies, groups and thea­tres, can upload recordings. You also decide who can see their videos. And the user can conclude a subscription: In the first half of the year, it costs around five euros per month, after which the monthly subscription price will range between 15 and 20 euros. 

CCB Magazine:Streaming is now regarded as a saviour in music statistics and accounts for almost 50 per cent of all revenues in the mu­sic industry. Music is listened to over and over again. Music has something to do with consumption and listening habits. That can’t work in the field of the performing arts. Aren’t peo­ple just going to the theatre and experiencing everything live, on­site, in real time? 

Elisabeth Caesar:The two things are not mutually exclusive. And of course, streaming works differently in performing arts than in music. Our sector is smaller, but not so small: In Ger­man­speaking countries, 8,500 different productions are presented each year. So, in the current situation, you would need a full­time job to see nearly five per cent of these productions. There are about a thousand theatres in Germany, 65,000 theatre professionals and 25 million theatre visitors nationwide. We also aren’t looking to re­place live experiences, but want to create an expanded offer and an overview, thus arousing interest and facilitat­ing access to performative arts. Because the great thing about the performing arts is the live experience. Often, people don’t have the time and money to “travel” to the desired productions. We are now creating a new central location online. We also see this as a kind of democratisa­tion: small institutions stand as equals alongside the larg­er ones. One can follow all work equally and network with the actors. 

Streaming in the field of performing arts works differently than in the music sector. The primary goal is not about making money; it’s about networking, about self­empowerment. And the value of the theatre lies in the fact that the platform provides free marketing for theatre professionals

CCB Magazine:Sounds simple and promising. Why has it taken so long for such a platform to emerge? 

Elisabeth Caesar:This is the crux of the issue. I really spent weeks at solic­itors’ offices, because it’s quite complicated from a data protection point of view: Many theatre­makers haven’t yet dealt in detail with the question of what it means to make art accessible on the Internet. Former participants in pro­ductions must agree to the publication – this in cludes ac­tors from the fields of choreography, stage design, act­ing, directing, dramaturgy, etc. For this purpose, we have developed a comprehensible and manageable contract with a law firm specialising in copyright law. There are also questions about the copyright of texts, which must be clarified with publishers. But here too we have already received positive feedback from many authors and pub­lishers. For music streaming platforms, this is easier: The contracts between major record companies and the streaming platforms are agreed upon.

CCB Magazine:One repeated criticism of the great streaming services is that there is little left for the artists in the end. How are artists fi­nancially involved in SPECTYOU? And what do you make from it yourself? 

Elisabeth Caesar:The primary goal is not not about making money; it’s about self­empowerment, about not leaving everything to  Google & Co. And the value of the theatre lies in the fact that the platform provides free marketing for theatre professionals. We make dance and theatre accessible to a wide audience. The platform should also become a liv­ing and easily accessible theatre archive. We’ve received so much enthusiastic response from various sides. There­fore, we assume that at some point, SPECTYOU will be­come financially worthwhile. And once we make a profit, we’ll find a key that will fairly engage all those who put the work, time and creativity into the platform and its content. 

A streaming platform for the performing arts is highly complex under data protec­tion law: Many theatre professionals have not yet dealt in detail with the question of what it means to make art accessible on the Internet. And all production participants have to agree to publication

CCB Magazine:You recently visited us in the creative business consulting department and learnt about possible financing options. Which seemed to work best? And how do you want to finance SPECTYOU in the long term? Do you have a plan? 

Elisabeth Caesar:Of course we have a plan! In the consultation, we worked out a strategy together. However, it turned out to be diffi­cult to obtain funding in Berlin. We are not project­based enough to get an arts and culture grant and are too tech­nologically oriented for the current funding criteria. Cur­rently we are working with a start­up capital commensu­rate with the size of the project. But we consciously do so without advertising, which we don’t consider appropri ate in the artistic context. Ultimately, we hope the platform will eventually be supported by subscriptions. We want to provide careful and free support – and we can only do so if, in the long term, we are independent of the interests of big donors. 

CCB Magazine:As you look to the future, what challenges does the field of performing arts face in times of digital transformation? And where do you want to go with SPECTYOU in the long term?

Elisabeth Caesar:Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence are advancing in society. But what happens if culture fails to “keep up” with the new technical means, yet needs to reflect it? In the fu­ture it will be about taking decisive steps: Should we keep writing and send out carrier pigeons? Or do we open our­selves up to new technologies by making them our own and using them playfully? On the whole, I hope that we will have more courage to open up to the present, to ex­plore the current possibilities and to enjoy all the positive aspects of digitalisation. We now have the opportunity to create completely new forms. In addition, digital technol­ogies offer a huge artistic potential that has so far only been explored by a few experimental pioneers – and un­fortunately often reaches only a small number of people. That should change, and we can make a positive contri­bution to that change.