You know, this is actually a really good form of advertisement… We should have more of these live streams!

Recently, I have watched Utada Hikaru’s「WILD LIFE」concert live on Ustream via MrOptic’s retweet. Although I was only able to catch the remaining 45 minutes of it, it was still great! Maybe this has happened before, but it is my first time hearing a concert being broadcasted on a live stream.

I had a little chat with M about this while watching the concert. We were thinking how great this is as a form of advertisement for the DVD/Bluray release. If you liked it, then you can buy the DVD/Bluray when they are released. International fans who are unable to fly to Japan are able to enjoy the concert as well. Furthermore, you can’t keep the live stream so it is like a really awesome sample.

Of course, I can understand how many wouldn’t want to do this. There is a possibility that ticket sales may not be as good if people are aware of the live stream prior to the day of the concert since some of them may choose to stay at home instead and watch it from their computers.

Another problem is of course illegal distribution of the live stream which may decrease DVD/Bluray sales. I think you and I know that it is pretty much inevitable that there will be someone somewhere recording and uploading the live stream to the world wide web and there will be people downloading it.

There may be other problems as well, but these two are the main ones that I can think of. But you know, I was thinking that doing free live streams may not hurt sales that much. If you think about it, people who download the recorded version of the live stream may not even pick up the retail release anyways. He may just delete it and download the Bluray rip instead. Also, some people

Hmm… But then again, this only sounds nice in words. Who would want to risk having a drop in sales? =/ This was Utada Hikaru’s last concert before going on a long hiatus, so maybe she just wanted to give her fans a treat.