Kiwi Music Goes Global Via The Internet

Thanks to the Internet, Kiwi music legend Neil Finn has discovered you don’t have to go on tour to perform live to fans around the world.

A local Internet broadcast company and New Zealand’s broadband specialist Walker Wireless have teamed up to deliver an acoustic concert by Neil Finn live to a British audience.

The concert is being staged by the UK’s www.dotmusic.com at 10 am NZ time on Wednesday, January 17. It will also air on Neil Finn’s website www.nilfun.net.

Live webcasts are becoming popular in both the entertainment corporate worlds as bandwidth becomes more widely available.

The concert is being streamed by Internet Pictures NZ from Roundhead Studios in Auckland, powered by a 512K broadband connection provided by the Walker Wireless point of presence in Auckland’s Skytower.

It is being webcast at both 300K and 56K meaning that Internet users with both broadband connections or standard telephone dialup modems will be able to access the concert. Those with broadband will receive broadcast quality.

Internet Pictures NZ Technical Director Fergus Milner said the event was using leading edge technology and demonstrated the capabilities of the Internet as broadband connections became commonly available.

“New Zealand has tended to be a bit isolated from these things, but not anymore,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of bandwidth come on stream and the potential is enormous.”

Walker Wireless CEO Paul Ryan said wireless broadband was a powerful enabler of Internet and mobile technologies.

“Everyone knows the power of broadband for data, but video streaming, digital television and much more can be carried on broadband networks like ours.”

As well as an acoustic concert, dotmusic.com will also interview Neil Finn as part of the live webcast.

© Scoop Media