Why digital content can never replace live performance

There’s a vigorous debate swirling in the cultural sector these days. As COVID begins to wane, lockdowns are lifted, and audiences are emancipated from their couches, what’s the best way forward with digital content?

In a survey conducted by Advisory Board for the Arts, 45% of arts organizations said they plan to keep digital content as a “different and/or stand-alone experience to in person.” But there is a nagging fear behind this decision, indicated by the 31% who plan to measure the success of their digital strategy by tracking ticketing trends for live performances: If we continue to provide digital programming, will it hasten the death knell for live performance, a process that began with the invention of the phonograph? Or does live performance hold a unique value proposition that cannot be replaced?

This past weekend, the New York Times published an opinion piece by organizational psychologist and author Adam Grant. In his essay, Grant examines the power of collective effervescence, a concept first developed by sociologist Émile Durkheim in the early 20th century:

“We find our greatest bliss,” writes Grant, from the “sense of energy and harmony” felt when we are gathered “in a group around a shared purpose.”

Business Insider’s Drake Baer has another name for it: “contagious euphoria.” He says when we achieve this “glowy, giddy feeling” at a social event, our sense of self is replaced by a sense of connection, commonality, and belonging. A 2020 study published in Frontiers in Psychology also labels this phenomenon as “self-transcendence” and describes it as a bonding experience that is most often sparked by shared focus of attention, emotional synchrony, and/or coordination of movement.

The benefits of such an experience aren’t as shortlived as one might think. A study led by psychologist Shira Gabriel found that people who had regular opportunities to encounter this “combination of feeling connected to others and a sensation of sacredness” experienced less loneliness, more spiritual transcendence, and greater meaning in their lives.

When do we experience collective effervescence? While dancing at a wedding; when brainstorming with colleagues or attending an industry conference; during congregational prayer or choral singing; when celebrating a World Series win in a packed stadium; while marching with like-minded people in a political demonstration; even during an intensive yoga class. Notably, this effect is also experienced while enjoying a live performance. During a June 2021 Foo Fighters concert that reopened Madison Square Garden, Grant observed the vaccinated crowd erupting into “the closest thing I’ve seen to rapture in a solid year and a half.”

Any one of those concert goers could have stayed home and listened to a Foo Fighters album on their iPhone, or celebrated the freedom that comes with vaccination by eating at a restaurant with their significant other. What is it about being with a group of people that makes an experience more meaningful, more rapturous? In a nutshell, it’s because emotions are inherently social. Harvard researcher and author Shawn Achor tells us that our brains are highly interconnected—we are actually linked to others on what he calls a “wireless mirror neuron network,” which causes us to unwittingly amplify the actions or emotions of people around us. We are quite literally built to experience emotion together.

Why is this important for cultural organizations?

Because it’s not just about our art form. The shared experience of enjoying a live orchestral performance, poetry reading, operatic production, or theatrical performance holds inherent power: it satisfies our deep human need for relatedness. Even if your concert-goer is surrounded by strangers, you can be confident that they will depart with a deeper sense of meaning, happiness, and belonging. Because #science.

That’s one powerful perk!

“Joy shared is joy sustained,” writes Adam Grant. Sure, it’s easier for potential customers to stay home and relax with Netflix, or engage with a cultural organization’s digital content online, but science confirms what we have always suspected: those that do are missing out on the profound benefits of a shared experience. In fact, researchers have found that students who experience a live theatrical production (as opposed to watching the same play on video) demonstrate a deeper understanding of the play’s content, more tolerance, and a deeper capacity for empathy.

In this era of endless choices—and with so many cultural organizations still employing 19th century marketing practices—fewer and fewer consumers are choosing cultural events as a solution for their Jobs to be Done. But what if arts marketers focused their efforts on highlighting the profound benefits of a shared experience, rather than extolling the virtues of their art and their artists? And what if cultural organizations prioritized strategies that amplified the social aspect of their events?

“Peak happiness lies mostly in collective activity,” Grant concludes. I’m willing to bet the Foo Fighters and their fans would agree.

Have you encountered collective effervescence recently? What cultural organizations are capitalizing on its benefits? Will your digital content decrease or grow as COVID wanes? I’d love to hear from you.