SINGAPORE β These days, you’re more likely to hear singer Hafiz John Dzulfikli’s mellow tones on a screen than in a bar.
Once a regular nightlife performer, Hafiz has traded his gigs for the comfort of his decked out music studio. In fact, the 34-year-old father of two finds performing online more fulfilling and engaging, even though live performances are allowed to resume.
No wonder why. Hafiz has built a following of more than 7,500 followers on his Twitch account JamBreadMusic.
His followers tune into his audio sensory live streams three times a week as Hafiz plays original or cover acoustic songs and is rewarded with a shower of bits (virtual cheers) and emotes (Twitch-specific emoticons) instead of applause.
Speak with Yahoo Finance Singapore from his music studio What’s Your Jam in Kampong Bahru, the soft-spoken musician and streamer described his journey from live performer to live streamer in the second half of 2020, at a time when the pandemic was taking away part of his income.
βThe monetization part is also a reason I want to start streaming. I’m so used to making a secondary income from performing live, so I thought this might be good for me as well,” he said, adding that live performances are uncertain due to the pandemic restrictions.
Hafiz opened the studio in 2018, offering jamming sessions, lessons and recording services. However, when COVID-19 rolled around two years later, Hafiz was forced to fire all five of his music teachers and take half of his classes online. It was there that he got his first taste of playing music via video.
Meanwhile, Hafiz’s second source of income, which accounted for up to 20 percent of his earnings, dried up with the ban on live performances. He also missed performing at his regular bar and club gigs.
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Dispels boredom with live streaming
Hafiz started live streaming his music at home to quell his boredom. His first live streams on the social media platforms Instagram and Facebook were only seen by friends. He then found out about Twitch, but was skeptical about the type of content that can be streamed on the platform and the reach.
“That means if I want to start streaming on Twitch I will have zero friends so it’s like I’m starting completely from scratch, unlike Instagram and Facebook I already had friends on my account, right. So I started looking at Twitch and looking at content creators and stuff,β he said.
After checking out other musicians on the platform, Hafiz’s skepticism evaporated. He was immediately drawn to the sound quality of the music on Twitch, which he compared to live performances.
Hafiz’ priority was to achieve similar sound quality. After solving the gear issues, Hafiz did his first Twitch stream in August 2020.
By November of that year, Hafiz’s infrequent live streams had gained traction and he was made a Twitch affiliate. As a Twitch affiliate, Hafiz was able to make money from his channel. Membership is only offered to content creators who have reached certain milestones in their live streams, including at least 50 followers.
“I felt like I was meeting friends and those friends became real friends. The reason I wanted to stream live is to meet them and hang out with them again…it motivates me that those viewers keep coming back,” he said.
Follower growth is a key reason why Hafiz now prefers live streaming to live performances, he said. Another is the interaction between followers and content creators, albeit through the Twitch platform. Performing on stage is rather one-sided, he said.
While Twitch Affiliates can monetize their content in a variety of ways, Bits and Subscriptions have been Hafiz’s primary channels. Bits are virtual cheers that followers can buy to show their support for their idols. Followers can use Bits in chats with their idols as a “shoutout” to indicate their presence. Streamers earn S$0.01 from every bit used in chat.
Followers can also pay a minimum of $4.99 to subscribe to Hafiz’s channel and get access to a wider range of custom emotes designed by his wife. Subscribers get custom sub-badges and ad-free access to streams. Hafiz also rewards its subscribers with priority song requests.
Hafiz also earns through advertising revenue, a product affiliate link in his Twitch bio, and the sale of JamBreadMusic branded merchandise.
By 2022, Hafiz had reached another milestone. He was offered the chance to become a Twitch Affiliate – one step above Twitch Affiliate. This meant better benefits and exposure as Twitch promotes its content.
Live streaming supplements his income
With a broader base of followers, Hafiz is now fully committed to a fixed livestream schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons for around three to four hours each. The nights are reserved for the children, which is why he cannot commit to live performances, as these usually take place at night.
His part-time live streaming now accounts for 20 to 30 percent of his total income, with Twitch’s monthly earnings at times reaching the mid four-digit range. While he still makes most of his money from his music studio, live streaming offers a welcome “bonus”.
Aside from cash, Hafiz’s Twitch community helped fund a computer he now uses to live stream. The target of S$1,500 was reached within a month, he said.
His advice to potential live streamers was to just take it easy. “Make sure you really, really, really love what you’re doing. Don’t even think about anything else, you have to make sure you are that passionate about what you are doing. And then all these things come naturally.”
“Subconsciously you want to make sure you look good when you’re streaming, so obviously at some point you get a good camera or get your angles right. Make your “About Me” page beautiful… So all these things should come naturally. You don’t have to stress yourself.”
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