Sydney Opera House has partnered with Vimeo to launch the cultural intuition’s very own streaming service – uninspiringly titled ‘Stream’ – with hopes of competing with the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Stan, and Binge.
While that may come as a surprise, the initiative has actually been in the works for several years now. The project only recently came back into the fore thanks to the swift demand for digital content during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the newly launched streaming service has been pushed out with a plan to expand monthly and pull in international audiences as well with globally licensed content spanning talks, theatre performances, and concerts across new and old content.
Archival footage obviously takes up the brunt of what’s on offer right now, since the Sydney Opera House essentially took a year off last year. This includes archival sets from legendary UK band The Cure, Bon Iver, Solange, Sunnyboys, and Rita Ora.
No word yet on whether or not Sydney Opera House will throw up the primo Kanye West orchestral concert they hosted in 2006, or more recent performances from the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Prince, and Ice Cube.
Obviously there’s a stronger cultural focus to the content that will be available on Stream, as opposed to the feature films and documentaries that make up just about every other streaming service out there. And it could be the point of difference that actually cuts through what’s becoming an increasingly competitive subscription-based market.
Stream follows the success of the Sydney Opera House’s ‘From Our House To Yours’ series, which they ran through 2020 with the hopes of connecting with audiences while the house was closed to the public. Throughout its run, the program produced 200 digital works with more than 6.7 million views and downloads.
The Sydney Opera House streaming platform is now available across TV, mobile, desktop, and tablet, with an initial 30 hours of programming across 45 performances and events available on-demand. Plans are in place to expand the content base monthly. Best of all, subscriptions are currently free, but ticketed performances and events would need to be rented.
