Geneva (AFP)
The Montreux Jazz Festival, a prestigious music scene held every summer in Switzerland, announced on Tuesday that future editions will also be broadcast online.
"The Festival is thus continuing its transition to a hybrid model between live events and annualized digital presence", its organizers said in a press release.
Accelerated by the Covid crisis, this strategy had already been initiated in 2019 with the creation of Montreux Media Ventures, a subsidiary dedicated to the creation of digital content.
From now on, the festival will broadcast live the future editions thanks to a "multi-year agreement" signed by Qello Concerts by Stingray, specialized in the diffusion of live music.
For the first time since its creation in 1967, the organizers had to cancel the 2020 edition, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The festival had indicated that it was working to postpone the concerts already scheduled by headliners Lionel Richie and Lenny Kravitz.
The festival is expected to announce details of its 55th edition in the coming weeks.
Different in its format, this festival held on the shores of Lake Geneva is not a big open air.
It offers concerts in closed rooms, including its flagship the Stravinsky Auditorium, renowned for its acoustics.
If Montreux Jazz was originally true to its name, purely jazz, it has diversified its styles over the years.
Electronic music, hip-hop, R&B, pop, soul ... many musical genres are now represented there.
Despite the cancellation of its 2020 edition, the festival has since carried out several initiatives, including the free online publication of 50 legendary concerts.
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