Nightspots are shuttered across Southeast Asia as part of the fight against Covid-19. But one Singapore club is showing how partygoers can continue raving in the time of social distancing
What happens in Vegas, usually stays in Vegas. But when Andrew Li, CEO of nightclub group Zouk, met Min-Liang Tan, the co-founder and CEO of gaming company Razer, in Las Vegas in January, what went down in Sin City didn’t get left behind.
While in Vegas, the pair spoke about potential collaborations, such as fitting out Zouk clubs for e-gaming tournaments or incorporating Razer’s technology at Zouk’s Red Tail social bars. “[Tan] is a huge disruptor in his field and we have a lot in common in trying to push the boundaries,” says Li.
When Covid-19 hit, they saw it as an opportunity to put these plans into action.
Inspired by clubs in China, which live streamed performances at the peak of the country's lockdown in February, Li had already begun to float the idea of doing something similar in Singapore. In March, when the government announced the closure of entertainment venues, they decided to launch cloud clubbing.
Together with live streaming platform Bigo Live, which Razer has an existing partnership with, Zouk launched a series of closed‑door DJ sets in March that streamed exclusively on the Bigo Live app.
“We felt the combination of Razer’s technology and our expertise in music would encourage people to stay home, while still giving them a community experience of clubbing,” says Li. In the Razer channel of the app, users are able to interact with the DJs and each other via the live stream chat, as well as purchase and send virtual gifts, such as “beans” or “stickers”. A portion of the proceeds from virtual gifts are paid to the DJs to offset the production costs of closed-door acts.
The cloud clubbing idea proved to be a success—their first session reaching around 200,000 views over three hours. There are already plans to expand programming by streaming acts on Fridays and Saturdays, and to rotate the line‑up with different genres of music and types of artists.
“To be honest, there’s no nightlife now, so people who would normally go out are now interacting with each other in the virtual sphere,” says Li.
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