Singapore – Singaporean superstar JJ Lin held a virtual concert on Saturday (Jul 10) to end his Sanctuary World Tour.
However, the concert, which took more than a year to plan, was a disaster for viewers due to continuous streaming issues on SISTIC, the concert’s official ticketing site.
It was reported that some fans only got to watch the last 30 minutes of the show.
Tickets to the “highly anticipated online concert” ranged from S$38 to S$188.
Despite viewers turning off other devices to lessen the load on their Wi-Fi connection, a black screen or frozen frame was a recurring theme among netizens commenting on the concert on social media.
JJ Lin uploaded a Facebook post on Saturday to thank everyone that was a part of the tour. “It hasn’t been easy, but you made it all worthwhile,” he wrote.
However, a majority of the comments highlighted the technical difficulties viewers experienced.
“For you is good! Whilst for us is disastrous! I hope you restore our faith in you as we paid money to watch your concert after so much hype about it,” wrote Facebook user Johnny Lin.
It appears that those who tried watching it live in other countries also experienced lag.
“It was a success for you, and it’s a job well done, and we still love you,” said Yuna Tang. However, for us in Sydney too, the SISTIC platform was lagging and 90 per cent of the time was a black screen.”
Others highlighted the importance of watching it live. “If it’s not live, it’s not the same. Might as well watch YouTube clips,” said Cherry Choi.
On Sunday (Jul 11), SISTIC took to Facebook to apologise for the incident.
“We are devastated that despite our best efforts, SISTIC was unable to resolve streaming issues with our technical partner whom we rely on for certain aspects of the live broadcast of JJ Lin.”
“Despite our best preparations including conducting stress tests, load tests and catering for double the anticipated demand, the SISTIC team encountered unforeseen issues with our technical partner which we immediately investigated but were not able to resolve in a satisfactory manner,” said the organiser.
To address the disappointment of fans, SISTIC will be offering a refund to all affected patrons. They will also be allowed to watch the virtual concert at a later date. Eligible individuals will be notified by email with further details./TISG
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