Sara Quin says she and her sister and bandmate Tegan refuse to follow the livestream trend and do free concerts only to generate money for social media.

• May 23, 2020

AceShowbiz - Tegan and Sara rocker Sara Quin won't be joining the new livestream gig trend as she doesn't want to work for social media platforms for free.

The Canadian musician and her sister and bandmate Tegan have been keeping in touch with fans during the Covid-19 pandemic by broadcasting insights into their lives as a weekly show, "Where Does the Good Grow?", on Instagram Live.

However, Sara says fans can't expect any livestream concerts as she objects to generating money for social media sites by performing on their platforms.

"My hesitation is that it's a form of labour we do for free that is generating money for Instagram and Facebook and Twitch," the musician tells The Guardian newspaper. "I know it's not cool to be a sell-out and to say you need money and you want your fans to pay for things, but I feel as artists we need to be comfortable being transparent about that."

The "Closer" hitmaker went on to say that while she is fine with others using the internet to perform, it's not for her.

"I'm inspired by people doing livestreams and making content, but I don't feel inspired to do it, because I hate playing concerts to people holding up their cellphones, and I don't want to play a concert to my cellphone," the 39-year-old explains.

Sara also complains that global restrictions on concerts due to the pandemic have "f**ked* the band's "ecosystem" by putting their team out of work, and complained about the rates artists receive from streaming services.

"Instead of asking consumers to solve the problem, the industry needs to have a reckoning about the way we value music, and that needs to be platform-wide," she adds.