[Column] NTS/Boiler Room live streaming artists and unknown performance culture

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14 Dec 2025

[Column] NTS/Boiler Room live streaming artists and unknown performance culture

Prologue: A new performance space called live streaming

Text: mmr｜Theme: How DJ sets, experimental music, and unknown live performances have been formed and expanded around live streaming platforms.

At the beginning of the 21st century, music performance spaces gradually expanded from physical venues such as clubs and concert halls to spaces where music is distributed via the Internet. Especially since the 2010s, live music streaming has become established as an independent form of performance, rather than just recording or broadcasting.

NTS Radio and Boiler Room have different origins and philosophies within this flow, but they are the ones that have made live streaming culture visible internationally. What both of them have in common is cross-genre, improvisation, and an attitude of distancing themselves from the existing music industry framework.

Chapter 1: Establishment of NTS Radio and broadcasting culture

NTS Radio is an internet radio based in London that broadcasts DJ programs and live performances 24 hours a day. Broadcast content is wide-ranging, including club music, experimental music, folk music, and improvisational performances.

A feature of NTS is that it does not give any particular genre an advantage in program programming. Artists have curation rights on a program-by-program basis, and are allowed to include not only DJ sets but also field recordings, unreleased sound sources, and live performances.

“Live streaming on NTS has been positioned as an act of sharing the process of song selection and performance itself, rather than the presentation of completed works.”

Chapter 2: The emergence of Boiler Room and the visualized DJ

Boiler Room started out as a project to stream small indoor DJ events in London. The camera enters the same space as the DJ, and is characterized by a format that includes the presence of the audience.

This format differs from traditional video recording in which a camera is installed behind the DJ booth, and has a structure in which the audience, space, and performers are all in the same frame. As a result, DJ performance has been visualized as an expression that includes “physical and social behavior” rather than an act of “only sound.”

Chapter 3 Transformation of DJ sets in live streaming

DJ sets at NTS and Boiler Room tend to be different from peak-time club setups. There are many scenes where the emphasis is on the connections and surprises of the song selections, rather than the consistency of tempo and energy.

Particularly in NTS, long sets lasting over two hours are common, and a style that gently builds a narrative while crossing genres is often seen. On the other hand, Boiler Room has many relatively short sets, emphasizing the development in sync with the heat of the space.

“The conditions of live streaming changed the DJ set from a ““technique that makes the space function” to a ““structure that is listened to.”

Chapter 4: Compatibility of experimental music and live streaming

Experimental music has traditionally been performed in small venues, museums, and university facilities. However, with the spread of live streaming, the presentation environment has expanded.

NTS naturally incorporates noise, drones, improvisation, computer music, etc. into radio programming. The delivery format, which minimized visual information, served to encourage focus on the acoustic structure.

Boiler Room also featured experimental performances other than dance music, creating a space where experimental music could be reinterpreted within a visual context.

Chapter 5 The concept of unknown live performance

In a live streaming environment, while the audience’s reaction is physically limited, an unspecified number of listeners exist at the same time. This situation creates an environment in which the outcome is difficult for the performer to predict.

For this reason, many of the artists appearing at NTS and Boiler Room choose unknown compositions that are predicated on improvisation. Rather than having a set list fixed, the act of selecting and processing sound sources on the spot is central to the performance.

“An unknown live performance is a state of public experimentation that includes the possibility of failure.”

Chapter 6 Interaction between distribution technology and musical expression

Live streaming comes with limitations such as delays, audio quality compression, and unstable communications. These conditions require new judgment from artists.

For example, extreme bass sounds and subtle dynamics are difficult to reproduce in a streaming environment, so performances have been performed by consciously adjusting the timbre and structure. These adaptations result in a distribution-specific sonic aesthetic.

Chapter 7 Community and Archives

NTS and Boiler Room have archived their broadcasts and made them available for later viewing and listening. This archival nature transforms live performances from ephemeral events into referenceable materials.

Listeners will be able to reinterpret the performance not only by participating in real time but also by watching it later.

Chapter 8 Chronology: Main trends in live streaming culture

timeline title Online Music Broadcasting History 2000 : インターネットラジオ文化の拡大 2010 : 小規模ライブ配信プロジェクトの増加 2011 : Boiler Roomの初期配信 2013 : NTS Radioの本格運用開始 2015 : 実験音楽・即興演奏の定期配信化 2020 : 自宅・スタジオからのライブ配信の一般化

Chapter 9 Structure diagram: Elements of live streaming performance

flowchart TD A[performer] --> B[Distribution equipment] --> C[distribution platform] C --> D[simultaneous listener] C --> E[archive] D --> F[Asynchronous evaluation]

Final chapter: Changes in the music experience brought about by distribution

NTS Radio and Boiler Room have expanded the framework of musical performance through live streaming. It was not just a relay, but a presentation of a new performance space that included the unknown, experimentation, and social context.

“Live streaming culture has transformed music from a fixed work to a shared process.”

The facts summarized in this paper will serve as a foundation for considering future musical expressions.

Supplementary Chapter 1 Perspectives that transcend genres

The practice of the live streaming artists appearing on NTS and Boiler Room is more about ““music as a body of movement’’ than the name of a genre.

DJ sets and experimental performances in live streams are presented as a state of continuous change over time, rather than as a finished piece of work. This can be viewed as “recordable movement.”

“The moment music rejects fixed formats, its movement becomes most evident.”

Supplementary Chapter 2 Disappearance of studio and site

Traditionally, there was a distinction between music production in the studio and performance on-site. However, in a live streaming environment, this distinction becomes blurred. Homes, temporary spaces, public facilities, studios with no audience, etc. become spaces for production and performance at the same time.

On NTS, it has been confirmed that there are many cases in which material in the middle of production or unfinished sound sources is played as is in the program. Boiler Room also occasionally releases live sets that are close to rehearsals.

“The disappearance of studios and locations freed music from ‘preparation’”

Supplementary Chapter 3 Example density across genres

Looking at the activities of live streaming artists, cross-genre is the norm rather than the exception. Fragments of dance music, noise, jazz, folk music, and pop are concatenated within the same set.

This is more a result of changing listening conditions in the distribution environment than an intentional avant-garde. Listening for long periods of time in a private environment allows for rapid genre changes.

Supplementary Chapter 4 Redefining the profession of DJ

DJs at NTS and Boiler Room are not just music selectors. He plays multiple roles as a sound source manager, editor, improviser, and storyteller.

Particularly on NTS, DJs create musical archives by continuing their programs over long periods of time. This accumulation functions as an individual’s musical history.

“DJ sets are fragmentary records of personal history”

Supplementary Chapter 5 Video Intervention and Refusal

While Boiler Room actively incorporates video, NTS has maintained an audio-centric design. This difference directly affects the direction of performance.

When images exist, physical movements and spatial configurations have meaning. When the images are limited, the arrangement of sounds and temporal structure become foregrounded.

Supplementary Chapter 6 Managing improvisation

Improvisation is not chaotic. Live streaming artists design improvisations based on conditions such as streaming time, number of listeners, and technical constraints.

Unknownness appears as controlled uncertainty rather than pure chance.

“Improvisation is not about losing control, but about resetting the range of control.”

Supplementary Chapter 7 Archive consumption and recontextualization

Archived live streams can be cut, re-edited, and consumed in other contexts. This generates a different meaning than the original live experience.

This recontextualization extends the life of the work while rejecting a single interpretation.

Supplementary Chapter 8 Economic Structure and Independence

NTS and Boiler Room have demonstrated a model different from the traditional economic structure centered on record sales. Distribution is not only advertising, but also an activity itself.

“Live streaming exists as evidence of activity, not as a product.”

Supplementary Chapter 9 Connection to music history

These live streaming cultures are continuous with the history of improvisational music, experimental music, and DJ culture. New technologies do not make existing practices invisible, but reposition them.

Supplementary Chapter 10 Future Expansion Possibilities

The live streaming format is not a complete system. It continues to transform in response to changes in technology, listening habits, and methods of expression.

What is important is not the form itself, but music as an ever-changing body of movement.