Driift – the livestream business behind acclaimed ticketed online shows for artists including Niall Horan, Biffy Clyro, Dermot Kennedy and Laura Marling – has appointed Sasha Duncan as Head of Production.
A widely-respected BAFTA-nominated producer, Duncan brings with her more than 20 years’ experience in music TV and production, most notably at the BBC where she managed large production teams at flagship events such as Glastonbury Festival, Reading Festival, the Mercury Prize, BBC Radio 2 In Concerts and the BBC Proms. Sasha has also worked on a vast range of music-related programming, with recent credits including Sing It Loud: Black And Proud (Channel 4, Whisper Productions) and V Festival 2020 (ITV).
Leading on all aspects of creative development, production and broadcast, Sasha is already playing a key role in Driift’s upcoming global livestream event for Live At Worthy Farm, home of the Glastonbury Festival. Directed by Paul Dugdale, the hugely ambitious five-hour outdoor show will incorporate exclusive sets from Coldplay, Damon Albarn, HAIM, IDLES, Jorja Smith, Kano, Michael Kiwanuka, Wolf Alice and DJ Honey Dijon, alongside special guests – all interwoven through a spoken-word narrative. The event will be recorded onsite at iconic destinations around Worthy Farm, the festival’s spiritual home, and broadcast across four separate time zones on May 22nd and May 23rd.
Driift CEO, Ric Salmon, commented: “Sasha’s track record speaks for itself. She is one of the most respected figures in music TV, with vast experience of translating excitement from the biggest live shows and festivals into hugely successful broadcast events. Her knowhow and dynamism is already proving invaluable to Driift as we look to attract the world’s most brilliant artists and directors and create similar bridges between live performance and this new format, we’re building in the global livestream space.”
Duncan added: “Being part of the Driift team has been an absolute joy. The level of creative detail that goes into planning and executing these shows is astonishing, as are the production values, and it’s genuinely humbling to witness the immediacy and passion of audience reactions. There’s been a real spark. Obviously, the opportunity to work with Glastonbury on the Worthy Farm livestream is incredibly exciting, but it still feels that we’ve only scratched the surface of this format. There’s so much more to come, not only with music but across all other artforms.”
Launched in August last year, Driift has gained a reputation for delivering the highest quality livestream productions – working with award-winning directors and collaborating extensively with artist teams and partners including CAA, BMG, WMG, UMG, DICE, Universe/Ticketmaster and Pulse Films.
Headquartered in the UK and with offices in North America and Australia, the company has already sold more than 500,000 tickets to audiences in more than 170 countries and was recently acclaimed as Innovators at the UK’s prestigious Artist & Manager Awards.
In December 2020, Music Ally named Driift as the #2 start-up to watch in 2021.