It’s been a year since I sent out the first MUSIC x CORONA email: the newsletter turned all of the most important music-related pandemic headlines into a daily digest (since November it’s been folded into MUSIC x). One year later, we take a moment to reflect on that extremely uncertain time.
This week, one year ago
On March 11, 2020, the coronavirus outbreak was officially classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. In the first weeks of March 2020, global stock markets saw a series of crashes, the worst being on March 16 when the Dow Jones saw the single largest point drop in history. Italy was the first country in Europe to enter lockdown, with people there expecting concert cancellations until May and then a recovery. Meanwhile, they waited and sang on their balconies.
Schemes to help live music were launched. In the UK, the government abolished business rates for small venues. Sound Royalties launched an advance fund. Bandcamp announced its first COVID-19 fundraiser, which would see monthly repeats and become known as Bandcamp Fridays. The American Guild of Musical Artists set up a fund, the Recording Academy and MusiCares set up a fund, and UK Music started calling on the government for a support scheme similar to the one already in place in Denmark.
There was a strong sense that ‘this could be it’ for the music business. Various essays outlined that the streaming model alone can’t support the industry and called on people to support artists more directly.
In an effort to explore ways to stay connected and potentially identify new revenue sources, artists turned to livestreaming:
- Indie artists turn to livestreaming as coronavirus crisis unfolds (Rolling Stone)
- Lockdown listening: classical music and opera to stream at home
- United We Stream: Berlin’s clubs continue party online (Pollstar)
- Coronavirus is giving livestreaming the chance to prove itself (Rolling Stone)
- How livestreaming is bridging the gap between bands and fans during the coronavirus outbreak (Pitchfork)
- The show goes on(line): Concerts get creative amid global shutdown (IQ Mag)
- Beat goes on as China’s club scene learns to livestream (China Daily)
- Frank Turner’s livestream raised nearly $50k in funds
- Robbie Williams is doing karaoke on livestreams
This week, next year
One year ago, few of us imagined we’d still be in a state of lockdowns right now. Although it should be noted that for many workers & entrepreneurs in music the situation is absolutely dire, some of the worst case scenarios didn’t become reality.
While the music business still struggles with necessary restrictions and (sometimes unnecessary) uncertainty, things are a lot more predictable than one year ago. The past year has clearly shown that innovation lies not just with technology, but also the application thereof. We’ve been able to celebrate countless artists who put their creative force into livestreaming, virtual and mixed reality, new business models, or NFTs. They dreamt up ways to use this tech to build connections and new revenue and brought innovation into the world. Artists are innovators.
This thing is not over yet. As vaccinations will allow for certain parts of the world to almost completely open for business again in 2021, I implore everyone to remain supportive of industry workers in countries where vaccines are not expected to be readily available this year.
The pandemic is a bleeping marathon. I want to say “congrats! You’ve made it this far,” but we’re not at the finish line yet. So instead, a pat on the shoulder and a drink of water in the form of the MUSIC x newsletters to keep you going. It’s been rough, especially with lockdown fatigue setting in after all these long dark months in the northern hemisphere. The days are getting warmer, vaccination numbers higher… just a little bit further.
As a 2020 veteran, 2021 will be a breeze. You got this.
The MUSIC x CORONA newsletter archives are available for free and provide an organised daily snapshot of how the music industry dealt with the pandemic in 2020. The newsletter has since been folded into MUSIC x, which you can subscribe to for free at http://musicx.email.
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