Coronavirus Might Kill The Music Industry
May 10, 2020 10:27:55 GMT -5
Post by boscy on May 10, 2020 10:27:55 GMT -5
Esquire Magazine
08/05/2020
Coronavirus Might Kill The Music Industry
BY WILLIAM RALSTON
www.Esquire.com/uk/culture/a32360709/coronavirus-music-industry/
08/05/2020
Coronavirus Might Kill The Music Industry
BY WILLIAM RALSTON
www.Esquire.com/uk/culture/a32360709/coronavirus-music-industry/
While we wait things out, the music is dying. And if weβre not careful, there may not be a live scene left when the pandemic is over. The music industry is used to headwinds, but the indiscriminate nature of Covid-19 switched the lights off overnight. No genre is safe, no ticket price or venue size protected from the fallout. βI like to plan for eventualities,β says Alex Hardee, a booking agent at global agency Paradigm, which numbers Ed Sheeran, My Chemical Romance and FKA Twigs among its hundreds of clients. βBut there was no eventuality that I ever imagined in which every live show in the world would be taken out simultaneously.β
The global live music industry is worth some $30 billion every year. Or, rather, was. In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 shut down everything from pub gigs to festivals. And in doing so, it also made apparent the lopsided shape of the modern music industry, in which artists are paid to perform, but often barely anything for the music they record. One of the truisms of the streaming era has been that while Spotify might have gutted the income you make from records, it makes it easier for people to find your music. That grows your live audiences, which is where you make your money. Now, with live audiences at zero, that deal is looking increasingly unworkable.
Whatβs left is an ocean of musicians wanting but unable to work, and a surrounding infrastructure of labels, distributors, record shops, session players, music venues and tour managers grappling with a precarious situation that nothing could have prepared them for. The only thing that does seem clear is that whatever version of the music industry emerges, bloodied, from this pandemic, it will bear little resemblance to the one that came before.
The global live music industry is worth some $30 billion every year. Or, rather, was. In a matter of weeks, Covid-19 shut down everything from pub gigs to festivals. And in doing so, it also made apparent the lopsided shape of the modern music industry, in which artists are paid to perform, but often barely anything for the music they record. One of the truisms of the streaming era has been that while Spotify might have gutted the income you make from records, it makes it easier for people to find your music. That grows your live audiences, which is where you make your money. Now, with live audiences at zero, that deal is looking increasingly unworkable.
Whatβs left is an ocean of musicians wanting but unable to work, and a surrounding infrastructure of labels, distributors, record shops, session players, music venues and tour managers grappling with a precarious situation that nothing could have prepared them for. The only thing that does seem clear is that whatever version of the music industry emerges, bloodied, from this pandemic, it will bear little resemblance to the one that came before.