The Current Situation in the Music Industry; More Festival Cancellations, Peaceful Protests/Riots Amid Second Covid-19 Wave, and Dwindling Studio Sessions.
Since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, our summer plans and business practices have been either affected or halted completely due to supply shortages, limited consumer traffic, or preventions of the COVID-19 spread. It has officially been five months since the first public health official got sick in the United States, and yet still, we are continuing to fight the spread of the virus. Many believe we “beat” it, but now with “super spreaders” joining the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement, numbers are resurfacing in many states nationwide.
While concerts remain one of the most profitable sources of income for musicians, sadly music lovers may have to wait much longer than anticipated. To add into the many festival organizers that already cancelled their annual events, Coachella and Stagecoach organizer Goldenvoice, announced their official cancellation on Friday, June 12. “This is not the future that any of us hoped to confront, but our main focus remains the well-being of our fans, staff, artists, desert partners and everyone involved in the festival”, were just some of the words used in the statement Goldenvoice posted on the festival’s respective websites and social media. Luckily for attendees, anyone who did purchase a 2020 ticket for either festival will be given a choice to use their ticket for 2021 or request a refund.
Medical professionals have also become aware of the ongoing protests for the Black Lives Matter movement, and the impacts of coronavirus spread on crowds. On May 25, a 49-year old unarmed black man by the name of George Floyd was handcuffed for using a $20 counterfeit bill. During the arrest, Derek Chauvin (a white policeman) kneeled on Floyd’s neck for about 9 minutes, aided by 3 other officers Kueng, Lane, and Thao. Bystanders could hear Floyd cry out multiple times “I can’t breath”, “Please”, and “Mama” before he fell unconscious, and died. At the time of writing this, all the officers involved have been arrested and charged with either 2nd degree murder, or aiding and abetting second-degree murder. Since the murder of George Floyd, thousands of people in the United States, and the rest of the world have shown their support in the Black Lives Matter movement, and to stop racial discrimination. In doing so, the increasing number of people in the protests have skyrocketed, and unfortunately, the same goes for new COVID-19 cases.
In these protests, which in some ways can be compared to concerts and festivals, hundreds of people will gather with or without masks. In some states, it has become apparent that this is one of the major contributors to these new cases of Coronavirus. About 19 states have reported alarming increases in cases this past week verses the previous week.
With this data, scientists believe that concerts and large festivals reopening may have to wait much longer than expected. In addition, the current procedures for holding music festivals may have to be changed to ensure the safety of attendees, performers, and staff let alone the communities those gatherings are held around. Medical professionals have not named this uptick a “second-wave”, but rather include it as part of the first. Without being said, it seems like this part of the music industry may have to wait until a vaccine is ready.
So what does this mean for musicians? Aside from concerts not coming back until 2021 or 2022, many have turned to the web to continue entertaining their fans. This enters another issue however, since many studios across the country have not yet in fact re-opened. Many have access to recording equipment at home, but for those who depend on their recording engineers to work on their music, many also have to convert to home-studio recording. For most recording engineers, a typical schedule before the pandemic would consist of either one long session with one artist, or many smaller sessions throughout the day, week, and month. With the current social distancing guidelines in place, and restrictions on business practices, studios have switched over to only offering online mixing and mastering services. Although this is only temporary, until recording businesses can re-open. When they do however, scheduling and operations may have to change especially for recording vocalists. While masks do in fact work to prevent the spread of the virus, it may be difficult to record quality vocals with an additional layer between the microphone and pop filter.
While recording may have its limitations, another form of media creation in the music industry also took a hit. Photographers and videographers have seen a drop in clientele when scheduling photo shoots or video shoots. For some, this isn’t an issue due to an increase in social media content, lyric videos, and low budget music videos, but for the larger projects, many sets have been cancelled or postponed.
So what can we expect for the future of the music industry? For now, it seems that concerts will not be coming back as soon as we wanted. However, keeping things digital may be artists’ best bet when it comes to entertaining their fanbase. YouTube, Twitch, and social media sites like TikTok and Instagram have seen increased traffic to their sites from viewers and in content creation. Artists have converted their live sets to at home streaming of their performances, and even organizers have been putting up online music festivals with digital tip jars, paid entry, or donations to a cause. On May 29, Elton Audio Records put up an online music festival called Virtual Vibe to help musicians digitize their live performances, which may be the leading solution to the problem.
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