The Covid 19 Music Industry
It just seemed like yesterday when metal heads and music goers of all types were able to see the shows they’ve anticipated over the months…if not years. Bands signed and unsigned began gearing up for tours set within the middle of the month if not already currently active during February 2020. To see the economy showing virtually no signs of weakness was a good indicator 2020 was going to be the big year for various tours. Covid 19 was on the news but many didn’t think it was any more harmful than the SARS virus… until the stock market took a huge dive and states began going into lock down. It felt like a never ending “strange nightmare”… seeing everyone around wearing face masks and gloves. What the hell happened to the countries we all came from? None of us were prepared for the Covid 19 Music Industry.
Kicked To Your Knees…
From small independent music productions all the way to giant Goliath billion dollar music industry production companies… everyone was kicked to their fucking knees. The domino effect of shit began its course and soon enough many bands were sent emails regarding their tours being cancelled, postponed, or even worse…some bands left stranded in far away countries stripped of their tour budget. The Covid 19 music industry was a real life nightmare for many signed and unsigned musicians…. let alone investors within the show business. Lets not forget the venues who had to lay off their staff, put them on unemployment benefits, only to see their bank accounts trickling away with losses day by day. How could anyone see a future in the music industries current state? It was literally left in smoldering ruins with ticket buyers without a show with a fully paid ticket… musicians out of work having to find replacement jobs… and music promoters/talent buyers left trying to figure out when the right time to resume business will be via the governors approval. The only question left is…what is there to do now?
Face Mask Requirements
With the future being extremely unpredictable, there is already requests being made by various production companies big and small regarding the possibility of shows being cancelled. Not to mention the new health code requirements set by the state which requires each venue to temperature test the attendees along with providing or selling face masks. It only makes sense to include a face mask for each ticket buyer (not going to elaborate on that). This resulted in big companies reducing the contract down payment requirements and leaving room for a full refund or double refund punishments for cancelling on the event. Force majeure has been prominent due to Covid 19 and many production companies are finding ways to reduce the possibility of more potential losses.
However there are still city or state based production companies who are accommodating to the regular artist agreements which is something considered “prestigious” among those within the music industry. This will show who the ground level investors are who are also willing to “roll the dice” during the worlds worst virus outbreak in history. However, what is left for the musician within these unforsaken circumstances within the music industry?
What Can Musicians Do During the Covid 19 Music Industry
This is a time for musicians of all types to focus on their web and social media presence along with their EPK’s (electronic press kits). With touring, local shows, and studio production taking up most of the time of music groups or bands… this is an indisputable time to revamp your bands website, Facebook pages, Instagram, and most importantly your music outlets. This is also a time to sit down and write new material that you originally were scarce on time to complete. When life gives you lemons…make lemonade. Go out there and promote your music across the world within this Covid 19 music industry whether it means getting more spins on your single via XM Radio, Music Choice, Pandora, YouTube, and many other outlets. Making a new music video is a great start which many are doing. The ones who are really on top of their game are investing into their band or music groups website SEO (search engine optimization). Having SEO will allow your music to rank 1st within Google searches. Google has also proven to be a great method for advertising such as Google PPC (Pay Per Click)… and most importantly monetization via Google AdSense for musicians to get paid for their website visitors listening to their music. This is valuable information we prefer to share with our MMR Productions USA readers and supporters.
The whole point of promoting your music is to get it heard across the nation….and the world. Without a doubt more traction can be made by reaching your listeners through the outlets they prefer to hear them from. It is also a good time to release free material such as singles or old albums that are pirated that can be monetized via YouTube plays. People would rather listen to it online via website or YouTube than trust a shady Torrent file which could thrash your computer up. So sometimes giving back isn’t always a bad thing, especially if it can be monetized for each listener or download.
Support your local and signed musicians by sharing their music whenever possible.
This is a time to support each other and nothing more.
I hope this blog has helped many gain insight on the current issues in today’s music industry and the solutions to overcome them.
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