đ· Restrictions for live music, government grants, and paywalls for livestreams
Those three things are related if we want to pull through the pandemic with an intact live music industry
Over the last week Iâve spoken to a theatre operating within social-distancing restrictions and having difficulty making that financially viable, even with financial support from their government. Iâve also spoken to an opera house whoâs investigating having the choir and the orchestra outside of the venue and piped into the actual hall where the soloists are performing. Iâve also seen a music competition for young musicians go online, for free. This brings together three problems weâre facing at the moment:
Even before the pandemic most venues across the world needed around a 70-80% capacity to turn a profit. Anything below that and youâre operating at a loss.
While thereâs support available from most governments, thereâs issues surrounding allocation and dangers in a potential second lockdown.
At the start of the pandemic, from a place of kindness, (almost) everything was free in the digital world. This has now created a world where you have to ask a lot of questions to move livestreams behind a paywall and get people to move there with you.
Venue capacity and the impact on the whole chain of touring
In a recent panel hosted by the National Independent Venue Association and the National Independent Talent Organisation in the US Frank Riley, from High Road Touring asked a pertinent question:
âWhen youâre playing a limited-capacity in one state, is the state next door actually open, or is the capacity even more limited?â Can you afford to tour? What most people donât know is that with touring, itâs a very small margin that actually generates money to the artist. If you start to reduce capacities, that living becomes just not workable. So yes, there are adjustments that can be made. You can eliminate a crew member⊠You can do things to adjust and to conform, but itâs not endlessly that you can do that. At some point it has to come back in full bloom, or itâs not going to work, and the development of an artistâs career is going to be stunted, for sure.â
In other words, the venue operates at a loss with reduced capacity, which means the artists canât properly afford to tour, crew members are cut, etc. We could move into a world where we can only go and see a singer-songwriter perform on their own. Or perhaps go and watch a duo with a bass guitar and drums. Or should solutions to this shortfall come from elsewhere while we remain within the restrictions of the pandemic?
Shouldnât there be grants and subsidies to fix this?
In many countries there seems to be an abundance of government funding flowing into the cultural sector. However, there are many roadblocks. For example, thereâs a case in Austria where the European Commission appears to have challenged a government support package for the entertainment and tourism sectors.
However, even if this money get earmarked allocation can be an issue. The US CARES act can provide a case in point. Where the money allocated to Nashville appears to have been spent quickly and well. This is not the case throughout the US, prompting Sound Diplomacy to set up #caresformusic, which is basically a toolkit to help people apply for the money being released throught the CARES act. The lifeline provided by government grants and subsidies are intended to keep an entire chain of music and cultural life together. To grab that lifeline, itâs necessary for those affected to be educated on how to apply and to mobilize the industry to support each other.
What about those new business models?
While weâre all looking at whatâs possible within the current restrictions and trying to find a way through the bureaucracy associated with government support packages, shouldnât we be focusing on creativity and new business models? Of course, the answer is yes, but the question raised immediately is what business model? Thereâs a lot to be said to go direct-to-fan. Whatâs the best way to do it?
Two venerable New York venues are going at it solo. Le Poisson Rouge has announced its own platform at $20 a month. Blue Note has already pushed forward with their ticketed platform. Here we have two great musical institutions from the same city going at it alone with two different business models: subscription based vs pay-per-view. Thereâs no glass ball to see which of these will succeed or whether both will succeed. Whatâs clear, though, is that audiences arenât looking for a fractured market where they have to pay for many different subscriptions.
We can learn from other industries who have gone through this transformation. In journalism, for example, the switch to an online membership model has been happening for years. NYU Journalism has just released a useful handbook, stressing the mindshift needed to be successful in this space:
âsuccessful membership organizations have developed ways of listening, fresh thinking about what their members actually want, and strong feedback loops to get it right. Theyâre empathetic and open to learning.â
By merely offering a subscription model to attend concert livestreams, Iâm not sure that that fulfills those requirements. In that sense, Blue Note may be better off by sticking closer to the offline model of paying a one-off ticket to attend a specific concert, but then via a livestream.
Quick
Bandcamp keeps popping up as the anti-spotify. It seems to have become the place where people go to express monetary support to their favourite artists in the pandemic.
Third of British musicians may quit industry amid pandemic, again showcasing how everyday musicians arenât capable of doing what Nick Cave or the Blue Note are doing.
Kanye isnât the only one professing artists should get to own their own rights. Meghdol, a band from Bangladesh, is also fighting to eliminate the middle-men and not get âripped off by music labels.â
Weâve written about that socially-distanced music arena in the UK before in this newsletter. Now, itâs had to shut down.
Livestreaming is a lifeline for many in this pandemic, but do make sure you mic yourself properly.
Pubs and restaurants in the UK will have to close by 10pm. However, music venues find themselves exempt from this rule if the concert has already started by that 10pm cut off.
Correction from Bas: accidentally misspelled SĂne Furlong's name in the previous newsletter. Apologies.
Music
Iâve been listening to a lot of ambient works recently and a standout album Iâve returned to is Richard Skeltonâs Landings. Feel free to get lost in it.
MUSIC x CORONA is composed by Bas Grasmayer and Maarten Walraven.
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