🦠 Should artists be delaying albums?; radio DJs switch to home-broadcasting; disaster after choir continues rehearsing; Bobi Wine criticizes African leaders; Universal details plans to support artists
Daily update for the music business on the coronavirus (March 31)
They were supposed to build stages for Coachella. Now they’re building coronavirus triage tents (LA Times)
Lyor Cohen: ‘Artists around the world are finding unique ways to shine light during this dark time.’ (Music Business Worldwide)
Tokyo Governor singles out music venues as breeding ground for coronavirus (Billboard)
MIDEM 2020 cancelled, reboots as digital event (Music Business Worldwide)
Recorded music
Royalty Exchange CEO: What the music industry must do to protect our own ‘at-risk’ population (Music Business Worldwide)
Universal Music Group details plan to help artists (Rolling Stone)
Global music business rallies to support indie record stores amid shutdowns (Billboard)
They were going to be spring’s biggest albums — until COVID-19 hit (Rolling Stone)
Artists, don’t delay your new albums – music is an emergency service (NME)
Livestreaming & broadcasting
Fox, iHeart execs reveal secrets behind ‘Living Room Concert’ performances (Variety)
Livestream platforms are a home for the world we’ve lost under quarantine (Quartz)
Here's my mum with the news! Radio DJs on the switch to home-broadcasting (The Guardian)
What are artists doing?
How Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard built community amid coronavirus (Pollstar)
A choir decided to go ahead with rehearsal. Now dozens of members have COVID-19 and two are dead (LA Times)
Ugandan pop star Bobi Wine criticizes African leaders in 'Corona Virus Alert' song (Billboard)
Resources
Livestreaming DJ sets in 2020: a complete how-to guide (DJTechTools)
Cherie Hu’s updated Virtual Music Events Directory (Google Docs)
The best way of showing your appreciation is to spread the word and perhaps help a few friends and colleagues stay up to date on the coronavirus crisis in music.
Thoughts
Just wanted to bring your attention to Karajan Music Tech, which is happening online this Friday. Besides being a very progressive innovation-centric music conference, there will be a number of talks dedicated to the current crisis and what comes next. I’ll be on a panel discussing how we can make our music scenes more resilient against lockdowns and travel restrictions (the latter can be climate induced, rather than just outbreaks).
I’m keen to learn how you came across this newsletter. You can do me a huge favour by filling out this one-question survey.
MUSIC x CORONA goes out every morning (CET) on every weekday.
❤️ twitter - musicxtechxfuture.com - musicxgreen.com - linkedin