🦠 StubHub layoffs; Radio booms, streaming stalls; PRS for Music, Help Musicians UK launch relief funds; BMG, CD Baby, Absolute Label Services weigh in on crisis; Germany's €50B package for culture
Daily update for the music business on the coronavirus (March 27)
If you have been forwarded or recommended this newsletter: welcome. Every morning (CET) I cut through the noise to compile this list of the most important coronavirus-related music business headlines.
SURVEY: Music Managers Forum gathering evidence and data on impact of COVID-19 on music makers and their representatives (MMF)
Tracy Maddux (CD Baby, AVL Digital) on leading a business in the midst of a crisis: ‘It almost always gets worse before it gets better.’ (Music Business Worldwide)
Absolute Label Services’ James Cattermole: 'There has never been a more important time to keep active as an artist.' (Music Business Worldwide)
BMG CEO Masuch: ‘We can’t allow this crisis to bring down the future of talented people who chose a creative career.’ (Music Business Worldwide)
How coronavirus will reshape the concert business (Billboard)
What are platforms & startups doing?
Amid Stubhub layoffs & liquidity crisis, ticket brokers push for a bailout (Billboard)
TIDAL is livestreaming previously recorded concerts free of charge during coronavirus (NME)
Music software creators make music creation tools free, give away extended trial periods (list) (The Verge)
What are artists doing?
Embracing lockdown: how DJs + producers are protecting their mental well-being (DJ Techtools)
Paul Weller, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie & more join campaign to help record stores amid COVID-19 (Brooklyn Vegan)
How artists can stay afloat — and find new opportunities— amid the coronavirus crisis (Billboard)
Relief & resources
Germany has rolled out a staggering €50 billion aid package for artists and cultural businesses (Artnet)
What the $2 trillion US Coronavirus Stimulus Bill means for musicians (Pitchfork)
UK’s PRS for Music sets up emergency relief fund (PRS for Music)
UK’s Help Musicians launches £5M Coronavirus Financial Hardship Fund (Help Musicians UK)
Help Musicians’ corona advice for musicians (Help Musicians UK)
Tencent sets up $100m Global Anti-Pandemic Fund to support fight against COVID-19 (Music Business Worldwide)
How to set up a livestream for DJs (Resident Advisor)
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
I’ve been seeing some spikes in signups recently. 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.
Everyone seems to be jumping to livestreaming as some sort of holy grail. While it’s fun, I’m growing increasingly skeptical about whether it’s a good use of many artists’ time. Beyond survival, we should look at the time we have while everything is on hold as a resource. Invest this time in the future. Careful with doing one-offs. Take a step back. Understand your revenue streams and how they work for more successful artists. Consider what you’ve been busy with and what you want to actually spend your time on. Develop a strategy and then decide whether these ‘one-offs’ fit into it and are more than one-offs.
By all means: make sure to have fun. If that’s doing a livestream: do it. You’ll learn more about the medium while you’re at it.
See you on Monday.
MUSIC x CORONA goes out every morning (CET) on every weekday.
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