The music industry was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did venues and bars suffer from the lack of patrons coming through their doors, the musician who tour also took a significant financial hit. Leonie Cooper wrote the article attached in December 2020, approximately a year after the pandemic started. They wrote about how not only did the live music sector take a financial hit, bars, restaurants, and streaming services suffered as well. In 2020 music streaming went down 11% instead of seeing the numbers go up like predicted. The article stated that this was due to the lack of people commuting or hosting due to isolation. When artists who relied on touring to make their money faced financial hardship, they discovered that they could host digital concerts and sell tickets to those. These worked as the artists were still receiving a good chunk of the funds they otherwise wouldn’t have seen by relying on regular music streaming. The article also talked about how there was a shift of artists releasing music on a website called Bandcamp as a way to receive funds directly instead of seeing minimal growth from releasing on streaming services.

Now that we are in 2022 and the pandemic seems to be levelling out, touring acts can start travelling again. With touring being the purest form of financial aid to bands, it’s nice to see that the recovery process can begin. This is also helpful for newer bands to gain momentum in their careers and work towards a bigger following. The pandemic has also brought unwelcome feelings to patrons who regularly attended concerts to escape from their problems. Having live shows back is very welcoming to those who need them, from artists to fans.

I look forward to seeing how the industry will recover from this pandemic and what they will do if something like this happens again.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/18/how-the-pandemic-affected-the-music-industry