Music Industry & Covid-19

The impact of Covid-19 has altered virtually every industry in the world, which has lead to a lot of adaption to the irregular challenges that face them. The music industry has been no exception to these issues. With social distancing and travel restrictions plaguing the world, live music was pretty much halted for a vast majority of performers around the world. This has halted the main source of income for a ton of musicians, where they would make revenue from the tickets that were booked, which has lead to a dramatic change within the scene.

The first drastic shift has been the increased encouragement to stream songs on services like Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming apps, as each play would generate a small amount of revenue towards the musician. But this only makes up a fraction of the money needed for a career to actually succeed. Another thing that has been higlighted by artists is merchandise. A ton of artists that I’ve been following, such as Jacob Collier, Vulfpeck, and others have been launching more merchandise, such as clothing related to new music released and exclusive editions to their music, such as vinyl copies of albums. In terms of concerts, virtual livestreams have temporarily replaced them, with events such as virtual versions of famous festivals being livestreamed on platforms such as Youtube and Twitch. There, fans are able to donate directly to the artists to support them, while enjoying the experience. Music labels have also helped with releasing music of artists to a broader audience by signing the artist or their record, with signings benefiting revenue for the artist.

Finally, one of the most unique things I’ve seen this year has been the incorporation of concerts into the popular video game Fortnite. With the pandemic ongoing, Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite, announced a project this year that would allow a showcase of concerts in the game, with players launching the game and watching the concert within it. Artists such as Anderson .Paak, BTS, and Dominic Fike have appeared in a virtual concert. The concerts would be regularly scheduled, and would be as simple as a music video within the game, to an interactive augmented reality event that engages the audience.

The industry has been heavily battered by the pandemic, however, within this crisis, new innovations have not only temporarily mitigated the damage, it has left shockwaves within the industry that will last well after the pandemic.