Live music industry is screwed around the world

Performers are expected to shoulder the worst battering in this crisis

There were grand plans of bringing-in artists, with tours in India lined up until September. However, with the global outbreak of COVID-19, everything in India’s live music circuit is being reconsidered.

Mumbai-based music management company Mixtape completes 10 years in business. They’ve previously been associated with flying down every noted musical artiste to the country — from multi-instrumentalist wiz Jacob Collier to Saharan folk masters Tinariwen, besides executing festivals such as Disrupt and SulaFest.

Founder Naveen Deshpande, however, is currently experiencing the lighter side of being unable to execute any of their 10th-anniversary plans – he’s having a laugh over a video of sounds and sights, usually saved up for live event production crews. It’s like ASMR for stage staff, listening to and watching trucks backing up and unloading, followed by wheeling around equipment.

Read: As cities go for lockdown, Live music industry disrupts

Beyond the obvious strain on income for musicians, music festivals, venues and promoters are also slated to face tough months ahead. Bengaluru’s Fandom at Gilly’s Redefined – one of the few regular music venues in the city that can host about 500-600 attendees – shut on 14 March after government advisories against public gatherings were released. They were set to host artists like Peepal Tree, The F16s, and two gigs attached to the metal festival, Bangalore Open Air (which has moved from 21 March to 11 July).

Suvan Mathur, general manager of events at Gilly’s says it’s definitely a setback, but artists are affected more than venues like theirs, who do have a parent company backing them. He adds, “We’re playing it by ear. We’ve told everyone to look at gigs as potentially cancelled. The moment we see things changing, we’ll probably postpone most of the events. Once it’s clear, we’ll start planning again with bands and artists.”

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Kochi’s annual Mojo Rising festival was postponed in the nick of time when it was scheduled to be held on 14 and 15 March, featuring the likes of Sid Sriram, Agam, Anand Bhaskar Collective and Aabha Hanjura’s band Sufistication, among others. Lakshmi Venugopal, head of corporate communications at organizing firm Wonderwall Media, says they just decided to prioritize “safety and health over anything else”. She adds: “The situation now will definitely lead to an unimaginable crisis if this status quo continues. Even during the floods (in 2018), we faced issues, but this pandemic being a global crisis has shut down the industry in totality.”

What is the scene in the Western music industry?

An online campaign titled Broken Record is also taking shape. It has been co-created by Tom Gray of the Mercury prize-winning band Gomez, who is also a director of the Performing Rights Society, the body that sees to musicians’ payment from such sources as radio stations and the music played in pubs and hotels.

“Covid-19 happened and I was sitting there just thinking, ‘Live music has gone, and it’s going to be gone for a long time,’” says Gray.

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One of the big names on the running order for Broken Record’s Twitter listening party is the Scottish artist KT Tunstall. Around five weeks ago, she says she had an angry epiphany. “Online, everyone was clamouring to be entertained, and just expecting to get that for free,” she said.

Former Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider has said that the live music industry is “screwed” while the COVID-19 pandemic lasts – and he isn’t sure when it will bounce back.

“Everything that’s happening is just horribly damaging, especially for young artists who don’t have the legacy or the licensing or branding that a band like Twisted Sister has.”

Snider, who was due to play summer shows with the hard rock supergroup Kings Of Chaos, adds that he isn’t sure whether people will return to gig-going even when restrictions are fully lifted.

He says: “How are people going to feel when gigs are back on? Will they ever come? Will they be standing shoulder to shoulder in the audience, or are they going to be wearing masks?