Amidst the rise of digital piracy during the early 2000s, the record industry has plummeted, hence prompting artists all around the world to depend on touring for income and exposure. Even though online streaming services offer royalties, it is subsequently low as much as a fraction of a cent every time someone plays your album, consequently making touring a major source of income for an artist. Now to the concerns regarding coronavirus in the music business.

Effects of coronavirus in the music business

There’s no doubt that widespread of contagious flu across the globe has affected countless industries. Every sector of the entertainment industry is facing chaos. Due to the brisk pace of the outbreak and the consumers’ reaction to stay home, not to travel and avoid public gatherings has contributed to an almighty sell-off of company shares in multiple markets, and nosedive in the valuations of public companies worldwide, especially the effect of coronavirus in the music business has taken companies off their feet. As you may have read elsewhere that last week (9th March), music industry giants like Spotify, Sony Music Group (Sony Corp.), Live Nation, Vivendi and many more have suffered a significant decline in market value.

On Wednesday (11th March) coronavirus outbreak was labeled as a pandemic by WHO which on the next day resulted in announcements made about Live Nation, Korea Times Music Festival (Los Angeles) being indefinitely postponed; Ultra Music Festival (Miami), Tomorrowland Music Festival (French Alps), Big Ears Festival (Knoxville) getting canceled and Coachella postponed to later on this year; many more have faced the same outcome. This has led to the drying up of tributary for the touring artists. Along with that, sound and lighting teams, event managing teams, bartenders, and so on are now redundant; which raises questions about the present-day music industry model, and the viability of its business structure.

Will it take a turn and new ways would emerge to get artists and fans closer and form a more personal connection? Would streaming be given more preference, henceforth? Does virtual reality have the potential and capabilities required to provide a similar experience, a live event would? What do you think? Do share your views on the comment section.

Although coronavirus affected music businesses will soon experiment with a new industry technique to prevent such a catastrophe in the future, till then what can we do in this current situation? Let’s be honest that you already know that this isn’t just a problem for artists, labels, and the people who work around them, it is a part of our concern too. If they can’t make money, we can’t have music. So all we can do from our side is to support them, show them some love and boost their online presence on social media. If it’s in your budget, get yourself something from the artist’s merch store or even buy an album. Bandcamp offers free services for independent artists to upload their tracks and does not take absurd cuts, instead, they charge an acceptable rate of 15% on digital and 10% on merch sales. Many artists have Patreon and other similar services through which you can gain early access to artist’s tracks before they go live to the streaming services or even contribute in fan-fund album projects, which cuts subsequent overhead charges and makes you feel like you are a part of the process. After all, everyone can provide a helping hand depending on whatever is in their reach.