Music Takes A Hit

Never mind about taking vacations or heading out of the town to catch gigs and concerts. The one thing I'm feeling keenly- the cancellation of gigs (especially Jimmy Eat World), concerts, and all upcoming shows in Singapore, including the Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) and National Theatre's West End blockbuster 'War Horse'.

Many concerts, sporting events and such have been broadcasting to the world with empty stadiums. Kinda eerie, but these are strange times. How frequent have we been using 'strange times', 'extraordinary times', 'unprecedented' and such? I don't know of any other global event that has put brakes on every city's lifestyles. Berlin Philharmonic went ahead with playing a concert to a vacant hall on March 12, 2020 and streaming it to audiences.

Perilous times for working musicians lie ahead. “Force majeure” clauses in artist contracts—releasing companies from liability in the event of disruptions—mean that many opera singers and freelance instrumentalists, not to mention actors, dancers, and backstage technicians, will go unpaid for the duration of the pandemic. The tenor Zach Finkelstein has written about the force-majeure issue on his blog, predicting that “many household classical music names will likely be insolvent or in dire financial straits by this coming summer.” It’s heartening to see an announcement such as the one I received from Opera Omaha, saying that, in spite of the cancellation of a forthcoming festival, “it will fulfill its contractual commitments to its artists and crew.” Finkelstein has made a list of several dozen organizations that are acting similarly. So far, the bigger companies are missing from it. 

~ 'Coronavirus Concerts: The Music World Contends with the Pandemic' by Alex Ross, in The New Yorker, March 14, 2020.

I watched Amanda Palmer stream her the final show of her New Zealand tour in Wellington's St Paul's Church, and Ben Gibbard and Chris Martin's live streams from their homes, and appreciated their efforts to share good vibes. Many Seattle musicians have canceled new album launches (gigs) and tours, and have taken them online. Besides Youtube, we live in Zoom and Twitch nowadays.

While we celebrate with the wide array of free concerts available, my heart aches for musicians. It's really sad. As we make music at home to pass time and finally grant our instruments the attention they deserve, we're reminded whose music we've been inspired by. We'd love to have these bands go on touring, and unbroken by the mayhem this pandemic is causing. Everyone hopes that the situation flattens out soon, but we're looking at the end of this year, at the earliest.



Many other musicians are not as lucky. Their earnings are dependent on the gigs they secure, and suddenly their confirmed jobs for the next three to five months have been canceled. They don't have health insurance and they live from paycheck to paycheck. Any savings might be depleted within three months. You could translate this to theatre practitioners and artists too, but here, I'll stick to musicians.

SXSW, Coachella and Glastonbury are all canceled. The big acts can take the hit, but their roadies and crew can't. These are people who have chosen to work in music and the related fields, and they're terribly affected by the world's lockdown in the fight against COVID-19. Small touring bands will really feel the hit keenly. Relief funds have sprung up, but with the world panicking and worrying and stocking up, few people will feel kindness and charity towards the others.

While there’s been no comprehensive research into the Australian industry, non-profit organisation CrewCare believes that the suicide rate among live entertainment crew and roadies – who number around 10,000 in Australia – could be 10 times the national average. Alberts himself lost 17 industry friends last year; the year before that, 14. 

And now at least five months’ worth of job prospects have dried up, virtually overnight. According to the CrewCare director Tony Moran, and verified by four companies Guardian Australia spoke to, every major live music production and crewing company in Australia is standing down, or has stood down, their part-time and full-time staff – and that’s only around 10% of the industry, the rest of which is casual or contracted. “It’s the first industry to stop dead,” Moran says. 

~ 'Coronavirus leaves roadies and events crew devastated: It's the first industry to stop dead', by Steph Harmon in The Guardian on March 20, 2020.