With the declaration of the fast-spreading coronavirus COVID-19 as a pandemic, the music industry has swiftly entered into crisis mode. Starting with the cancellation of South By Southwest (for the first time in its 34 year history) and snowballing into the postponement of Coachella and other festivals, arena tours and now a wave of smaller acts, the need for “social distancing” has infected seemingly every aspect of the music industry. There is little debate that cancelling tours is the right thing to do, but in a world that increasingly devalues art (especially music), and where playing shows is basically the only source of income for most acts, this crisis is alarming and the long-term effects on many have disastrous potential. It’s important to remember that, for practically all artists, it is a necessity to tour in the spring, summer and fall as a way to support themselves. This means that even postponing tours, which does offers some mitigation for bands and fans, really only means less shows as a whole for artists.
Of course, what is happening in the music industry is only one small part of what is shaping up to be a global clusterfuck of massive proportions. That being said, besides the obvious loss of income, a hit like this on an already struggling industry is going to have some sort of impact on anyone who has ever turned the radio or streamed a song on Spotify. Maybe it isn’t all doom and gloom, as we know that music (and art in general) has survived throughout history. There are also creative ways for artists to generate revenue and for fans to show their support while we all weather this storm.
To shed light on this unprecedented, far-reaching situation, we reached out to a handful of artists and music industry professionals to get their take on the wave of cancellations, what the long term effects might be on them personally and the industry as a whole, and what all of us can do to support music in these dark and chaotic times.
What has been the impact of these cancellations/postponements on you or your band personally?
Brian Fallon (the Gaslight Anthem front man has a new album, Local Honey, due out March 27th, and was forced to cancel the majority of supporting tour dates): For me, personally, the impact is still being determined. I’m tallying up all of the expenses now to find out how much I owe and then trying to find out how to pay them. I make most of my income, I’d say 85%-90%, on touring and merch sales on the tour. The beginning of a tour cycle, especially when you are first releasing an album, most times, it’s not right off the back of the previous record or tours. There’s not a lot, if any start-up money to hold the bus or van, pay the merch bills, etc…which you have to pay up front and you’ve not been making any money for the time you’re making a new record. There was no cushion to prepare for the losses. It’s new territory and I’m not sure how this pans out, the impact is huge to have to cancel tours. That’s how we all make our income in 2020.
Eliot Bronson (cancelled all West Coast tour dates): We were literally days away from launching the campaign around my new record when things started to get nuts. We’re having to push back the release of an entire album that’s been over a year in the making. I was about to fly the West Coast to tour from Los Angeles to Seattle. The whole run is getting scrapped now — along with travel expenses that have already been paid. The road is where I make nearly all of my income, so it’s basically like I got laid off. Probably the worst part is the unknown. How many more shows will have to get cancelled? How long before I can work again? Certainly people have it worse, and I don’t want to make this all about myself. This entire industry and many others are taking a huge hit and it looks like things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.
Melody Federer (the soulful songwriter has new music on the way and was gearing up to play shows around SXSW): I was excited to play SXSW for the first time this year, so it was wild to find out that it was canceled.
Sammy Miller (Miller and his eclectic soul/jazz band just released a new album, Leaving Egypt, and were in the middle of a support tour): Tremendous. As a band, we earn our living town to town, gig to gig, merch sale to merch sale. All remaining 15 performances on our record release tour have been postponed. Following that, all performances in town for the next 6 weeks have slowly cancelled.
Duane Betts (between his solo project and The Betts Allman Band, the guitarist stays busy on the road): Right now it’s a little early to tell exactly how long this will go on. Obviously we love touring, playing music more than anything. Personally, it is my medicine. But the safety and well-being of the community must come first. Live music will be back.
Bevin Foley (Denver bluegrass outfit Trout Steak Revival are constantly on the road): It became clear that it would be irresponsible for us to continue playing shows during this health crisis as we were on our way to Michigan from Denver Colorado. The first impact of the decision to cancel our tour was that we needed to turn around and drive across the country back home to Denver. We stayed the night in Nebraska and headed home this morning. The most major impact to our business will be financial. The majority of our income each month comes from live performance revenue. The largest effect of the cancellations and postponements is the fact that we will not make money as a business this month. In addition, the way we cope with feeling uncertainty and anxiety is to gather our community and sing songs for them and with them. It helps us feel more connected, in control and less powerless. It is so crazy that we can’t do that right now. Adding to the anxiety of this experience is that we are not sure how long it will be before live performance is an option again. That all being said, there is no doubt in our minds that we are making the right decision to not play live shows right now.
Calin “Callie” Peters (vocals, cello, bass of the Ballroom Thieves, who recently released an album and were forced to cancel support dates): This virus has turned the music industry upside down, and unfortunately for us it’s happening during our first full length album release tour in 4 years. We worked very hard to finally sell these venues out, and the inability to be on the road is having major effects of our business. We have a lot of team members and crew to pay, a lot of bills to cover, and similar to all small business owners, extremely high taxes. In today’s corporate streaming world, bands make most (and I mean most) of their money on ticket sales. We don’t have other jobs aside from making music in The Ballroom Thieves, and besides the sadness that will come from not being able to share our new music with people (not to mention the new threat of our band’s demise) we are unsure how we will keep our band and ourselves financially afloat.
What do you feel the long-term effects on you might be?
Brian Fallon: I think the long-term effect is going to be extremely difficult for people in the music industry if this continues for too long. If this does go on for much longer, I will have to find a new way to provide for my family. The music industry has been in trouble for years, and I think most artists I know have accepted that touring is the way to make a living. If that element goes away, then I don’t see how we continue to do this as a profession.
Eliot Bronson: I’m taking it one day at a time right now. Trying hard not to play out the worst possible scenario in my head. There’s a lot riding on an album. A lot of money goes into it on the front end and we count on touring and merch sales for the return on that investment. If that is all upended, it’s literally years of work down the drain. I can’t let myself go there too much though. It’s too depressing and debilitating.
Melody Federer: I’d like to stay positive and think this is just slowing things down, but concerts and fans and art even will come back even stronger when this has passed: it’s definitely one of the crazier things I’ve lived through. Also, I may always have more frozen food in the fridge from now on, just in case.
Sammy Miller: The gig economy only works if every element is stable. Artists have to consider, for the first time in a long time, what models could work for them if touring isn’t part of the equation.
Duane Betts: I think there are a lot of people that survive through their touring and when you take that away it gets really tough. Personally, it makes me very grateful for the band we have and when we do play again we definitely won’t ever take it for granted. That’s for sure.
Bevin Foley (Trout Steak Revival): I think the long-term effects are completely dependent on how long it is before it is safe and makes sense to gather groups of people together in musical community. There are the negative things, like not being able to work or earn a living in the way we are used to. Not having our usual positive outlet for our own stress and anxiety. However, I think that there will also be positive effects as well. There will be plenty of time and space to create new music together and on our own over the next month or more. There will be time for us to learn and experiment with all of the things we wish we knew, but don’t have time to investigate for one reason or another. I think that this situation will give us a good reason to finally look into possible live online performance opportunities and concert streaming and other ways to gather our communities and experience music together. In this age of technology, just because we can’t get together in person doesn’t mean that we can’t find other ways to connect. I am personally going to use this time to work on improving my guitar playing skills, setting up and experimenting with my home recording studio, practicing, writing new songs, plant some seeds and plan for a spring garden.
Calin “Callie” Peters (vocals, cello, bass of the Ballroom Thieves, who recently released an album and were forced to cancel support dates): Our long term depends on when we can tour again. We hope people will socially distance themselves and that this can be contained.
In your opinion, what are some other ways people can support artists beyond buying a ticket and attending a show?
Brian Fallon: I appreciate that people are concerned for how to support artists, and in my opinion, the best way to do that is to buy albums and merch directly from the artist – on their websites or from their social media pages, however they have set up their merch stores. I would also say to myself and larger touring acts, that once this all passes, and hopefully it does soon, that we all look out for bands and artists smaller than us and take them on tour. I think we need to act as a community and try to help each other get back out there and do what we all love once it’s safe to do so. We’ve all been fortunate to make our living off of music and I think we’re all facing this new reality of tours being cancelled…which I think is absolutely the right thing to do for the safety of everyone.
Eliot Bronson: Buy merch online. Download and stream music all day long. Some of us have Patreon pages where you can directly support art and get access to new songs, videos, journals etc. You also don’t have to wait for people to get on social media to talk about their situation. Yesterday, a fan just venmoed me $50 out the blue. I hadn’t even mentioned my cancelled shows yet. That was incredibly kind and it just made my whole day better.
Melody Federer: Online support is always great. Seeing people share and stream songs and videos, and commenting on social media actually means a lot to me personally.
Duane Betts: They should go to the websites and pickup some records and merch there. Continuing to support the artist is a huge thing right now. Show the love!
Bevin Foley (Trout Steak Revival): Honestly, the most direct way to help out an artist financially right now is to visit their website and pay to download their album or purchase a merch item. This seems like a good time to mention that Trout Steak Revival’s website is www.troutsteak.com and we have a new album out and a bunch of other cool stuff. Most musicians are also teachers, so consider reaching out and taking a Skype or online lesson with your favorite musician.
Finally, if you have a friend or family member who is in the music industry (musicians, sound engineers, lighting technicians, stage hands, promoters, booking agents, and venue employees) give them a call and check in on them. There is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety in our lives right now and that is a scary place to be. Check in with your community and see how people are, ask questions, listen, and offer help if you can. There are some amazing nonprofits that help musicians in times like these, check out Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (Sweetrelief.org) and MusiCares (www.grammy.com/musicares) and consider donating if you can.
Sammy Miller: Go direct to the source. We’re already working on rolling out a bunch of unique offerings on our site they extend beyond traditional merchandise for this unique moment. I’m sure other artists will follow suit.
Calin “Callie” Peters (vocals, cello, bass of the Ballroom Thieves, who recently released an album and were forced to cancel support dates): People can buy merchandise and music directly from bands, in addition to streaming. They can look for ways to help, like donating to musicians’ Venmo accounts, paying extra for live streaming shows, spreading the word, and joining the conversation about corporate streaming platforms.
Musicians are the center of the music industry, but there are countless other jobs, ranging from managers and roadies to label owners, studios and publicists. Leigh Greaney is a publicist at Big Hassle, one of the larger music PR agencies out there. She shares her own unique perspective on what happens when a band you are publicizing experiences this kind of loss:
“This conversation has been huge for me in the past week, as I talk to my artists about what we can do remotely, as shows are being canceled. We’ve been strategizing in a haze of the unknown. Questions like: ‘Should we postpone this video interview that was set to be in-person or do it over the phone — how long would we wait if we opted for video? Should we push the album release back? Will this headline tour be a co-headline tour when it’s rescheduled? What would have happened if SXSW didn’t get canceled?’ The list goes on,” she says.
These are all major questions for any band, but they are especially important for a band that is just starting to catch a buzz as was the case with her client, Los Angeles post-punks Kills Birds. She shares: “Kills Birds just had the best year in 2019: they released their debut album, got coverage The New York Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc, and were playing festivals. They easily would have made NPR’s Austin 100 had they had the chance to play. This was about to be their first SXSW and they had seven (7) shows booked. They were an official SXSW band – this is a huge loss for the band and their fans – especially the fans that never got to discover them live.”
For more info, music, merch and general support, visit the artist pages:
Sammy Miller and the Congregation
Photo credit: Greg Homolka
