In the middle of the pandemic, a multitude of sectors are being impacted. For the music industry, times are hard with concerts cancelled or album postponed.
The numbers are staggering. In 2020, the music industry's turnover should have represented 10.4 billion euros, but with the coronavirus crisis, it has fallen by 43% to 4.5 billion euros. In addition, the losses expound to 2.3 billion euros with the cancelation of concert halls, tours and festivals. Losses related to the drop in CD sales and the postponement of record releases are estimated at 200 million euros.
Photo by Hanny Naibaho on Unsplash
Despite this and the limitations the world has had to in terms of implement social distancing measures, musicians are maintaining strong links with their fans. Artists are always eager to find inspiration and to offer the music-loving public authentic work.
"Obviously some of our plans have been thwarted by COVID, but we can't give up and mope”, says Olivier Rigout, artistic director of Alter K.
Publisher, label, and digital distributor since 2007 — Alter K currently works with many artists, including Wax Tailor, Kid Francescoli, and Sarah Rebecca. "We don't have the same role depending on the project because we work with other partners and we share the tasks, but the idea is always the same, to propose an adapted and complementary offer to each artist in order to meet their unique needs and distribute their music," explains Rigout. From Konbini to Chanel through Netflix, the company collaborates with a wide variety of brands to help their artists to share their art.
"2020 was a special year, where we continued to perfect our know-how, we did a lot of groundwork, we were in close contact with the artists to find solutions to tour cancellations and how to promote their art", emphasizes the artistic director. Despite the catastrophic situation, Alter K has redoubled its efforts since March to move their artists' projects forward no matter what.
The show must go on!
After several empty weeks, the artists opened new scenes on the Internet, using the live streaming feature of social networks as a communication channel with their fans. During the outbreak, when containment became mandatory to contain the spread of the virus, this live streaming feature offered artists many chances and opportunities. The Internet would make containment less boring and help audiences listen to their favorite music without having to go to crowded concerts.
The Music Home show produced and broadcast by FPT TV also attracted thousands of music lovers. Season 2 of the show was broadcast live on February 28th on FPT TV. It is a series of musical shows that use modern technology and respect extremely strict artistic criteria. Interestingly, viewers can still follow the details of the show from their couch using the remote control to view the angles of the studio where the artist is performing live and enjoy realistic sound quality, just like on location.
In the spring, the number of performances filmed continued to increase often with the help of smartphones and were broadcast free of charge by the artists like bottles thrown into the sea of confinement. But to help recover some iota of costs from the unprecedented crisis of concert production, more ambitious and priced virtual show models began to emerge, including BTS and Nick Cave.
Prevented from touring, the artist Dua Lipa decided to organize his own online concert on November 27, Studio 2054. The staging included personalized settings, such as "surrealist TV shows, discotheques, ecstatic raves, meeting places for trash rockers, voguing ballrooms and diva-style dressing rooms" as indicated on the official website of the event. The concert brought more than 5 million viewers globally.
Abolishing the distance between artists and their fans
Today, social networks can be an excellent vector for exposure. They have enabled many artists to break free from traditional media and distribution channels by creating their "own media", and directly addressing their audience, which is moreover international. One can now fill a Zenith, be on a gold record, or become the top export without having had a column in the Inrocks or a passage on France Inter. Positive press reviews and thousands of likes on Instagram also help, but what matters for an artist's career is whether they can make a living from it.
Odace Music is a management company for artists that helps them to promote their work in the best way possible. For them, social networks are a good means of communication for their artists: "It all depends on the artists' stage of development, their objectives and the way they want to share with their audience. Some of them don't even play concerts and still have regular fans, so for them the networks are enough. For others, concerts are at the center of their relationship with their fans, and there necessarily with social networks you can do live shows, but it will never be as strong emotionally as a real concert. In this case, even if they reinvent themselves, these artists will still have lost something because of the health crisis. »
Chloé has been a singer for more than 10 years. "It's true that I've never been in a situation like this, it's quite impressive," she says. At 32 years old, the young woman has grown up with social networks, which has allowed her to evolve more easily.
"I'm pretty comfortable with social networks so during the first confinement I started doing live shows where I sang and played music. " explains Chloe. The most difficult thing was funding. "At first, it didn't pay much because the platforms weren't prepared for such a chain of events this year, but now I can say that it has a better compensation system for artists like me. »
Artists are pragmatic, they go where their audience or the money is. But social networks are only a part of the ecosystem (promo, marketing, live...). The goal of the game is to create a virtuous circle where everything feeds itself. For example, a radio playlist creates interest from festivals that schedule concerts, the audience discovers on stage, buys merch, streamed at home... subscribes to the social networks of the artist who maintains/feeds....
There are also a lot of counter-examples of artists who are very discreet on it. Not to mention Daft Punk who are almost absent. Also, Kid Francescoli is not active on TikTok, which did not prevent him from having a hit on this platform with his track Moon that 750,000 users including Jennifer Lopez, The Rock or Lizzo have used to create videos.
Financial aid to help artists
"Since the first confinement we decided to digitize all of our devices and even create new ones online. This transition has been well received and has not impacted us financially," explains Ivan Zoro, director of the Odace Music.
“For example, for our accompaniment of musical projects, we can easily do it by videoconference, without losing efficiency in our communication." Their formations, ranging from 6 to 1.200€, are available on their website (www.odace-music.com).
"Online lives are more and more officially remunerated, even if in some cases they will not be as remunerative as paid concerts, it's still a backup solution", rejoices the director of Odace Music.
SACEM (Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers) has set up several financial benefit schemes. There are also aids for cultural companies, entrepreneurs, etc. In addition, the hours of part-time workers in the entertainment industry have been extended until 2021, which is a good thing, but there is still a lot more that could be done to support artists during this time. "The government is unfortunately not very sensitive to this sector of activity and the two ministers of culture we had in 2020 have shown little understanding of the current problems... ", lamented Rigout.
The Ministry of Culture and the French Government have decided to mobilize to support the entire sector and in particular the artist-authors. Thus, all artist-authors, regardless of their status or sector of activity, will be eligible for the solidarity fund set up by the State. At the same time, the government is considering how to revive creative and cultural activity in the best possible conditions.
Even if the period is rather complicated for the artists, they do not lack inventiveness and continue to find ways to live from their passion. Despite all the difficulties they face, it is impossible for them to let their music be confined.
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