2) What lessons and conclusions can we draw from the impact that the Covid 19 pandemic has had on the musical ecosystem?

All sorts of lessons and conclusions can be drawn from the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the music industry. Below are two drawings that I believe summarise and conclude that the music industry needs to grow stronger and that by planting new seeds of sustainability, we will embolden and nurture the following contexts in which musicians practice:

Performance
Platforms
Partnerships
Pedagogy

1) The Old Ways are Unsustainable!

1) The Old Ways are Unsustainable!

2) We need to be brave and plant new seeds!

2) We need to be brave and plant new seeds!

In this blog post I will explore how the old ways are not fit for purpose and that we need to literally and metaphorically plant new seeds to enable and encourage us to grow into a truly sustainable industry. I will be drawing from the MA MATE Debate event that was successfully facilitated on With that in mind, it is important to define the term strength. Personally, I would suggest the following entry points:

Withstanding force
A resilient attitude
Booming revenue
Capacity for endurance

Arguably, strength is most accurately determined as overcoming resistance and through that process, the acquisition of the aesthetics and qualities to function with resolve. More importantly – to acquire strength or become stronger suggests moving from one state to another – to move through something, to become better for it – but we also need to note the necessity for that process, in order to engage with it. This is important when considering the music industry and the effects COVID 19 has had on it – it has been a sizeable knock back, a considerable moment of reflection on what wasn’t working, allowing us to consider how to move forward, to reimagine our collective futures in a progressive, innovative and more connected manner. It has highlighted the need to engage in this strengthening process.

I think that the music industry will grow stronger after the COVID 19 pandemic restrictions come to an end. It has allowed us to see what needs improved and the possibility of connecting with one another has become greater than ever.  

I will focus my thoughts by using the 4 P’s:

  1. Performance

  2. Partnerships

  3. Platforms

  4. Pedagogy

All four of these P-words frame the positive foundation for innovation and reconnection that will ultimately enable the industry to strengthen.

Performance:

When considering performance, I like to think of quality of artistry and quality of context for live music. Both I feel have been in varying degrees of decline, with the latter being severely affected due to the COVID-19 context. Due to the restrictions on mass gatherings and rules on social distancing, the live sector had been shut down since mid-March in a move which UK Music estimates will wipe “at least £900 million from the sector’s expected £1.1 billion contribution to the economy this year.” (The Guardian, 2021).

Though, speaking anecdotally from my own experience, I think those that have managed to seize this time as an opportunity to take matters into their own hands and embrace the performativity of Live Streaming! I gave it a shot a year ago, presenting David Gray’s seminal White Ladder album from my living room, steeply learning how to navigate a multi-camera set up, poor internet connection and using a PayPal link to generate income:

I made the same amount as I would have at an event out in Glasgow - £150 - through donations and tips and had far less overheads to compete with. It is an attractive offer to run an event from a home environment which still engages with an audience, albeit a potentially much wider reaching one! For someone like me who sometimes finds the stage environment rather anxiety inducing, this was a welcome change of scene. The home can become a quality environment for a sharing of quality output. We have seen artists across the globe embrace this context, including some of my favourite musicians like Olafur Arnalds, James Blake, Jacob Collier and Coldplay.

The quality of artistry on display has been a question that has and will continue to exist for generations. What has been refreshing to see is the guards that have dropped and seeing artists make use of what they have to make their content properly authentic - at home, at rest, at ease. This had at the very first lockdown, leveled the playing field to some degree and reduced the necessity and the seduction of spectacle. This brings into sharp focus the question of quality - what is good and who gets to decide? According to the informative YouTube video “Why is Modern Music So Awful” most of current pop music’s timbral palette has been homogenized which is a fascinating proposition in my opinion. This subjectively suggests that the music of our modern times has drastically declined in quality of art to quality of production speed. It compares Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” to the Beatles masterpiece “A Day In The Life” representing the suggested decline in quality by comparing quantity of instruments, time and money as well as timbral colour and lyrical content. I agree to some extent, but I also think that what is so brilliant about the climate for music we are navigating within just now is that everyone has much more ease of access to engaging, learning and performing music that was once an exclusive right held for those who propped up the music industries of the past - big record companies and executives making decisions about what is good and what is not. Nowadays, we all have far greater autonomy and choice as well as platforms to put our own music out there which is in my opinion, a welcome and necessary strengthening pillar that the industry is desperate for. New voices, new ideas, new performances.

As an aside, Paragon Music made a cover of as part of their “Day In The Life” YouTube Livestream, one of many performances the inclusive music and dance organisation have managed to showcase during the pandemic. Interestingly, audience numbers have increased by at least 100% and participation in the online events are now arguably even more accessible via the chat box section - is this the future? Current conversations seem to be that hybrid performance events will be the norm come 2030 according to Forbes.

Partnerships:

I would describe a partnership as a connection, an exchange or a strong sense of togetherness. I’m going to introduce a thought about a new, internal partnership within ourselves – about how we value our practices and build resilience – and why this is important, as well one about external partnerships with digital platforms that can help us connect in new tangible ways.

The internal partnership:

Musicians have had to internally reimagine their relationship to their instrument, practice and focus over the past year. That internal conversation has had lots of different consequences and benefits. In an athletic context, German sports psychologist Hans Eberspächer (1990) describes the importance of using a Question of essence to manifest focus. Something like “what am I doing here?” I think over the course of the pandemic, we have all been asking new questions of essence: 

What do I have to offer? Am I enough? What now?

As an independent singer-songwriter, these questions were not unfamiliar to me. Though, my actions in this new context were met with a sense of robustness and vulnerability – a desire to reframe what kind of community I aspire to be a part of. I’ve had enough of the noise of the cliques from before and was able to realise how disenfranchising they can ultimately be. The cool of 2019 is no longer cool now. Being cool has always been so boring to me, so why was this the aspiration for so many? Before, in my context, partnering was about feeling the need to compromise in order to be cool – about giving it all away and thinking that was the norm - but now, I think partnering is more about ownership and having the confidence to do it on your own terms and be fulfilled with less. That’s the kind of ecological focus we need to manifest right now and into the future.

The external partnership

Musicians have also had to partner with digital platforms and spaces to share their artform, make a living and continue their own personal enquiries. Predictions that online platforms could grow to capture 1.2 billion users by 2030 make it an ever more dynamic focus for musicians to engage with. (Meredith, S. 2020) For musicians who used to rely on touring as a dominant part of their income, the pandemic has had a hugely negative effect on their finances since they can no longer play face-to-face shows. 

Throughout 2020, the power of live video was revealed - employing a converge between traditional live gigs, screen media and new media technologies, inspiring a lot of musicians to establish new external partnerships to continue their creative exchange. This concept isn’t entirely new but partnerships with platforms and new ways to communicate with audiences have meant new content, new ideas, new connections. Livestreaming trailblazer Twitch has seen 300% audience growth in some categories, and the overall industry had 45% growth in hours watched just between March and April 2020. Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino has said: “Livestreaming is a great complement to our core business and essentially gives any show an unlimited capacity.” The promoter partnered with Verizon to deploy 5G connections within 15 well-known venues, including the Wiltern in Los Angeles, the Fillmore in Miami and Irving Plaza in New York City. Viewer control over multiple camera angles will provide:

...a whole new way of experiencing music and watching performances both live and on-screen. As live music comes back, we will be ready to help make it better than ever.(Rapino, M. 2021)

Platforms:

Platforms are the biggest context that I feel need strengthening. I offer two platforms here for discussion - Streaming Platforms and Support Platforms for Musicians. Our streaming platforms are at the beck and call of most of us to provide our daily musical fixes. We subscribe to their simplicity and their digital databases but the revenue streams are much shallower for the artist to make a living. However, the COVID-19 has pushed some platforms like Bandcamp to introduce a far fairer offer:

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I would advocate for streaming platforms to follow Bandcamp’s lead to instigate a top down wholesale change. The UK-based #BrokenRecord campaign has been agitating on the issue of musicians’ streaming royalties for several months. Now it has published the results of a survey of 2,069 British adults, weighted to be representative of the population, about the topic:

No wonder mental health is such a topical discussion point within this context when it is such a financially precarious context to endorse a livelihood. With this in mind, we need to ensure that Support Platforms are safeguarded for musicians. Today on Instagram, I came across this post from popular new music DJ Jim Gellatly who shared the following:

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This type of visibility is of paramount importance. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced a myriad of issues as the fragility of the cultural sector for most freelancers was exposed unambiguously. Many colleagues of mine were thinking about leaving the sector. Musicians’ mental health challenges are broadly presented in two key ways:

  1. employment related anxieties concerning loss of income, how their work was being treated vis-à-vis self-employed income support, and fears about their futures.

  2. status-based existential anxiety relating to a loss of meaning in their lives.

This was somewhat illuminated during a Scottish Parliamentary debate in November 2020 on the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on musicians. MSP Pauline McNeill highlighted the precarity of musicians’ livelihoods and gave the following statement from 23.15:


Paragon Music also introduced a Wellness Action Plan (modelled on the Mind template) for every practitioner to complete. The enforced social distancing and frustration of being in lockdown became an opportunity for Paragon to be empathetic towards its practitioner’s own mental health and wellbeing, and they could do to promote a supportive culture for everyone. Wellness action plans are another demonstration of sustainability - a proficient way of identifying what supports each practitioner’s mental health at work, and any situations which could trigger poor mental health. The purpose of the WAP is to begin a conversation about what works for practitioners and what additional strategies or supports that could be put in place. It has nothing to do with suitability for work, in fact it is the complete opposite. It is a way for Paragon to ensure that all its staff maintain good mental health and wellbeing at work, and by doing so are better able to give participants the best experience in workshops and performances. We need to embed this culture far more in the musical contexts ahead of us in the future to better safeguard the sector.

Pedagogy:

I would like to offer the following brief list of conclusions that can be drawn upon that can continue to propagated and tended to within our musical ecosystem. Our debate team devised the following points:

  • The technological skills gained during pandemic can promote students’ autonomy and help them gain more confidence in the use of technologies so they can benefit from the diversity of digital creative tools available, like music sequencers, music notation softwares and video editing softwares.

  • There has been an emergence of online educational material both for teachers and students shared by music teaching professionals that of course can still be used after all music teaching resumes face to face (music lessons ideas at home for parents and their children, teaching methods and ideas for primary and secondary education, online tools for music education, remote collaboration tools, ideas for alternative assessment and tutorials and education games aimed at students). All this material can inevitably inspire the curiosity in both teachers and students and allow them to discover new ways of teaching and new ideas of creating music.

  • Distance learning is a helpful tool and should not be dismissed after lessons resume face to face. It could be used in a variety of settings where the students cannot physically attend the class due to sickness, disability, transportation means and weather conditions.

  • Self-directed learning has given students more independence and initiative in terms of their creative practice while also helping them to remain resilient in the face of challenges and obstacles.

In Summary:

  1. Performance: 
    How to galvanise the opportunities of this new context - questions of quality of context and quality of artistry.

  2. Platforms:
    The need to bolster the strength of Streaming Platforms to enable artists to have a more equitable source of income and Support Platforms like Help Musicians Music Mind’s Matter services.

  3. Partnerships:
    The importance of re-establishing internal and external partnerships to give a new flow and momentum to musicians’ practices.

  4. Pedagogy:
    All that we have learned during lockdown and all of these skills we have found we can re-use in a musical post-lockdown life.

To conclude, I would like to offer David Whyte’s definition of robustness which I believe captures my core through-line well:

Robustness strangely demands that we find a calm centre in the midst of tumult. The quiet is what enables us to be cheerful in noise, equitable in the face of injustice or calm in the face of attack.(…) When our physical presence frays, another form of internal presence must be found, another robustness to take us through.
(Whyte, D. 2014)

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