In the U.S. Billboard's daily list of "cancellations and postponements" for musical performances, the January-February list shows mostly Asian-related news. Now looking at March, the names of many familiar stars and bands have appeared in the list of "performance cancellation", the global music performance market, the economic losses caused by the new crown epidemic are now unpredictable, and local governments have also introduced corresponding policies and measures to prepare for the support of many people who have lost their jobs due to the epidemic. But fortunately, no matter where music is, itself has the function of soothing people's emotions, and musicians who are currently in home isolation have turned online, and in charity projects held by different organizations, they are raising funds for people in need through live performances.
At the "iHeart" charity living room concert updated on March 30, Beijing time, Elton John did the host,
Maria Kelly, Britt, Ka mei, Meng De and many other singers participated in this online concert.
Cancellations: 60 performances cancelled within 3 days in mid-March
Widespread cancellation of global music performances began in early March, and on March 4, the 22nd Ultra Music Festival, originally scheduled for March 20-22 in Miami, officially announced that it would be postponed, the first music festival in the United States to be cancelled due to COVID-19. Two days later, the Southern Music Festival (SX⁃SW) also announced the cancellation of the performance, which was the first "absence" in 34 years of the large-scale tech art music event with an average of more than 400,000 people gathering. Immediately afterward, the Coachella Festival, which had been scheduled for the weekend of October 9 and 16, was postponed. At this time, the global music performance market has opened an unprecedented "stop- and performance" chain reaction like dominoes.
This includes the tour plans of the major star singers: on March 13, Beijing time, Avril Lavigne posted on social platforms confirming that she would cancel the "Head Above Water" European tour, and in early March, she had cancelled the original Plan for the Asian tour scheduled for April and May. North America's largest concert company and venue operators Live Nation and AEG Entertainment Group also announced the suspension of all major tours until April, with the affected singers including "Pear" Billie Lee. Elish, Poz · Malone, Chris Stapleton, etc., since March is usually the off-season for performances, the company will re-evaluate the situation in early April, hoping that the performances will resume from May to June. Among the star singers, there are also many performances adjusted due to physical illness, such as Celine Dion suffering from a cold, although the new crown pneumonia reagent test is negative, but for the sake of public relations safety, she also announced the "Courage World Tour" world tour through the official website, 14 performances in North America were postponed from March 24 to April 27, and the original tickets could be retained by the ticket buyers.
In addition to the United States, music performances in Europe and other places have also pressed the "pause button" on a large scale, and Madonna's "Madame X Tour" concert scheduled for the 10th and 11th of this month at the Grand Rex Theater in Paris was cancelled. In terms of music festivals, as the Glastonbury Music Festival, which has been held for 50 years, has also been cancelled, this year is the festival's 50-year celebration performance, the performance lineup is almost "luxurious" - Paul McCartney, "Mold" Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar led, in addition to Lana Dre, "Sister Popping" Dua Lipa, etc., the festival officially announced that tickets can be postponed to next year, and also accept audience refunds.
The impact of performances in Asia is even earlier, as early as February, the Japanese boy idol group Arashi Arashi announced the cancellation of a concert that will be held in Beijing Bird's Nest in April 2020. The Bulletproof Youth Group also cancelled a number of performances scheduled for April in the same month. The Beijing News reporter found from the continuously updated performance cancellation list of the US Billboard that the period from March 10 to 13 was the peak stage of "cancellation postponement", and as many as 60 performance items were cancelled and postponed during this period alone, and almost every hour there was a performance activity that was canceled, and the cancelled music performances were still being updated.
As early as February, Japanese boy idol group Arashi Arashi announced the cancellation of a concert held at the Beijing Bird's Nest in April.
Losses: Jobs will fall 69 percent from last year
According to The Musicians' Union, British musicians have lost around £14 million in revenue due to tour cancellations and concert postponements due to COVID-19. The group surveyed 35,000 of its members, and more than 4,000 responded that their jobs were affected to a 90 percent degree and that employment opportunities were down 69 percent from last year. In support of its members, the London-based Musicians Alliance launched a £1 million "COVID-19 Hardship Fund" on March 23, local time, to provide donations to musicians in financial difficulties.
The sluggish outlook for the live music business is also reflected in the stock market, which fell as much as 33% as of noon on March 18, with the share price falling from the previous day's closing price of $33.92 to a low of $21.70, the first time since June 2016 that Live Nation has fallen below the price of $22. The stock market doesn't necessarily reflect a company's value and potential, but in a protracted battle with the pandemic across North America and Europe, a sharp drop in stock prices can affect a company's ability to raise capital or make stock acquisitions, and it will take years to get back to previous highs.
For music practitioners, there is also the "embarrassment" of performance cancellation insurance. It is understood that some of the more influential artists will buy tour cancellation insurance, but this kind of insurance policy is expensive, the insurance claim rate accounts for about 3%-4%, for example, a million dollar insurance policy may lose 30,000 US dollars, but despite the purchase of this insurance, artists and agencies face great losses due to performance cancellation, almost all insurance companies have clearly stated that "there is no obligation to make related compensation". It is understood that after the occurrence of SARS sars and super virus MERS, some insurance companies directly excluded serious epidemics from the scope of claims on their insurance policies, and some companies did not explicitly state that the latest new crown pneumonia was not covered by claims. Based on this situation, most singers and performance companies have chosen to postpone their performances, because at least the postponement also hopes to retain some of the costs spent in the early stage through marketing schemes such as "future resale", and canceling the performance means direct debt.
Response: Start fundraising with online concerts
Singers such as Troyer Shivin, Nell Holland, and OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Ted have launched live online concerts.
On March 20, local time, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced an economic rescue plan, if people can not work due to the outbreak, the government will pay 80% of the salary, up to a maximum of 2500 pounds per month. According to UK Music, these measures only apply to hiring employees, not to freelancers or self-employed people, who make up about 72 per cent of the UK music industry, so calls for financial aid have become the industry's most pressing voice.
The U.S. Congress is currently considering a multibillion-dollar emergency aid package to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the entire economy, and the Recording Academy is urging members of Congress to consider music performers in the rescue program. Harvey Mason Jr., president and interim CEO of the Recording Academy, elaborated on these concerns in a previous letter to the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: "I urge Congress to protect our nation's musicians, performers, songwriters, and studio professionals. Little Mason explained that these professionals are usually freelancers and independent contractors who do not have benefits such as paid leave or health care, nor are they eligible for unemployment benefits. On March 23, local time, the German Music Copyright Management Organization (GEMA) also launched an emergency assistance plan of 40 million euros to help its members cope with the economic difficulties during the anti-epidemic period.
In addition to macro financial assistance, musicians present more "mutual help" among themselves, and many influential singers are providing financially disadvantaged artists with all kinds of help they can. For example, American singers Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, singer Chiara and her husband Russell Wilson, SUGA, members of the Bulletproof Youth League, and fans have donated donations and anti-epidemic materials in different forms, and more musicians have chosen to share their own resources, such as "Poke Grandpa" Troyer Shivin said in his own live broadcast that he wants to use the money to produce new song MVs to collect their works from freelance artists with financial difficulties in this way to help them tide over the economic difficulties.
What is touching is that musicians still choose to share everything with music in this period when everyone is facing difficulties together, and "online concerts" begin to emerge endlessly in this time period. Among the first singers to broadcast live online, including British Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, in mid-March he spearheaded the show's "Together At Home" partnership between the World Health Organization and Global Citizen, which aims to raise $675 million in donations to the global fight against COVID-19 by the end of April. Subsequently, John Legend became the performer who succeeded Chris Martin and passed on the next concert to "Broken Brow" Charlie Puse. So far, rappers Common, Hozier, OneRepublic, "Modd" Sean Monds and other musicians have participated in the program. In another online project called the "iHeart" living room concert, Elton John, Maria Kelly, Backstreet Boys, Britty and others participated in the live performance to pay tribute to the frontline workers in the fight against the epidemic, while Justin Bieber and others also opened a series of online concerts at home.
Beijing News reporter Liu Zhen
Edited by Tian Kaini Proofreader Liu Yue