With the Corona Virus pandemic taking over all aspects of daily life, it has affected every possible job and occupation one way or another; and with many albums and tours being announced during this time, it is currently raising questions about how the music and concert industry will be affected.
Spring is a busy time for recording artists and others involved in the music business because of how popular it is for new songs and shows to be announced during this time in order to have summer concert dates. Tours and new albums releases are what provide the most income for recording artists, record labels, promotions companies, radio stations and music festivals because they rely on new music to keep the schedule of the industry going. Now that the virus has put everything on hold, much like everything else, the concert industry and ticket sales are plummeting.
For example, as I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts, Niall Horan was scheduled to release his second solo album, Heartbreak Weather, this past week on the 13th of March. Because his album was ready to go, and promotions had already been done weeks prior to the album release, he went ahead and released his album on its scheduled date. However, the effects of the Corona Virus worsened drastically over the time of his album release, which caused the cancelling of all of his scheduled promotional events.
When an album is released it is a huge deal for that artist, and at least a few weeks of promotion and interviews with talk shows, magazines, TV shows and news channels, and radio stations are scheduled following the release of that album. So with Niall releasing the album but not being able to promote it, it has been a noticeably very difficult time for him, as he has no other option but to do Skype interviews or social media q&a’s with radio stations and streaming services such as Spotify.
In addition to Niall losing his promotional opportunities for his album, he has had to postpone the sales of his recently announced Heartbreak Weather tour. This is because the effects of the virus are so unpredictable, it is impossible to know if the pandemic will be over by the time is tour comes around, so he had to reschedule the selling of tickets, setting everything back with his tour as well as his album.
The Corona Virus is something that needs to be taken seriously by people internationally, which includes people quarantining themselves in their homes and minimizing social interaction and contact with others. Because of this, many musicians banded together to encourage self-quarantining, and decided to do a series of concerts from their own homes, live-streamed on Instagram. Not only is this about bringing people together through music, it was about encouraging and promoting the idea of social distancing, and working together to slow the effects and lower the number of victims of the virus. Many artists have been apart of this and have live-streamed this past week, including Charlie Puth, Niall Horan, Chris Martin, Common, John Legend and more.
Although the effects of the Corona Virus are scary and dangerous and have caused a lot of stress across the globe, there have been positives to this outbreak, especially when it comes to music. There are musicians that have not had the best luck with timing their albums, and are struggling to promote their music with the limit resources available to them; however thanks to internet and social media, musicians also have the power to unify people and distract them from all the negative things going on in the news and in their community.
Click here to read more about the #togetherathome concert series with artists like Niall Horan and Common! If you missed the live-streams they can be found on Instagram TV and YouTube.
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