T.Covid-19 had no unexpected impact on the music industry. Certainly, with everyone confined to their homes, streaming figures would go through the roof, especially since it was quickly emerging that opera singing on your little Italian balcony would just as funny for so long. However, in April, a good six weeks into global locking orders, it was reported that Spotify streams of the world’s biggest hits down 11%.
See, it wasn’t just concert halls that were closed, it was the bars and venues that usually played recorded music; moreover there was a lack of bored passengers standing smartly on trains listening to a playlist called My Boss Is a Jerk.
Music was one of the many areas of work under great scrutiny in 2020, with Spotify being cited for providing good access to their providers – and I’m talking to musicians rather than record labels. Artist Tom Gray, a member of blues grap Britpop dudes Gomez, and his #BrokenRecord campaign, who looked to hold an unbalanced financial model to hold streaming accountable, have reached out.
Most artists do naff-all from online music has been a thing since Lars Ulrich from Metallica first lost his shit at Napster in 2000, but it’s made worse in a year where the main stream of musicians ’income is live music. devastating. Add to that the loss of PRS employment – the money artists receive from playing in licensed venues such as pubs, restaurants and shops – and most musicians found themselves well and truly by 2020.
The collapse of the live industry affected not only artists, but the thousands of people who work with them, from road crew and sound engineers to security guards and transport companies. While big names like Dua Lipa might have broken online live streaming records with its elegant Studio 2054 display drawing in more than 5m views – the equivalent of 20 Glastonburys at a time – for smaller artists, it was a problem that it was worth pulling together a reasonable online gig. .
But artists made sure not everything was lost. Laura Marling offered solace by releasing her elegant song for Our Daughter months early to give us something to go through in a gloomy April, while Charli XCX used to lock down to How Create I’m Feeling Now. Both albums were named by Mercury. Comfort was also to be found in a sequin-tastic disco revival, with Kylie, Jessie Ware, Dua Lipa and Róisín Murphy attending some much-needed kitchen dance dance escape – and Sophie Ellis-Bextor even streaming family-friendly karaoke sessions from her, perfect. with hyperactive kids frolicking next to the Aga.
But he was one of the key survivors of the independent artist in 2020 Bandcamp, which allowed acts to earn full revenue for any music sold on site through their Bandcamp Fridays. now every month. And despite the closure of corporate music stores in the UK from March to June, and again in November, vinyl sales continued to rise, with record highs of 2.7m sold in UK format. Explains those big square packs you need to bring in for your neighbor this summer…