One thing I enjoy about being someone that works with musicians is that this is an industry could innovate its way out of a paper bag. It’s been at the forefront of digital disruption for decades, faced multiple threats to its entire existence and still managed to survive. The people that work in music are not only the most passionate, but also some of the brightest.
But here’s the thing: live and recorded music are different — and always will be. We’re currently in the midst of a new golden age of mechanical exploitation; the streaming boom, deep back catalogues, new formats and platforms have allowed labels and publishers to derive significant blood from what was once thought to be a totally barren stone. The recording industry returned to the black for the first time in over a decade in 2018. Grievances about payouts aside, it was a watershed moment.
What COVID-19 has demonstrated is that while the same approach has tried to be shoehorned into live music, it doesn’t really work. Bless them for trying, from the incredible work of Isol-Aid to Powderfinger’s One Night Lonely, Twitch festivals, Travis Scott on TikTok, 100gecs on Minecraft and pay-per-view gigs recorded in high definition (and empty rooms) all over the world. But they are not replacements. They are adjuncts, add-ons to the core that is a live experience. As anyone in the recording business knows, the…
