itsmeshan

[itsmeshan]

Written: 16.02.2021.

Some exciting news and positive actions are being made toward managing mental health as Tonic Music launches a free, mental health support service for anyone working within the industry. please read the article above for more info! 

My thoughts. 

It is so, so important that services like these are available and easily accessible for musicians at this time of crisis and to see these services continue through to the reopening of the industry; to help those transitioning back into normality and beyond. 

Everyone has had challenges one way or another in their lifetime; however, these have been heightened through the pandemic therefore, it should be a top priority to ensure everyone has the support and resources to combat their challenges. 

Moreover, it is fantastic that this service is free and accessible to anyone in need of support furthermore, having a knowledgable, qualified and professional team to manage these sessions makes the service even more promising. 

I hope and encourage those you feel as though they would benefit from such as service to reach out and contact them.

here’s their website! https://www.tonicmusic.co.uk/tonic-rider

[itsmeshan]

UPDATE.

Hello, I haven’t posted anything in a while, I’ve been busy with university work! I do want to continue to upload articles surrounding impact the pandemic has had on the music industry however, I want to create another blog whereby I write and document my music project idiosyncratic expression that I am aiming to release within the next year or so. I would be pleased if you followed the journey :))

[itsmeshan]

Written 06.01.2021

The UK as been plunged into another lockdown leaving many people in a state of anxiety over their livelihoods. 

UK music has issued a report that outlines schemes and steps the government must take to protect industry professionals and venues that have been out of work and shut down for months. 

some important takeaways from the report! 

1. ‘Set out an indicative date for full capacity to restart without social  distancing.’

2. ‘establish a task force that can advise, evaluate and validate the various innovations the music industry is looking at implementing to reduce the risk of transmission.’ 

3. ‘Targeted financial support.’ 

4. ‘Ramp up engagement with the music industry on Moonshot testing pilots so we can utilise rapid testing to eventually bring back full capacity crowds.’

5. Extend the business rates relief. 

READ THE FULL REPORT FOR A DEEPER INSIGHT AND LETS SAVE OUT SUMMER! 

[itsmeshan]

Written: 21.12.2020

As this year draws to a close 24 venues remained on a ‘red list of venues in imminent danger of permanent closure,’ which lead to music venue trust generating £230,000 worth of funding. 

This happened after their #saveourvenues campaign raised over £80m for 400 venues to keep up their payments after the closure of the live music sector. This money was collated from both the government and public donations. 

This weekend the prime minster introduced a new tier to the system, tier 4, too much of England in the race to try and reduced transmission rates after a new covid strain was detected. Many Christmas plans have been ruined this year but lets all remain hopeful that this little sacrifice will save many lives and put an end to coronavirus once and for all. 

PLEASE CHECK OUT MUSIC VENUE TRUST WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION!! http://musicvenuetrust.com/ 

[itsmeshan]

Hello everyone! As a musician (Ground Sloth Orchestra) with majority of streams from Spotify I highly support the Union of Musicians.

Our demands: - Pay us at least one cent per stream - Adopt a user-centric payment model - Make all closed-door contracts public - Reveal existing payola, then end it altogether - Credit all labor in recordings - End legal battles intended to further impoverish artists

Please sign if you’re in the music industry + share with allies and fellow musicians. 

[itsmeshan]

There are so many conventions and events being cancelled due to covid-19.

I know it's an uncertain time and understand how disappointing it can be for us as fans when plans have to be cancelled. (I have no idea if SDCC will go ahead and even if it does, whether I'll be able to travel due to being immunosuppressed).

But please spare a thought for independent artists and vendors who depend financially on these cons and events for revenue (quite often to live).

So, if you can, try to support independent artists via their online stores instead.

Some are offering convention exclusives (which they've often worked on for months) and often they've got a surplus of inventory in preparation for a con. Help them out (and cheer yourself up in the process).

Independent artists:

Please feel free to reblog with a link to your online stores and a brief description of what you're selling. 💗

[itsmeshan]

Written: 16.12.2020

In September 2020 a report was released by MIDIA and amuse that covers what independent artists have been doing during throughout the pandemic regarding their musical careers and presented a lot of ‘not-seen-before data’ and was overall very insightful to read. So, I thought I’d share this with you all! 

I wanted to focus on one area of this report; ‘COVID-19 and lockdown-what impact has been felt among artists.’ 

They undertook an artist survey and the concluding results show:

68.3% of artists have spend their time during lockdown creating and writing music.

57% of artists created more content on their social media. 

46% of artists have released new music. 

36% of artists are working on collaborative music. 

more artists spent time learning the production side of music (defiantly!) 

The report touched upon the live industry and live streaming: 

live performance income is down by 52% for many artists.

before the pandemic 18% of artists income stream came from live gigs. 

The most interesting point the report made was that most artists were focusing on the production of their music to suit streaming formats. 

In conclusion, I have only briefly outlined the premise of this report and I feel as though it is important to read the full report as they do include topics such as, the economics of music streaming and artists funding etc. 

Throughout this report you can clearly see that the pandemic has allowed time for creativity to develop and flourish however, delivering this creativity to one’s audience has been hindered by many obstacles. 

what are your thoughts? Please leave them below! 

[itsmeshan]

Written: 10.12.2020

I read this article last week and found myself in complete and utter disbelief that the collection society, PRS, are proposing a tariff on all live streamed music events that is tremendously high than that of live shows. 

Ultimately, this would mean that PRS will be charging between 8%-17% of gross revenue made during that event therefore, resulting in the artist receiving even less money. Just to put it into perspective, the PRS licence for live shows is 4% of gross revenues. That’s an extraordinary percentage difference!

What a time to decide to make it even more challenging for artists to pursue their music passions and trying to remain financially secure, to provide for themselves and their families. 

There have been no further updates on this proposal however, PRS have ensured a statement which, you can read on music week. 

I haven’t written anything in the past week because university is coming to a close for Christmas break which means assessment deadline are just round the corner 😳

[itsmeshan]

Dua Lipa Is Breaking Global Live Streaming Figures!

Written: 02.12.2020

I’ve never been much of a fan of Dua Lipa’s music however, anyone who has had so much global success within the music industry, is certainly somebody to study and learn from. 

On 27th November 2020, Dua Lipa, alongside many musical guests, Miley Cyrus, Elton John and Bad Bunny (there were more!), took to the digital space with an online concert called ‘Studio 2054.’ 

It was performed inside a warehouse and involved, dancers, costumes, instrumentalists, effects, lighting, choreography, dancing, singing and much more! 

‘Studio 2054′ has received 5 million views globally, setting a new live streaming record. Furthermore, because of the huge success of the performances, it is available to view until the 6th December 2020 at just £7.50 therefore, views are going to keep rising! 

Ultimately, Dua Lipa has set a very high standard for live streaming concerts, literally taking a concert and replicating it in a digital space for many more fans to enjoy. 

After such successful statistics from all these live streams that I’ve written about, I don’t think the live music industry sector will ever be the same. I believe that as small capacities are allowed again, live performances will be a mixture of online audiences and physical audiences.

What are your thoughts?

Sources: 

‘Dua Lipa’s ‘Studio 2054’ virtual gig breaks global livestream record.’ https://www.nme.com/news/music/dua-lipas-studio-2054-virtual-gig-breaks-global-livestream-record-2828719

‘Dua Lipa’s Studio 2054 Livestream: Here’s What Happened.’ https://pitchfork.com/news/dua-lipas-studio-2054-livestream-heres-what-happened/#:~:text=Dua%20Lipa%20hosted%20a%20star,other%20guests%20during%20the%20show.

[itsmeshan]

Written: 28.11.2020

I encourage you to read this article!!

Find out how Stagehand charity is helping to raise money for live industry crew employees as we continue to battle this pandemic. 

GO GET INVOLVED AND USE THE #ILoveLive LET’S HELP EACHOTHER!!

[itsmeshan]

THANK YOU!

thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and engagement with my blog; i’m very grateful for your time! :))

[itsmeshan]

I hope that our memories stay, and just know that whatever you do, I hope you love me too.

so my darling: Rachel Chinouriri 

[itsmeshan]

Written: 25.11.2020

Today, ‘music week’ released an article surrounding the infinite opportunities and possibilities technology has created for the music industry. After all, the creative industries have had to completely shift their business practices in order to avoid catastrophic storm that is Coronavirus. 

After reading this article I agree with ‘PPL chief Peter Leathem,’ whereby he explains that technology has allowed us to extend our communications within the industry and collaborate with others outside of our immediate circle. However, in my opinion, before the pandemic, technology was a big part of our creative/business practices but we became too comfortable within these practices. I believe coronavirus forced us to seek outside the realms of our conscious thoughts to allow new ideas to cultivate themselves and adaptations to take place. Ultimately, this has perpetuated the music industry further and further afield into a new, exciting space. 

Coronavirus has caused much disruption, sadness and despair throughout the world. But it has also completely shifted the creative industries and maybe for the a better future... 

[itsmeshan]

Live Music Important Info:

Written: 17.11.2020

Over the past few weeks I’ve been discussing how coronavirus has challenged the music industry, especially the live music sector and how artists and musicians are adapting to these circumstances. Upon doing research for my next article in this series, I came across a UK report on the ‘statista’ website (linked below) and I thought it would be interesting to analyse their data and give my thoughts. I will be referring to ‘statista’ graphs that are available on their website and I will link the specific ones I referenced to below.

You’re welcome to comment your thoughts and opinions below! 

Let’s begin!

Upon the news of a possibly effective coronavirus vaccine, the live music industry saw a spike in ticket sales, as music lovers began considering possible events to attend after the good news. From this we can clearly see that the live music industry isn’t going to be entirely destroyed from the pandemic and companies can begin operating once again, safely of course! As shown in a report by ‘statista,’ called ‘Live music attendance in the United Kingdom (UK) 2011-2018,’[1] it states that 30 million people attended live music events in 2018. In my opinion, I believe that this number will double in 2021/2022 because people have been deprived of this opportunity to experience live music. Obviously, that amount of people attending live events wouldn’t be a safe capacity for the first of the returning events, however, I think it will become more difficult to buy tickets because everyone is eager to experience live music again. Furthermore, due to such an influx of people wanting to attend I think that it is possible there will be an integration between digital livestream of concerts and live performances in order to accommodate this influx of music listeners.  

As of 2018, the live music industry is worth £1.1 billion [4] including both festivals and concerts furthermore, as shown by ‘statista,’ in their report called ‘Gross value added of the music industry in the United Kingdom in 2018,’[2] it is the second leading profit maker with music creators taking the lead at £2.5 billion. Even though the data is from two years ago, we can clearly see how important the live music industry is in terms of the industry's contribution to the economy which is why coronavirus has caused so much anxiety and uncertainty for many individuals. 

In addition, data released by ‘statista’ in November 2020 shows the ‘Total number of musicians in the United Kingdom from 2011 to 2020.’ [3] Moreover, the graph illustrates that as of 2020 they’re 52,000 employed and self-employed musicians which remains the same as in 2019. So, there hasn't been a decrease in the number of musicians in the UK because of coronavirus however, it still has left people without work which could inevitably lead to redundancy… however, this data shows it’s not too late to turn this situation around!

I hope this has been informative and has given you some things to discuss and think about. You can found all the information I referred to down below:

SOURCES:

1. ‘size of the live music audience in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2018 (in million attendees).’ https://www.statista.com/statistics/278038/attendance-at-festivals-and-concerts-in-the-uk/

 2. ‘Gross Value added of the music industry in the United Kingdom, in 2018, by thematic grouping.’ https://www.statista.com/statistics/285692/music-industry-gross-value-added-gva-in-the-united-kingdom-by-grouping/

3. ‘Total number of musicians in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2011 to 2020.’https://www.statista.com/statistics/319278/number-of-musicians-in-the-uk/

4 ‘Live music industry in the United Kingdom- Facts and Statistics.’ https://www.statista.com/topics/6065/live-music-industry-in-the-uk/#dossierSummary__chapter5

[itsmeshan]

Why Has Driift Been So Successful?

Written: 12.11.2020

Driift is a brand new live streaming platform founded by ATC Management earlier this year and has gained great success within the music industry. Moreover, they have live streamed performances from Nick Cave, Dermot Kennedy, Biffy Clyro and Laura Marling over the past few months and are currently working on expanding further to the Australia and New Zealand music markets (I’m hoping Tash Sultana will have one!). 

Driift states on their website (below) that they have generated over 100,000 ticket sales from 92 different countries which, in my opinion, is unbelievable, considering they only launched earlier this year! (I believe that their first streamed performance was in June 2020!) 

On July 30th 2020, Kennedy, streamed from The Natural History Museum. Billboard states in an article about Driift (below) that Dermot Kennedy played to around 30,200 people and generated ‘$511,000 gross income.’  Furthermore, some interesting data that the Billboard article presents is that Dermot’s ‘global livestream grosses were between 3.5-4.5 the average gross from their most recent tours, while the livestream attendance tally was 6.8 x5 the average count.’ That is insane! They go on to say that from eight live shows Kennedy did last year he only generated 32,000 tickets... one show he did online gave him 30,000. 

WOW.

After looking at this data it leaves me with many new and unanswered questions about the future of the live music industry. 

Will live performances permanently move into the digital world because it seems the most efficient way of maximising profit? Also it is an effective way to deal with environmental issues that live performances create through touring. 

I guess will have to wait and see. 

SOURCES:

1. Driift Website: https://driift.live/ 

2. Driift Launches Ticketed Livestreams With Career-High Grosses for Dermot Kennedy, Lianne La Havas, and More: 

[itsmeshan]

Niall Horan Live Stream.

Written 10.11.2020

On 7th November 2020, Niall Horan performed, a 14 song setlist, live at The Royal Albert Hall, alongside his band members. 120,000 tickets were sold in 151 different countries and he raised $2.4 million which, would be donated to a new found charity organisation ‘we need crew.’ Furthermore, they aim to continue to raise awareness and donations to those individuals that have been unable to work within the live music sector and have suffered the horrific financial and mental challenges that this pandemic has brought. 

Instead of discussing the livestream itself I wanted to address how live streaming performances has enabled for a larger capacity of people to enjoy these events. For example, The Royal Albert Hall holds around 5,200 people however, 120,000 attended this live stream concert that is around 23 times more capacity. It doesn’t stop there! 151 different countries participated in this event from all different cultures... imagine, you’re in a room of 120,000 people, singing along to your favourite artist, dancing, laughing, smiling... to me nothing is more powerful than that. And live streaming music performances gives us this capability, although in digital form, it is still the most logical step, right now, to continue to create experience, connection and happiness which, is something I think we all need at the moment. 

PLEASE CHECK OUT ‘WE NEED CREW’ HERE: https://www.weneedcrew.co.uk/ 

Sources: 

‘Niall Horan Reminds Music Industry How Essential Crew Is With Charity Live Stream Concert’

 https://www.unitedbypop.com/music/reviews/niall-horan-livestream/ 

[itsmeshan]

hii, i created a linktree (a tree of links) if you wanna check me out on other social platforms :))