Will 2020 be the year without music?

[socialleper]

I know there is already a thread out there about COVID-19, but I want to focus in on how 2020 will be remembered in the music history books.
We may be at the beginning of this thing. Already hundreds of shows have been cancelled for local bands. Dozens of tours have been put on hold. Behind the scenes, studio time is being cancelled. Video shoots are being cancelled. Band member are questioning the wisdom of even getting together to practice.
There will undoubtedly be a glut of material written during this period because...well...what the heck else is there to do. But for the foreseeable future, doing something with that material seems to be on indefinite hold.

Will this year be the end of the "Music industry" as we know it, and everything will change over to DIY recording and distribution?
Will webcasts, live streams, and "virtual touring" become a thing?
Will there just be a dead spot in releases for 2020 and everything will go back to business (for better or worse) in 2021?
Thoughts?

 

[Michedelic]

All forms of art and entertainment that involve a present, mass audience will be ramped down/curtailed. It doesn’t mean that creativity will be stopped, it means that consumption will be a private affair, until such time as the biological threat subsides. If, when, and how, that will happen cannot be predicted.

 

[Oddly]

I'm always hearing the money is in the merchandising... that's a big part of why bands tour at all.

I can see where this will lead to an upsurge in bands putting a lot more work into their websites, with online shopping and subscriptions for access to more content being a way forward.

Just now I've been looking at Neil Young's Fireside Sessions, which led to me spending a couple of fun hours on his Archives website...and yes, I was tempted to shell out some money for total access. Haven't done it yet, but if my job shuts down and I'm home with a lot of free time...

 

[48thStreetCustom]

IMO I think it's going to be remember as the year when musicians who actually play actual instruments made a comeback.

I don't know about you guys, but I've been watching a lot of livestreams of some of my favorite artists like Dan Bern, Mike Doughty, and Neil Young. And what they are doing is important. They are keeping people company and stopping them from going batty. I can't see Kanye sitting in front of a laptop and making intimate music that makes people feel human connection. I can't see Deadmou5e doing it either. Megos, Kendrick Lemar, Pitbull, Lil Nas X... They don't make art in the moment. It's all produced. This isn't the time for larger than life spectacle. This is the time genine humanity.

And when this is all done, people are going to remember. They'll want to be in crowds celebrating together.

That's my two cents. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong.

 

[GitmoMango]

If you can’t go out and see music, stay at home and make music! Friends and family should play together.

 

[mrpackerguy]

music, sports, theater, festivals...

 

[Lagado]

I'm not quite sure but I'm following the form. The betting shop has quite good odds running on "The Day That Music Died."

 

[Michedelic]

IMO I think it's going to be remember as the year when musicians who actually play actual instruments made a comeback.

I don't know about you guys, but I've been watching a lot of livestreams of some of my favorite artists like Dan Bern, Mike Doughty, and Neil Young. And what they are doing is important. They are keeping people company and stopping them from going batty. I can't see Kanye sitting in front of a laptop and making intimate music that makes people feel human connection. I can't see Deadmou5e doing it either. Megos, Kendrick Lemar, Pitbull, Lil Nas X... They don't make art in the moment. It's all produced. This isn't the time for larger than life spectacle. This is the time genine humanity.

And when this is all done, people are going to remember. They'll want to be in crowds celebrating together.

That's my two cents. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong.

We’re well into the era when one person with a laptop can stand in front of thousands of people, push a button, and “perform”, AND that audience considers the concept of a single DJ, or a rapper(plus hype men and sometimes dancers)performing to backing tracks as legitimate as any ‘band’, so I can’t see any difference in how it would be received by an audience who is predisposed to those genres, even if scaled down to a computer or TV screen. There is a whole segment of a younger audience for whom live manipulation of an actual musical instrument is an irrelevant, quaint notion; furthermore, their tastes in music aren’t likely to gravitate to organic, ‘sincere’ musical expression. They just don’t care. In addition, not to be morbid, but there is a possibility(and I’m in no way being an alarmist or saying I want to see this)that if death rates do play out as there is a potential for, a good chunk of the demographic that would appreciate and seek out live musician performance might not be there, should society get back to resembling what existed before. It’s a plausible scenario.

 

[StereoPlayer]

 

[48thStreetCustom]

We’re well into the era when one person with a laptop can stand in front of thousands of people, push a button, and “perform”, AND that audience considers the concept of a single DJ, or a rapper(plus hype men and sometimes dancers)performing to backing tracks as legitimate as any ‘band’, so I can’t see any difference in how it would be received by an audience who is predisposed to those genres, even if scaled down to a computer or TV screen. There is a whole segment of a younger audience for whom live manipulation of an actual musical instrument is an irrelevant, quaint notion; furthermore, their tastes in music aren’t likely to gravitate to organic, ‘sincere’ musical expression. They just don’t care. In addition, not to be morbid, but there is a possibility(and I’m in no way being an alarmist or saying I want to see this)that if death rates do play out as there is a potential for, a good chunk of the demographic that would appreciate and seek out live musician performance might not be there, should society get back to resembling what existed before. It’s a plausible scenario.

I respect your position, but I totally disagree. IMO those rappers and DJs don't have what people need right now. People want to be heard, seen and have something they can relate to. Right now, when people can't buy toilet paper, no one can relate to Jay-Z rapping about owning a 747, 20 Rolexes and Picassos hanging in his bathroom.

 

[Bruiser Stone]

I’ve got a riff, and now I just need the words.

 

[DrThumpenstein]

Ms Thumpenstein and I have been listening to MORE music since we're spending more time around the house, and I've certainly been playing/practicing more. We both enjoy listening to live music and do so every week or 2. There is going to be some pent-up demand when we are liberated, whenever that happens, we are going to be looking to catch those make-up shows that we had tickets for and get back out there again.

This is a temporary situation. Obviously there is a serious, life-threatening pandemic that's going to affect us for the next few months. Our band is working on new songs that we can tighten up as soon as we can start getting back together. But when we re-emerge, me and the boys will have some new songs in the repertoire. Gotta make the best of it.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

Grateful Dead Live!

 

[Herrick]

Will 2020 be the year without music? Nope.

 

[Gorn]

Creating music has never required as little talent and technology as it does today.

 

[DrMole]

I know there is already a thread out there about COVID-19, but I want to focus in on how 2020 will be remembered in the music history books.
We may be at the beginning of this thing. Already hundreds of shows have been cancelled for local bands. Dozens of tours have been put on hold. Behind the scenes, studio time is being cancelled. Video shoots are being cancelled. Band member are questioning the wisdom of even getting together to practice.
There will undoubtedly be a glut of material written during this period because...well...what the heck else is there to do. But for the foreseeable future, doing something with that material seems to be on indefinite hold.

Will this year be the end of the "Music industry" as we know it, and everything will change over to DIY recording and distribution?
Will webcasts, live streams, and "virtual touring" become a thing?
Will there just be a dead spot in releases for 2020 and everything will go back to business (for better or worse) in 2021?
Thoughts?

No

 

[bass12]

I respect your position, but I totally disagree. IMO those rappers and DJs don't have what people need right now. People want to be heard, seen and have something they can relate to. Right now, when people can't buy toilet paper, no one can relate to Jay-Z rapping about owning a 747, 20 Rolexes and Picassos hanging in his bathroom.

What people "need" right now is what they always "need": escapism - and for the majority Netflix will do the trick. Most people don't need music. At most they like consuming a bit of it from time to time. Unfortunately I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Ive made more music in the last few days than the last few months.



/

 

[40Hz]

Who knows? This may encourage enough bands to think outside the box and go find more profitable and/or enjoyable ways to ply their trade outside the abusive club and bar scene they seem to have resigned themselves to lately. Might even lead to their public rethinking how they listen to live performance. I’m thinking small live crowd venues combined with a lot more live streaming.

FWIW music experienced a huge Renaissance and came back stronger than ever following the global horror and carnage of WWII. During the counterculture turmoil of Viet Nam, music flourished and became the focal point of a large portion of a generation. Record sales boomed and concerts sprang up all over the place.

Adversity and hard times seem to encourage the creation of more and better music.

 

[socialleper]

Who knows? This may encourage enough bands to think outside the box and go find more profitable and/or enjoyable ways to ply their trade outside the abusive club and bar scene they seem to have resigned themselves to lately. Might even lead to their public rethinking how they listen to live performance. I’m thinking small live crowd venues combined with a lot more live streaming.

FWIW music experienced a huge Renaissance and came back stronger than ever following the global horror and carnage of WWII. During the counterculture turmoil of Viet Nam, music flourished and became the focal point of a large portion of a generation. Record sales boomed and concerts sprang up all over the place.

Adversity and hard times seem to encourage the creation of more and better music.

I would like to think that this might cause a shift in the way people reach out to their fans and produce music. The current model isn't working particularly well. This interruption may be an opportunity for something new to happen, or it may be the putting down of a sick animal. I would like to hope that things won't go back to being exactly the same. It feels like the music biz has been stuck in a loop for 20 years.