The Covid-19 crisis has taken a heavy toll on the music industry and all its workers.

The music industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. The industry's revenues are however divided into two parts with live music, i.e. all concerts, performances and TV appearances accounting for over 50% of total revenues. The second major revenue stream is recorded music, i.e. all downloads and listening on the various streaming platforms as well as physical sales. 

The crisis announced in 2019 has brought the world's economy to a virtual standstill, but the music industry has suffered particularly badly as part of its income has been cut off. Being confined, it was obvious that the performances would stop all over the world and that this part of the revenue would be forgotten. However, many producers and record companies thought that streaming would explode due to the lockdown. This was not the case, as Spotify's greatest hits stream dropped by 11%. The cause is simple, the places that played music throughout the day and night such as bars and nightclubs have also closed, no longer streaming permanently. 

What is important to know is that the people most affected by this industry are the musicians themselves and the thousands of people who work alongside them, not the record companies themselves. 

Indeed, when music is streamed on one of the platforms, the artist receives almost nothing of what the platform or the record company receives. This created a major problem during this period when live presence was impossible. 

As for the people surrounding these musicians and also being the driving force behind the industry, they were also strongly affected by not being able to do their job physically. Obviously, the big names in the industry have not necessarily suffered greatly financially but many smaller or lesser-known artists have seen a drastic drop in income. Although streaming sales were down, it was obvious that physical sales would also be down as shops were closed, but there was still an increase in vinyl and CD sales via 

e-commerce platforms. The initial trends of this crisis saw overall streamings on music platforms fall by 7 to 9% but in the 2nd and 3rd quarter this seems to be gradually picking up. It is important to note, however, that the streaming of video streams has increased significantly.

Nevertheless, the industry has put in place actions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. 

                                              

Initially, several big names in the industry such as Universal Music Groupe, Youtube music or even Spotify, came together to provide financial assistance to those whose income was severely impacted

by the Coronavirus. Consumers also had the opportunity to donate directly to the funds of their choice through platforms set up by the suppliers.

Governments around the world have also been keen to show their support for the music

industry by putting in place trillions of dollars in aid packages for workers in the entertainment industry.

Artists have had to be creative to stay close to their audience and have set up exclusively digital content to continue to communicate with their community, such as live performances from home or programmes shot in advance.

With globalisation, the means of communication have expanded, allowing the music industry to be present throughout the world. Some artists have been able to set up paying platforms with exclusive and unreleased content such as Big Hit Entertainment's Vlive, which contains content from kpop groups such as BTS, TxT and others.

These new strategies that emerged during the health crisis can be seen as a strategy to get even closer to their audiences and extend it to my own in the absence of representations.

Artists in the music industry were able to stay close and present their new projects through social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. But many prefer the old methods of album promotion and are eager to return to these methods.

Gradually, the world is returning to normal as far as possible and so is the music industry.

However, the recovery is slower than anyone could have imagined and also much more difficult. There are many health measures and restrictions to be respected and put in place, especially in terms of health and physical security, to prevent the virus from circulating again and to avoid a repeat of the Astro World Festival.

For concert-goers, we are still a long way from the concert halls we have seen in the past, but we should not lose hope. Better days are coming ahead.

Anaïs A. 

740 words.

Bibliography 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/dec/18/how-the-pandemic-affected-the-music-industry

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/this-is-how-covid-19-is-affecting-the-music-industry/

https://blog.uniqodo.com/music-industry-response-to-pandemic