BLOG: Hope for events and the music industry?

News of (another) government u-turn provides hope

The government’s vaccine passport u-turn will be welcomed by venue owners and the musicians whose income relies on live performance.

Between piracy and the move to streaming music rather than buying physical product, traditional income streams have been decimated for musicians and music producers in the last decade or so, with only those garnering millions of streams able to make a living from released music alone.

The ability for musicians and DJs to perform live in clubs, theatres and festivals became essential. And most managed fine. Until March 2020.

We’ve focused on the impact to the music and events sectors more than others during the pandemic. We’ve heard perspectives on festivals and clubs from Norman Cook as well as the plight of venues from Mark Davyd and the Music Venue Trust. We spoke to songwriter Fiona Bevan and opera singer Meeta Raval about lockdown through an artists’ lens.

Why? It has been the microcosm of the macrocosm – an industry that was already under significant strain, learning the hard way that the 21st century is turning out to be very different from the one before. Also the music industry is, at once, the jewel in the UK’s economic crown punching above its weight around the world – and also an increasingly hostile place for new and emerging performers, writers or venues to take a few risks. Pre-COVID-19, all was not well – but the opportunities were huge. Afterwards, it will be similar – but potentially in different ways.

After Corona? MUSIC INDUSTRY (part II)

In the latest episode of our After Corona? podcast series we return to music, and all of its diverse slipstreams, one last time.

Each of our guests are speaking in a personal capacity, and from the heart, from different stages in the pandemic – from right back at the start when lockdown was a novelty, to more recently in Spring 2021 with the UK cautiously opening up.

Our guests:

Rachael Perrin, a musician, social entrepreneur and creative industries coach – known by many for being the co-founder and co-director of community music facilitators, Soundcastle.
Thom Milner-Smith is a music and live events promoter based in Worthing on the south coast. His company, atom presents, produces different scale gigs and shows – and had to make some big decisions over the past 18 months.
Laura Vane is known as ’the little lady with the big voice’, a singer of her own volition collaborating closely with acts such as The Streets, Gnarls Barkley and MJ Cole – and also the frontwoman Anglo-Dutch funk band The Vipertones.

Different industry perspectives

// After Corona? Events

Various contributors from the events sector answer our questions about how the pandemic affected their work, lessons learned, and what should come next.

(39 minute listen)

// Norman Cook on music

Norman Cook (aka Fatboy Slim) needs little introduction. A festival titan. We spoke to Norman last September about the impact of the pandemic on festivals, clubs and the music industry as a whole.

(30 minute listen)

// Fiona Bevan on the music industry

As well as writing and performing her own music, Fiona Bevan is one of the UK’s most prolific pop and rock songwriters for global acts as diverse as Kylie Minogue, Steps, Nick Mulvey, Lewis Capaldi, Aurora, Ed Harcourt and The Backstreet Boys to name just a handful.

(40 minute watch)

// Mark Davyd on grassroots music venues

Mark, and the Music Venues Trust, have been hailed as heroes by many in the UK for running some very hard-hitting campaigns that put small and medium pubs and gig venues at the forefront of cultural recovery funding.

(40 minute listen)

// After Corona? Festivals

We spoke to festival curators and promoters about the impact of the pandemic on their events in 2020 and how they’ve adapted in 2021.

(27 minute listen)

// Amy Lamé on the night time economy

London’s first ever Night Czar, Amy’s responsibility is to promote London’s varied nightlife both in the UK and internationally, including safeguarding venues across the city.

(35 minute listen)

Events and festivals in the spotlight

always possible works with organisations on ambitious projects and supports creative businesses to plan and cut through the noise.

Festival Problem-Solving

Festivals are complex, fraught and financially risky – but get the ingredients right, and they are transformational cultural moments that foster collaboration and accelerate ideas. And they are really, really good fun.

The always possible team have been working with festival organisers over the past six years, on design, evaluation, fundraising and communications – challenging stale thinking and assumptions.

Clients and collaborators include Wilderness Festival, Glyndebourne, Brighton Digital Festival, #TOMTech, Oops Festival, Starboard Festival, Essex Book Festival, Sick! Festival, Photoworks Festival, The Brighton Summit, Essex 2020, SPARK Education Festival + MORE