BY Elisha Asif
The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a nightmare for nearly every industry, but musicians, who make most of their money from in-person concerts, may have had it worse than most job industries.
Since the mandates kept concerts from happening, the billion dollar industry saw one of its worst days. But even through the worst of times, some local musicians found their way to success.
The global music industry accounts for nearly $50 billion and within the six-month shutdown, the music industry lost an estimate of $10 billion. International Dance Music Summit reported a 54% decline in value in 2020, making it a $3.6 billion deficit.
The global music industry collects an estimated $50 billion through two major revenue streams: live concerts and several other combinations of income. Live music makes up 50% of the revenue. Most of the money from concerts comes from sales of tickets and merchandise. The other revenue stream involves: downloads, CD’s (which are rare nowadays), streaming, and licensing of music for movies, advertisement, games, and TV.
Music hubs like the city of Nashville where many early-career musicians go to find success found itself in a 72% deficit in revenue, $17 million in lost wages. Music is so vital to Nashville that the loss faced by the music industry affected the state’s GDP by $24 million.
Streaming has become a new way for artists to make money; however, it can be a rather slippery slope if the artists aren’t bringing enough listeners. Spotify, one of the most popular streaming platforms, pays its artists $0.0033 per stream, according to a report by Business Insider.
