Music is often called a “universal language” that every person can relate to and interpret individually. Similarly, every person has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic in their own way. But just what has happened to the music industry in the last eight months? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you talk festival fans or promoters, they’d tell you that this has been the worst eight months of their lives. According to NPR, in the last decade, “music festivals and concerts have exploded into a $12 billion business.” And with no end to the pandemic in sight, who knows when the world will be ready for the next Coachella. Festivals and concerts can attract tens to even hundreds of thousands of fans from around the globe—confined into sweaty mosh pits and standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of strangers. Festivals have become a COVID nightmare.
But the music industry is so much more than just concerts and festivals. What about individual artists? Across the industry, artists’ success during COVID has been inconsistent. Many artists have made the most out of quarantine—writing, recording, and releasing music from the comfort of their homes. Rappers like DaBaby, Drake, Cardi B, and Travis Scott have had chart-topping releases during quarantine. Whether you believe TikTok has destroyed listener’s appreciation for music or not, artists like 24KGoldn, Jack Harlow, and Sada Baby were able to take advantage of the platform to get their names into the spotlight. 2020 has been a huge year for music. In addition to The Weeknd’s After Hours and Lil Uzi Vert’s Eternal Atake, Pop Smoke and Juice WRLD both released posthumous albums, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and #1 on the Billboard Artist 100 Chart, respectively. On September 18th, Pop Smoke is set to come out with a remix of his recent release, Mood Swings.
With all of these new releases and the fact that consumers are spending so much time at home, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reported a massive uptick in streaming revenue from brands like Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud, and more. In just the first half of 2020, streaming revenues grew by 12%, generating $5.65 billion. Even more surprising is the fact that even with the growth of the streaming industry, for the first time since 1980, vinyl records have outsold CDs.
Even with all this growth in the industry, smaller artists are really hurting. Unable to book gigs and promote their music, artists are forced to get creative if they want to survive. It’s not just small and up-and-coming artists that are coming up with unique ways to perform, but big names like Martin Garrix and Chance the Rapper have turned to social media to engage with their fans. On September 14th, Chance the Rapper teamed up with Ralph Lauren to host an intimate virtual concert to which over 20,000 fans tuned in for. He took advantage of the power of social media—using Instagram Live, and Snapchat to share his music. Viewers that used snapchat to stream the concert were in for a treat. If you opened the Ralph Lauren x Chance the Rapper filter, it opened up and immersive experience that utilized augmented reality (AR) to make it appear as if he was performing in your room. As you moved around, your view and concert experience moved with you.
Will virtual concerts be the way of the future, will international music festivals be a memento of the past? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, we’ll keep listening to our favorite musicians to speak that special universal language.