COVID Keeps Coming For Our Concerts
Plus - How TikTok, Tinder and GTA Are Altering the Music Industry
Last week’s newsletter was a celebratory look at the state of concerts going into 2022, with the caveat that for many artists, multi-night engagements or single city residencies are increasingly appealing in the age of COVID. As if to underscore the concern artists and their crews faced on the road, no less than three major artists have been forced to cancel dates in the past week due to someone in their circle contracting the virus.
The first blow came on Saturday when it was announced that both Lil Nas X and Coldplay would not be able to perform at the UK’s Jingle Bell Ball when members of both artist’s teams tested positive for the virus. Fortunately for organizers, the lineup also included megastars Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran, allowing the event to go on.
Equally fortunate is iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour, which will go on despite the loss of Doja Cat, who announced her own affirmative COVID status on Sunday after canceling performances in New York and Boston when members of her team tested positive.
Less lucky is Evanescence, who have been forced to cancel the final dates of their current tour due to COVID cases in their crew. The gigs have already been rescheduled for January, but with certain significant additional complications and costs. For starters, most tour staff jump from one tour directly to another. Securing their services a month later than planned can throw a major wrench into things. Same goes for gear rentals, merch distributors, venue staff, the list goes on. Additionally, the significant upfront cost of producing a major tour means that the first half (or more) of any run has to pay for the staging, promotion, etc., while all of the profit comes from the dates at the end of the tour.
The good news is that in all of the COVID cases we mentioned, no one has fallen seriously ill, no doubt thanks to industry-wide vaccination mandates for any crew and, in many cases, anyone in the audience. But if all it takes is one break-thru case to halt a touring machine, artists will continue to have some tough decisions to make when it comes to hitting the road.
And artists aren’t the only ones making some tough decisions about the safety of concerts. This is no more apparent than in the UK, where following a flurry of ticket sales when venues reopened last summer, it’s being reported that up to 40% of those ticket holders are skipping the shows they paid for months ago. The problem in the U.S. is less severe, though still troubling, with about 20% no-shows. This, of course, has the knock-on effect of hurting drink sales, merch, parking, and various other additional revenue streams the performers and venues all rely on so that the math of live music makes sense. And it could fortell a dip in ticket sales going forward as more and more 2022 tours are announced.
It’s not just the live sector that needs to still be concerned. On Tuesday, Billie Eilish told Howard Stern that she was sick with COVID back in August, and implied that her coughing during the interview was a result of the disease. Needless to say, when you’re a singer, the danger of a respiratory illness with long-term effects can seem particularly hazardous.
DJs of course don’t have to worry about their voice, but they do have to be concerned when the European clubbing capital of Berlin bans dancing, as it did last week, effectively forcing world-renowned venues like Watergate and Berghain to close mere months after being allowed to reopen following more than a year shutdown.
No matter how you view it, COVID is still a threat to live music. The danger might not be existential like it was in 2020, but another symptom of long-COVID could be a serious loss of revenue to an already injured industry.
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TAKEAWAYS
Salient statements from this week’s music news.
1. TikTok's 2021 Music Recap Says It’s Getting Even Better at Creating Billion-Listen Megahits
TikTok’s top music in 2021 included current chart-topper Megan Thee Stallion and 70s German disco act Boney M. The company might have also accidentally created a new category of catalog acts, called Comebacks, which indicates songs between 5-25 years old.
Takeaway: Over 175 trending TikTok songs made it to the Billboard Hot 100 this year, up from 90 in 2020.
2. Tinder Is Partnering With Spotify to Launch a New ‘Music Mode’ Feature
The new 30-second loops of users’ favorite songs are yet another unexpected way in which streaming revenue will continue to add up.
Takeaway: The company says about 40% of Gen Z Tinder users have already added Anthems to their profiles and when they do, they see nearly a 10% increase in matches.
3. Dr. Dre to Drop ‘A Ton of New and Unreleased Exclusive Tracks’ Through Grand Theft Auto Online
The super-producers inclusion in the update is the most elaborate integration of an artist into the GTA universe so far.
Takeaway: Given the high-volume playing schedules associated with frequently updated multiplayer offerings like GTA Online, the digital world looks to be an excellent place to release music, and it’ll be worth following the commercial performance of the involved tracks moving forward.
