There isn't a lot the music industry can do about inflation, currency devaluation, bloated shipping and transportation costs, or the "much much more" that ANIMAL COLLECTIVE cited in an Instagram post that went viral this week about its decision to cancel a UK and European tour. It sucks out there right now, all (or most) protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. OKKERVIL RIVER's WILL SHEFF matter-of-factly told Stereogum recently (h/t DAMON KRUKOWSKI) he expects to lose $5,000 to $7,000 on his fall and winter solo tour of the US, and even more when he heads to Europe afterward. He's going ahead anyway. For a lot of artists, especially those in music's middle class who aren't positioned to sustain big short-term losses, there are no right or wrong answers, just a lot of bad options. Animal Collective, which has already weathered cancellations, lost income and three cases of Covid in 2022, made the opposite choice: "We are choosing not to take the risk to our mental and physical health with the economic reality of what that tour would have been."
Mental and physical health are coming up a lot, along with dollars and cents, these days. JUSTIN BIEBER and SANTIGOLD both cited mental health among the factors in their recent tour cancellations. REGINA SPEKTOR took to Instagram Tuesday, just two days after she launched her fall tour in Chicago, to say a bad case of Covid has forced her to scratch the rest of it. "I have gone from feeling bad, to worse, to terrible," she wrote. "I've lost my voice."
It isn't LIVE NATION's or UNIVERSAL's or SPOTIFY's fault that all this is happening. But it seems a good time for those companies and others across the industry to acknowledge it and figure out what they can do to soften the blow, in both the short and long terms. It's their artists, their content creators, who are losing their voices. Mental health consequences will persist long after the pandemic wanes; what will the options for accessible, affordable care look like then? Touring musicians and their crews are at high risk for physical consequences right now. Has the live biz given up for good on Covid protections for its own artists? Should it be using its weight to push back against others who've given up? Is it true, as the FUTURE OF MUSIC COALITION reports, that "net industry growth in the recorded music marketplace hasn't trickled down to many musicians"? Is there a way to make it trickle down a little more during a sustained period when the belief that touring is where musicians make up the difference no longer holds up? How is the streaming business' role different in 2022 than it was in 2019? How should it be different? Clubs and other venues are obviously hurting, too, but should they really be dipping into the income from the merch tables of artists fighting all those other headwinds on the road? What other questions is everyone asking right now? What questions should they be asking?
Etc Etc Etc
If you want to know how disposable artists can be at record companies, look no further than A&R in the age of TIKTOK, as KANE BROWN manager MARTHA EARLS tells Music Business Worldwide. "People are signing moments—15 seconds of a song being popular—without a plan to develop a long-term career for the artist they're signing," Earls says. "'Oh, you had a hit, we'll sign you. You don't have another one? Whatever, we've moved on.'" On the other hand, she says, social media "allows the consumer, the fan, to choose what they like, rather than a record label saying, 'Hey, this is the song we think that people need to hear and we're going to release it to radio and determine whether you can hear something or not.'" In summation: Fan A&R >>> Label A&R... Music rights in the Metaverse... Mariachi at DODGER STADIUM... Women's bathrooms at DAVID GEFFEN HALL.
Rest in Peace
Actor ANGELA LANSBURY, whose iconic musical performances included lead roles in "Mame" and "Sweeney Todd" on Broadway, and Mrs. Potts, the singing teapot, in Disney's 1991 "Beauty and the Beast" movie... Nashville session singer/arranger ANITA KERR, whose Anita Kerr Singers sweetened thousands of country, pop, rock and R&B recordings in the 1950s and '60s. She also released dozens of albums and composed film scores... JOEL MOROWITZ, co-founder of indie label SpinART... Colombian singer/songwriter ANDRÉS CUERVO.
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