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How Bandcamp's Fee Waivers Are Supporting Artists how-bandcamps-fee-waiver-days-are-supporting-musicians-pandemic

How Bandcamp's Fee Waiver Days Are Supporting Musicians In The Pandemic

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"It sounds simple, but we’ve always believed that the best way to support artists is to buy their music and merch directly," Bandcamp COO Josh Kim tells the Recording Academy
Noah Berlatsky
GRAMMYs
Jun 3, 2020 - 9:36 am

Like most musicians, Belgian ambient synthscape vaporwave artist Sebastian Dessauvage, a.k.a. Zer0 れい, has been struggling since the coronavirus pandemic began. Belgium has been in lockdown for two months and summer festivals have all been canceled. He's lost tour dates in Amsterdam and London. His day job in retail laid him off as well, and while he still gets 70% of his salary through government unemployment, making ends meet has been rough. That's especially true since his beloved cat, Cthulhu, suffered acute kidney failure right before the lockdown. Dessauvage tells the Recording Academy that he was faced with "a hefty set of bills, in total a very solid four-figure sum which promptly annihilated all our savings."

The story of opportunities closing and unexpected expenses mounting is a chillingly familiar one for many people over the last couple of months. There was one bright spot for Dessauvage, though: a substantial boost from Bandcamp. The online music platform suspended its fees on March 20 in order to help artists during the pandemic. Dessauvage put out a collection of 13 unreleased and compilation tracks for the occasion; the album serves as a eerily suitable soundtrack for a lonely apocalypse of staring into the computer screen and feeling it also staring into you. On the day of the Bandcamp promotion, Dessauvage saw a substantial spike in sales as fans rushed to support artists directly. He made several hundred dollars—enough to pay for Cthulhu's final round of antibiotics.

It wasn't just Dessauvage who benefited. The Bandcamp fee waiver promotion was astonishingly successful. Overall, fans and music listeners spent $4.3 million on March 20 to support Bandcamp artists—about 15 times what the site raises on a typical Friday. With fees waived, all of that money went directly to labels and musicians. Some were able to pay their mortgage for the month off the proceeds.

"We know our fan community cares deeply about supporting artists in general," Josh Kim, Bandcamp's COO, tells the Recording Academy. "Even before March 20th we were already seeing huge numbers of fans use Bandcamp to support artists who were seeing tours canceled. So we wanted to highlight that even more and engage as an entire community, and also encourage more fans to continue supporting artists until things are recovered."

Bandcamp's approach has always been to make it easy for independent artists and small labels to reach fans directly, and that has made the Covid promotion a natural evolution. "It sounds simple, but we’ve always believed that the best way to support artists is to buy their music and merch directly," Kim says.

Read More: Bandcamp Will Continue To Waive Its Revenue Shares On May 1, June 5 & July 3

It's hard to remember, but back in March there was some hope that the shutdown would only last a few weeks. Instead, the pandemic has escalated, and while some states have started to roll back stay-at-home orders, the official death count went over 100,000 as recently as Memorial Day. With a deadly contagious pandemic still claiming lives at a terrifying rate, it's difficult to imagine that people are going to be eager to gather in large or moderate sized crowds to see live music anytime soon, and few venues are going to feel comfortable taking on the liability of a potential outbreak.

In response, Bandcamp has decided to repeat its fee waiver program on the first Friday of each month through July. The May 1 fee waiver raised 7.1 million—more than twice as much as the March promotion. There will be another fee free day this Friday, June 5, and another on July 3. (In solidarity with the recent protests, Bandcamp is also going to donate 100% of its share of sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on June 19, or Juneteenth, commemorating the abolition of slavery.)

As Bandcamp has turned the fee waivers into a recurring promotion, artists and labels have started to coordinate their releases to better take advantage of the publicity and fan enthusiasm. For example, the venerable Seattle indie label Sub Pop released not one, but two albums by Oregon indie-rock duo Helio Sequence on May 5. They've also been passing through 100% of digital sales Bandcamp revenue to their artists on the fee waiver days, according to Rebecca Sicile-Kira, Sub Pop's Online Sales Manager.

Nathan Cross, the label owner of Austin-based experimental jazz label Astral Spirits, says that he didn't time any album releases to the first promotion in March. The date just so happened to coincide with pre-orders for a marvelous and much-anticipated new album by the Chicago Underground Quartet. For May, June and July, though, Cross says he's tried to time pre-order announcements to take advantage of the fee waivers.

"I've seen folks say that it's driving people to create albums/products specifically for the aim of these dates rather than creating work that is true to itself," Cross told the Recording Academy. "I can understand this to an extent—I have definitely quickly planned a couple different releases that I probably would have waited longer to do without the Bandcamp fee waiver days." When the floodwaters are coming for you, you can hardly blame them for trying to take a shortcut or two to try to get to higher ground. "I think it's a little unfair to place ulterior motives considering the situation and how fast this has all happened, for artists, labels and Bandcamp," Cross says.

Chicago-born, L.A.-based rapper Lando Chill and his producer/collaborator the Lasso were among the many independent artists who released excellent material to take advantage of the promotion. The two made their 2018 album LANDOLASSO available on the platform for the first time. They also added bonus tracks, including "FUTUREGONE," with lyrics about dreams dying and a woozy hook that is unsettlingly on point for the current moment. Chill tells us they sold more than 30 copies of the album—a substantial increase over a typical day's sales. At $8 a piece, with no platform fees, it was enough to pay for a couple rounds of groceries.

Chill had been organizing an event series called "At the Ardmore"; he'd been doing work with the music publishing company Defend Records. Coronavirus put an end to those projects, and more. The extra income from Bandcamp doesn't make up for that or the loss of touring. But it still helps.

"Bandcamp has been a beacon—or a lighthouse during a storm," Chill says. "It really is. It doesn't mean the storm has ended. It doesn't mean the problems have ended; we're still wet. But that lighthouse provides a modicum of hope. And it really sets an example for other platforms." Spotify, for example, is doing charitable covid relief efforts and matching donations. But that doesn't allow people to contribute directly to musicians the way Bandcamp's model does. Patreon has offered grants and advice for those affected by Covid, but has not waived its fees. Neither has Amazon.

Artist earnings from the Bandcamp sales vary widely. Atlanta-based producer and DJ Leonce was able to pay rent in only a few hours from Bandcamp sales. "Releasing new music on those [fee waiver] days means hundreds of extra dollars in my pocket that I normally wouldn’t have gotten that I can use to go to my living costs," he says.

Other artists like trans activist and indie-rock musician Julia Serano have had more modest sales. "Most people know me as a writer and are less familiar with me being a musician," Serano says. She says she sold three to six extra albums on the fee waiver days. "Which isn't a lot, but it's more than I would have sold otherwise."

Part of the benefit of the fee waiver days isn't just the money—it's the chance to be seen and appreciated. Caroline White, a.k.a. indie-folk/pop artist Infinity Crush, earned half of her income as a nanny and a tutor and the other half touring before the coronavirus lockdown began. Now she's had to switch to childcare full-time. "Naturally it's hard to be creative and produce more art when I'm working seven days a week," she tells the Recording Academy. "But I'm lucky I have something I can fall back on."

With her schedule, White hasn't been able to release new music. But people have been sharing her albums, and she's been able to promote music from other artists. "I have been able to pay some bills with the extra money, and I feel humbled and grateful that anyone even takes the time to listen," she says. "It has helped, and the gesture is encouraging."

Many artists are finding themselves shut off from audiences and with little time or space for creation. "I really was hoping to do a full U.S. tour this summer, since the two tours I did were the most incredible and inspiring experiences, but it'll have to wait. Hopefully sometime in the future there is a place for live music again," White says. Until then, many performers appreciate that Bandcamp is giving fans an opportunity to show they still care about music and the people who make it.

Marching Six Feet Apart: How High School Marching Bands Are Coping With The Pandemic

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Bandcamp Shares Creators Supporting Racial Justice bandcamp-shares-list-highlighting-labels-and-artists-donating-organizations-supporting

Bandcamp Shares List Highlighting Labels And Artists Donating To Organizations Supporting Racial Justice And Change

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Many Bandcamp users are donating their revenue shares to organizations like Black Lives Matter, Racial Justice Network, National Bail Fund Network and more
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Jun 4, 2020 - 2:44 pm

On Friday (June 5), from midnight to midnight PST, online music store Bandcamp is waiving its share of sales as part of its ongoing initiative to support artists impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach, which the company launched in March, allows record labels, artists and creators to earn 100 percent of each sale made via the Bandcamp platform, as Pitchfork reports.

The campaign has inspired many artists and labels to create and offer special releases and products for the upcoming event this week, with many Bandcamp users donating their revenue shares to organizations supporting racial justice, bail funds and coronavirus-related reliefs.

To highlight some of these initiatives, Bandcamp has published a list of artists and labels making such donations along with the organizations and causes they are supporting. 

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A post shared by Bandcamp (@bandcamp)

Some of the highlighted companies and artists include: Arrowhawk Records, which is donating to Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement and Portland Freedom Fund & National Bail Out; Canadian doom rock band Astral Witch, which is donating to National Bail Fund Network; record label Deathbomb Arc, which is donating to Black Lives Matter and bail funds; and many others. 

The lengthy list follows Bandcamp's announcement this week (June 1) that in honor of this year's Juneteenth holiday (June 19), as well as all subsequent Juneteenth holidays, the company will be donating 100 percent of its sales share gained that day to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Bandcamp will also allocate an additional $30,000 per year "to partner with organizations that fight for racial justice and create opportunities for people of color," according to the company's website. 

Read: The Music Industry Calls For "Black Out Tuesday" In Response To The Death Of George Floyd

In a post announcing the donation campaign, Bandcamp addressed the ongoing social unrest and protests happening nationwide in response to the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other black U.S. citizens. 

"The current moment is part of a long-standing, widespread, and entrenched system of structural oppression of people of color, and real progress requires a sustained and sincere commitment to political, social, and economic racial justice and change," the post reads. "We'll continue to promote diversity and opportunity through our mission to support artists, the products we build to empower them, who we promote through the Bandcamp Daily, our relationships with local artists and organizations through our Oakland space, how we operate as a team, and who and how we hire."

Since mid-March, when the coronavirus pandemic began to severely impact the music industry and virtually shut down the global concert business, Bandcamp has launched several relief initiatives to support artists and creators impacted by the crisis. 

After Bandcamp introduced its campaign to waive its revenue shares on all sales in March, artists and creators earned $4.3 million via the platform. Bandcamp continued the campaign in May and will keep it active through July.

"We know our fan community cares deeply about supporting artists in general," Bandcamp COO Josh Kim told the Recording Academy this month. "Even before March 20th we were already seeing huge numbers of fans use Bandcamp to support artists who were seeing tours canceled. So we wanted to highlight that even more and engage as an entire community, and also encourage more fans to continue supporting artists until things are recovered."

"It sounds simple," he continued, "but we've always believed that the best way to support artists is to buy their music and merch directly."

How Bandcamp's Fee Waiver Days Are Supporting Musicians In The Pandemic

"Hamilton"-themed "I Voted" stickers

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Election 2020: The Issues Affecting Musicians election-2020-artists-speak-out-issues-impacting-musicians-voting-season

Election 2020: Artists Speak Out On The Importance Of Copyright, Musicians' Rights And Relief Efforts This Voting Season

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GRAMMY.com spoke to a number of artists and musicians about some of the most pressing issues impacting the music community this election cycle
Crystal A. Frost
GRAMMYs
Nov 2, 2020 - 9:53 pm

This week, Americans will decide on the next president of the United States, and musicians across the country are among the hundreds of millions of lives that will be impacted by the outcome. In a recent article, which cited industry executives on both sides of the aisle, Billboard broke down what's at stake for musicians in this upcoming election cycle, underscoring copyright as the most important policy issue in the music business right now. Since the copyright industries collectively contribute more than $1 trillion dollars annually to the Gross Domestic Product, many members of the music community might therefore assume this to be the big-ticket issue that could help them decide between candidates. Unfortunately, though, it's not that simple. 

"While there is no shortage of issues that differentiate Trump and Biden, music is generally not one of them," Daryl Friedman, the Recording Academy's Chief Advocacy Officer, told Billboard. The fact is, both Joe Biden and Donald Trump share very similar views on copyright and have pro-music policies on their records, making it very difficult for undecided voters in the music community to choose a candidate based on copyright policy alone. 

Ahead of the 2020 Election, GRAMMY.com spoke to a number of artists and musicians about some of the most pressing issues impacting the music community this voting season.

https://twitter.com/GRAMMYAdvocacy/status/1308478685503258624

🗓 Early voting?
📬 Mail-in ballots?
📍Polling locations?

📲 Register, get your ballot, and learn more about #MusicVotes: https://t.co/NyyQsII7qD #VoteReady pic.twitter.com/amp0dhxCD5

— GRAMMY Advocacy (@GRAMMYAdvocacy) September 22, 2020

Pandemic Music Rights

Many musicians and industry professionals show tremendous concern over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has directly impacted the music industry in drastic ways. In fact, when Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris took to Instagram Live with artists Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish and Selena Gomez in October, the pandemic was central to their conversations. The inability to tour has proven particularly devastating for the careers of indie musicians, and the same goes for indie music venues, which are struggling to survive

Read: Sacred Spaces: Rufus Wainwright, YUNGBLUD, Keb' Mo' And Others Reflect On The Independent Venues And Clubs That Changed Their Lives

"The lack of a national strategy has not just meant live music venues across the country being shut down, but many having to shut their doors permanently," one Los Angeles music venue manager tells GRAMMY.com. "Many big venues will be fine, but what does that mean for small businesses?"

Tour Stop(ped): Honest Talk With Touring Artists

The Recording Academy has worked closely with lawmakers and policy makers, including in the Trump Administration, on relief efforts to support the music ecosystem, and it continues to advocate for a substantial relief package—inclusive of funding for musicians, venues, studios and other music small businesses affected by the pandemic.

According to Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, piracy has also worsened since the pandemic, as Americans find it increasingly more difficult to pay for streaming services. "In a time when few can work, piracy cuts into the already reduced legitimate revenue streams from our creations, exacerbating our economic challenges," she explains in a letter to Joe Biden last month.

Indie pop duo Flora Cash expresses similar concerns for the music industry amid the pandemic. "The music industry as a whole is in a really tough spot right now due to the situation around COVID-19, and some real help is going to be needed, especially for live music venues that have not been able to open for almost the entirety of 2020," they told GRAMMY.com in a joint statement. 

Music Rights

When asked what issues matter most to her this voting season, GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and R&B artist Victoria Monét addressed musicians' rights. "There are [policies in place] that don't reflect the way today's music is consumed or accurately accommodate creatives in general," she tells GRAMMY.com. "Among many other political issues, fair and equal pay for songwriters is very important to me." 

Monét's point is supported by many musicians who argue that the payout to artists, songwriters and producers from streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music is too low, especially given the significant role the copyright industry plays in our economy. 

"The core copyright industries are an important economic driver for our country, employing 5.7 million Americans and contributing more than $1.3 trillion to the Gross Domestic Product," CreativeFuture's Vitale shares in her October letter to Biden. "[This is] more than aerospace, agriculture, or pharmaceuticals."

Read: How ONE Musicfest Is Engaging Voters In 2020: "The Underlying Message Is To Get Folks To The Polls"

Musicians' rights are a hallmark of the Recording Academy's advocacy efforts. Just recently, Academy Trustee Yolanda Adams testified in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and earlier in 2020, the Academy's Chair and Interim President/CEO Harvey Mason jr. spoke to the same committee about the importance of establishing a terrestrial radio performance right for artists. The Academy will continue to advocate for fair pay for artists and creators in a more inclusive and modern copyright system.

Fortunately, both candidates have expressed similarly strong views on the issue of copyright. In 2018, President Trump signed into law the Music Modernization Act (MMA)—the most significant update to music licensing in a generation, with significant support from the Recording Academy and its members. President Trump also recently signed the USMCA, which included a number of substantial pro-copyright modifications.  

And as Billboard recently reported, Vice President Biden has a long and verifiable track record in supporting pro-copyright policies, citing his eight years as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Look, piracy is outright theft," Biden said in 2011. "People are out there blatantly stealing from Americans - stealing their ideas and robbing us of America's creative energies. There's no reason why we should treat intellectual property any different than tangible property." (The Recording Academy honored Biden at the 2011 GRAMMYs on the Hill Awards in Washington, D.C.)

Delving further into the candidate's track records reveals that Joe Biden was behind the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, which was responsible for millions of dollars going back into the pockets of musicians and arts organizations that were impacted by the economic crash of 2009. "ARRA supplemented my income so that I could continue Chorus America," GRAMMY-winning choral conductor Peter Rutenberg tells GRAMMY.com. 

Despite widespread criticism of the Trump Administration's handling of the pandemic, they haven't left musicians completely empty-handed either. At the urging of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 , which was signed by President Trump, took steps to help musicians combat the economic challenges spurred by the pandemic by temporarily allowing gig workers to apply for unemployment assistance.

Funding The Arts

As for the classical community, one of the primary concerns for voters is the funding of the arts. "I am deeply concerned for the arts in America," Stephen Williamson, principal clarinetist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, tells GRAMMY.com. "We are usually the first genre to be cut from schools and/or underfunded by the government."  "I sincerely hope that our country sees the need for the arts in the enrichment of the human spirit ... something that all people are truly craving in light of this pandemic." 

The Recording Academy annually submits testimony to the House of Representatives and Senate in support of additional funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). As part of Congress' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy successfully advocated for the establishment of a $75 million supplemental fund for the NEA to help struggling creators as part of the CARES Act.

Your Voice Matters

From Black Lives Matter to the environment, the list of issues that matter to the music community is vast. Ultimately, Americans must decide for themselves what issues matter most and why. No matter who you support, musicians and music-lovers alike are encouraged to get to the polls on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 3) if you haven't yet cast your ballot via the #MusicVotes campaign. You can visit the Recording Academy's election page for voting resources and additional information to make your vote matter.

"It's important for everyone, not just musicians, to get out and vote," GRAMMY-nominated film composer Bruce Broughton tells GRAMMY.com. Broughton, who is known for such film scores as Tombstone, Young Sherlock Holmes and Moonwalker, believes there is more at stake in this election than ever before. "This year, the choice is big, and the repercussions of that choice will be bigger. I don't see anyone not being [affected] by whichever side wins this year."

Are You Ready To Vote? Design Your Voting Plan With #MusicVotes Campaign

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Chorus practices outdoors this year at Countryside High School in Pinellas County, Florida.
Photo courtesy of Christy King

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How COVID Changed The Look Of Music Education puppy-pads-and-slit-masks-how-covid-changed-look-music-education

Puppy Pads And Slit Masks: How COVID Changed The Look Of Music Education

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COVID-era problems put pressure on teachers to work creatively, while fearing for the future
Emilee Lindner
GRAMMYs
Sep 21, 2020 - 9:01 am

Those living in Kingsman, Arizona, shouldn’t be surprised if they hear 30 kids yelling simultaneously from Lee Williams High School. That’s just Shannon Bascombe’s marching band letting out their COVID-19 frustrations.

"The kids were like, ‘Hey, Ms. B, can we, like, scream into the void for 10 seconds at the beginning of practice?'" Bascombe recalled. "'Yeah, sure, I’ll give you guys 10 seconds to just yell it out.' … Then they’ll start learning drill."

The coronavirus pandemic has made returning to school this fall a touchy debate. With each district whipping up its own tentative plan, students are either attending school armed with masks, learning virtually from home or doing a half-and-half schedule. They’ve pushed start dates, altered schedules and introduced new technology. Several schools GRAMMY.com contacted for this story set a date in September or October to reassess and adjust, aiming for in-person instruction by 2021. Needless to say, a little scream therapy is warranted—not just for students, but for teachers, parents and administrators as well.

So how does music education fit into the new school plans? Unlike math or history, which can rely on individual study, collaborative ensembles like band, chorus and orchestra cannot. With social distancing measures in place, getting a band of 50 students placed six feet apart in one room is, well, impossible. Not to mention the whole aerosol concern with kids blowing on their horns. Online group rehearsal doesn’t work either, due to latency issues.

With those difficulties in mind, districts across the country have already cut arts programs. And those teachers who still have their jobs are feeling the pressure to keep them by proving their worth.

"[Parents are] OK with the core teachers being at home and being able to give assignments," says Jake Olimpi, marching band and orchestra director at Marple Newtown High School in Pennsylvania. "But what is the art teacher doing, what is the music teacher doing? They’re getting paid and where’s the result?"

That pressure, atop the duty to keep students safe, healthy and engaged has become the new challenge for teachers, who are also haunted by the pandemic’s long lasting effects on music education.

Masks On Instruments And Puppy Pads

The spread of aerosols, a.k.a. air and saliva, forced the Centers for Disease Control to recommend the six-feet social distancing rule months ago. But when it came to the performing arts, there was little scientific evidence on how singing and instrument playing contributed to aerosol spread. A study from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), published without peer review in July, gave music teachers some answers.

Conducted by the University of Colorado Boulder, the study found that instruments released fewer aerosols if they were masked at the bell. They found even fewer aerosols when the player wore a slitted mask. In order to return to in-person ensembles, authors of the study also suggested these points:

  • Musicians must stay six feet apart (nine feet for trombonists)
  • Bell covers should have a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) of 13 (although any covering is better than none)
  • Spit valves should empty into absorbent sheets like puppy pads
  • Rehearsal times should be limited to 30 minutes
  • Instructors should wait one HVAC air change between classes
  • HEPA filters should be in rehearsal spaces
  • Outdoor rehearsals are recommended over indoor ones

With the scientific guidance, teachers got to work crafting what fall 2020 would look like… and now that school’s back in session, music classes certainly don’t look like they did before. At Bascombe’s school in Arizona, they’re following the NFHS guidelines nearly to a T.

GRAMMYs

The students at Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory for the Arts stick to their cones and try out their new bell covers.
Credit: Anna Ottens

"When they come into the room, they have to wash their hands, drop their stuff off," Bascombe says. "We go through the symptom checker from the Mayo Clinic every day when they walk into the room… All of the doors are propped open so the kids have minimal touch. There's hand sanitizer everywhere. Mouthpiece cleaner everywhere."

Bascombe's woodwinds, brass, percussion and colorguard all get their own room. Every Friday, she spends an additional hour and a half disinfecting each room, including the bathroom her students use.

At the Southern Nevada Homeschool Performing Arts, program director Bonnie Buhler-Tanouye says brass players wear slitted masks, akin to "boys' underwear," and flute players wear shields. She says parents are willing to do even more in order to get their nearly shutdown Las Vegas music scene rolling again.

GRAMMYs

The students at Southern Nevada Homeschool Performing Arts wear face shields and slitted masks on the first day of band practice. 
Courtesy: Bonnie Buhler-Tanouye

"One of the parents I was talking to the other day, because I was reminding her of masks for her trumpet player, she said, ‘You know what, put me in a hazmat suit, if you have to. Whatever we have to do to get back to playing music together,'" Buhler-Tanouye recalled.

The NFHS study deemed outdoor rehearsal better for dispersing aerosols. Summer band camps served as positive test runs for the rest of the school year, with students respectively keeping their distance. Water and sunscreen breaks are frequent and essential. In Pinellas County Schools in Florida, humidity plagues practices, but kids are happy to endure sweating for a chance to play together, says Jeanne Reynolds, performing arts specialist for the district.

"If you teach in Florida and you're a band teacher, you become a meteorologist," Jeanne said. "'Cause it’s not just hurricanes; we’ve got pretty good thunderstorms, so you have to know when to get out of harm’s way. Which we all do."

What happens when the temperature drops? When playing outside is no longer an option, bands will be forced to limit the size of their ensembles, based on dimensions of their rooms and state guidelines. Some schools have already taken band class off the schedule completely, exchanging it for smaller groups, broken up alphabetically or by instrument.

Smaller ensembles introduce two problems, though. First, smaller groups equate to more classes, meaning teachers' course loads have increased. Music programs like the one at Bergenfield High School in New Jersey rely on a large staff, which allows them to assign one teacher each to virtual and in-person classes for all of their ensembles. Bergenfield’s band director, Brian Timmons, considers his program lucky; not all schools have the resources.

Second, teachers must find music for a ragtag chamber ensemble. For example, if groups were split numerically by students' names, a director might end up with a flute, three trombones, five bass clarinets and a french horn in a class, and music for a combo like that is rare. Thankfully, publishers like Alfred, Hal Leonard and RWS Music Company have flexible arrangements that can be split into a few basic parts, and have become more available during COVID.

GRAMMYs

The supply of cleaning materials Shannon Bascombe uses to disinfect the band rooms at Lee Williams High School. 
Courtesy: Shannon Bascombe

But will the music ever get performed? State guidelines vary, but indoor maximum capacity has been limited to as few as 25 people per room. Gathering an audience would be infeasible.

Perhaps concerts aren’t even necessary. According to Timmons, it’s time to shake up the dusty format anyway.

"Music education has been so performance-driven all the time," Timmons says. "And we never take time to explore the other things like the chamber playing or the composition or just ear training in and of itself or theory."

Students taking virtual band obviously don’t have to deal with these new precautions and guidelines, but they also don’t get to play together. As Timmons says, they’re working on individual assignments, like learning music production, which allows them to sew together an ensemble, piece by piece. Timmons' students will work on a shared online workspace to record music. It gives students the power to collaborate remotely, he says.

"They can listen to each other’s part and say, ‘OK, our articulation is not punching there. We’re going to have to rerecord this section,'" Timmons says. "I have three teenagers of my own. I watch them killing it on TikTok. If you can do that, there’s no reason why I can’t teach you how to do this."

And then there’s the fact that some schools are taking little to no precaution. Music teacher Nathan Smith says he was fired from Oakdale Academy in Michigan after expressing his concern over the safety of students and staff. The private Christian high school is not requiring masks this fall, per a letter sent home to parents.

"I had so many plans for this school year," Smith said. "I certainly wasn't ready to leave without seeing any of my kids again."

The Lost Generation And Long-Term Effects

It’s a struggle to keep current music students engaged, but it’s a completely new challenge to get more kids involved. Recruitment requires getting instruments into the hands of fourth graders and presenting the allure of a polished, performing ensemble—hurdles made higher by COVID.

Lackluster recruitment will have damaging effects on the future of music education, says Robert W. Smith, a composer, arranger and professor at Troy University, who has written hundreds of works for high school-level ensembles.

"We cannot have a lost generation of musicians, and we’re about to have it," Smith says.

If too few young musicians join band, orchestra and choir programs, the ensembles will see dwindling numbers in each subsequent year, all the way up to college groups.

"This is like aftershocks of an earthquake or second and third waves of a tsunami," Smith says.

Current music students also face the loss of competition and adjudication—third-party feedback that lends itself toward improvement. Many in-person music competitions have been canceled for the fall. On the upside, some organizations have offered virtual adjudication, where students and ensembles can send in their performances for assessment.

But the long-term effects aren’t all bad. Timmons insists that it’s only shifting focus for COVID-era students to prepare for a more viable music career—one that isn’t totally based on performance (though still valuable), but digital skills.

"If you’re going to be successful in music, you have to have a basic understanding of how digital audio works, even if you’re a classical-style player," Timmons says. "You gotta have an understanding. If we can teach them how to use a digital audio workstation, even if it’s some kind of cloud-based thing, recording themselves and then as a chamber ensemble recording their own product, we’re kind of unlocking skills."

All of this means that music educators are getting even more creative than before, out of necessity.

"Music teachers by nature are problems solvers. It’s what we do," Timmons says. "Listen, troubleshoot, feedback, adjustment, listen, troubleshoot, does that sound good? This is just another problem to solve. It’s just a little more problematic than fixing the intonation of a chord."

Marching Six Feet Apart: How High School Marching Bands Are Coping With The Pandemic

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RIAA 2020 Mid-Year Report Shows Growth In The U.S. riaa-2020-mid-year-report-recorded-music-revenues-us-grew-more-5-percent-during-first

RIAA 2020 Mid-Year Report: Recorded-Music Revenues In The U.S. Grew More Than 5 Percent During The First Half Of 2020 Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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A new study from the RIAA shows that revenues from recorded music in the U.S. grew to $5.7 billion in the first half of the year, a boost largely driven by strong streaming numbers.
John Ochoa
GRAMMYs
Sep 10, 2020 - 11:55 am

A new mid-year report from The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) shows that revenues from recorded music in the U.S. grew to $5.7 billion, up from $5.4 billion as Billboard reports, in the first half of 2020; the change marks an increase of 5.6 percent.

Paid streaming subscriptions, which increased by 24 percent to more than 72 million on average, a growth of 14 percent in the first half of 2020 when compared to the first half of 2019, largely drove the aforementioned revenue growth.

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Streaming music revenues—returns from subscription services like paid versions of Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and others; digital and customized radio services, including revenues distributed by SoundExchange like Pandora, SiriusXM and other internet radio; and ad-supported on-demand streaming services like YouTube, Vevo, and ad-supported Spotify—grew 12 percent to $4.8 billion in the first half of 2020. 

Paid subscription revenues grew 14 percent to $3.8 billion, and further increased their share as the largest contributor, accounting for 67 percent of total revenues in the first half of 2020, according to the RIAA report. 

Digital downloads, a market that continues to shrink in the streaming age, fell from 8 percent to 6 percent for the category's share of total revenues in the first half of 2020. 

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As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the U.S. and international music business as well as the global advertising markets, "growth in ad-supported streaming revenues slowed dramatically," the RIAA writes.

As well, revenues from physical products decreased by 23 percent year-over-year to $376 million in the first half 2020, Variety reports. The RIAA report indicates a "significant impact from music retail and venue shutdown measures around COVID-19, as Q1 2020 declines were significantly less than Q2 compared with their respective periods the year prior." 

Revenues from vinyl albums increased in this year's first quarter, but later decreased in the second quarter, resulting in a net overall increase of 4 percent for the first half of 2020, the report reports. Vinyl album revenues, which reached $232 million, accounted for 62 percent of total physical revenues, marking the first time vinyl exceeded physical CDs for such a period since the '80s, as well as 4 percent of total recorded-music revenues.

Read the RIAA's 2020 mid-year report in full.

RIAA Report: Latin Music Is Growing Faster Than The Overall U.S. Music Market

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