First the Internet, Now the Pandemic: The Music Industry Battles on

A brand new ‘New Normal’ is upon us. By ‘us’ I mean Madrid, where I live, in particular, and humankind in general. A New Normal which, as opposed to its earlier reiterations (2008 and 2012, anyone?), will have an equally immense impact not only in the future of global economics but also in our overall social behavior, as evidenced by the expression du jour, ‘social distancing’.

Or so they say. Because judging from the last few weeks, since Madrid entered in what is called in Spain ‘Phase 1’ in the three-step plan towards Nueva Normalidad, I believe it is safe to say that my fellow residents didn’t magically turn into Nordic folk after over two months of quarantine and constant scare. If anything, they seem elated to be out and socializing, passing hours in the outdoor seatings of bars and cafés (indoors have just started at 50 percent capacity), a big bottle of antibacterial gel sitting on the table as the sole reminder of what happened. Apart from the waiters serving with masks and gloves, of course.

And yet, performance art venues are still a question mark in the grand scheme of things, more so than cinemas, where the half capacity regulation might even be welcomed by those who were tired of ‘being packed like sardines’. The same sardine formation is, on the contrary, desirable when we talk about live performances, as a half-full theater is a dreaded sight, both in terms of finances and artistic motivation (and sometimes even acoustics).

The pre-pandemic music industry had barely started to recuperate from its long and exhaustive battle with the Internet, having reached a half-hearted compromise in the form of streaming services. Live performance had replaced record sales as the main source of income, but it was a double-edged sword: it could strengthen the audience’s loyalty and thus ensure more revenue, while also risking burnout on the side of the artist due to exhaustion. Those who wrote their own material were more susceptible to this risk. In any case, live performances were the bread and butter of musicians and technical crews worldwide.

A number of suggestions have been made to artists, especially those who will struggle financially in the absence of concerts, in order for them to sustain during these times of hardship. In an article for Forbes, Brian Penick, an entrepreneur in the music business, lists such diverse activities as live streaming concerts, online teaching lessons, and pandemic-themed songs (a route taken by famous Spanish singer-songwriter Rozalén) as ways through which musicians can ‘embrace’ the situation and soldier on. While his suggestions are not all bad, they completely disregard the fact that musicians are not the only people who make their livelihood through concerts.

Will the concert experience as we know it until now return? The WiZink Center in Madrid, an indoor sports and concert arena with a seating capacity of 17,500 spectators, is considering ‘a mixture of virtual and physical experience’, by which they mean reduced capacity, placing TV cameras around the venue that will live stream the shows and charging less than usual for the actual seats. Other, smaller venues are also weighing this option. Will this model serve as a placeholder until (and if) social distancing becomes a thing of the past, or actually become the norm until the next New Normal? We will have to wait and see, either from the comfort of our homes or in an enclosed space, at a safe distance from other human beings.