How Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Affecting the Music and DJ Industry?
The COVID-19 pandemic has been hitting the music industry and the global DJ scene hard. At the time of writing, many festival-season opening events have been postponed, and even putting together new DJ line-ups has been affected.
Breaking out just before Tết (Lunar New Year) 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has become a global emergency because of how fast it spreads.
The pandemic has thrown every plan into complete disarray, as authorities restrict people from gathering in crowded places, banning everything from entertainment venues, restaurants and tourism to, in many places around the world, even schools. At the time of writing, Vietnam has had 17 cases, 16 of whom have recovered, while other countries such as China (the epicentre), South Korea, Italy and North America have been hit hard.
This is a nightmare for event organisers, artists and even investors who have poured their expertise and passion into creating an event, only to see it postponed or even cancelled to protect public health as the outbreak grows more complicated by the day.
Major festivals and music conferences around the world have been cancelled or postponed until 2021
Ultra Miami 2020 was one of the first EDM festivals in the world to announce a postponement, the first in its nearly 20-year history, because of the worsening COVID-19 situation. Not only has this left fans disappointed, the whole city of Miami is also expected to lose a lot of revenue (restaurants, hotels and many other activities in the city).
A “domino effect” then inevitably followed, with a string of events and music conferences postponed: Tomorrowland Winter (France), S2O (Thailand), SXSW (USA) and, most recently, Asia's biggest music conference, Wired Music Week in Malaysia.
Not only has this left fans disappointed, the whole city of Miami is also expected to lose a lot of revenue (restaurants, hotels and many other activities in the city).
Wired Music Week is one of this year's events forced to postpone because of COVID-19
Postponing a show will certainly cost the organisers revenue, as they have put in months of work and expertise to make the event a success.
Still, with the global outbreak showing no sign of easing and developments hard to predict, it is a tough decision, but everyone has to be understanding and wait for future editions once things settle down.
For now, the organisers are offering refunds to customers who bought tickets for the events above.
DJ equipment shipping has been disrupted
In the music industry, and especially for DJs around the world, much of the DJ equipment is made in China. According to DJ TechTools, shipping is running into serious difficulties because borders have had to close due to COVID-19.
So brands such as Pioneer, Numark, Traktor … have had to rush into a plan B: shipping by air freight. However, air freight costs up to 10 times more than traditional shipping by truck.
Partying at home, 4.0-style, is taking China and the world by storm
With so many events and nightclubs forced to close in China and some neighbouring countries, partying at home in the digital age is being enthusiastically embraced by young people.
Proof of this: a number of big Chinese nightclubs have started livestreaming their resident DJs' sets through the night, in every music genre.
On top of that, VR technology is being widely used so that you can enjoy the experience at home without agonising over other uncertain options. One example is the duo Galantis, who staged their Church of Galantis concert in VR and streamed it live on YouTube.
Sources: DJ Tech Tools, Raver.vn
