In another special guest post, Hannah Martin (Edgelarks, Gigspanner Big Band), talks about the impact of the lockdown on musicians and how they are making ends meet. There may also be positives…such as placing a greater value on music.
The tour I was doing in March feels like a very long time ago. Myself and Phillip Henry, as Edgelarks, completed a perfectly normal week of gigs around the south-east. The news bleated on in the background, and talk of an apocalyptic sounding virus made people joke about shaking hands with us after the shows. The gigs were lovely, well attended, and the event that most seemed to break the usual routine was a surprise sighting of a very large rat, scuttling around our gear as we loaded out one evening. Perhaps we should’ve taken that as a sign…
The second week of the tour, promoters began holding the start of the show for ticket holders who didn’t turn up. Corona. Then the cancellations started to come in. I’d always considered that, since we have so many different ’employers’, we were safer in many ways; one show might get cancelled, but there would still be twenty more. Until suddenly, there wasn’t.
Our last gig was on the Isle of Man. The island was as yet untouched by the virus, and so we had a lovely couple of days appreciating normality – exploring, making friends, and playing to a sold-out crowd. On our return to Lancashire, it felt like the world was collapsing. After a quiet winter, we’d been looking forward to a packed spring, in which we would complete three tours, and make a large proportion of our year’s income. It swiftly became clear that all plans were cancelled.
There has been much discussion in the music industry for the last few years about how to build a sustainable business model. The returns for most musicians from streaming services are truly pitiful – for instance, Spotify’s average payout per stream is £0.0028, which would, therefore, require 3114 plays of a song to make one hour’s UK minimum wage. And yet, the relentless march of technology sees more and more people relying on streaming services to listen to music. In fact, an oft-heard complaint from our listeners is that new cars no longer have cd players!
So what are the alternatives? The corona crisis has perhaps forced focus on an issue that has long been brewing. Live revenue has become most musician’s main income stream, and with this removed, how can the industry survive? There has been a tremendous amount of creativity already on display. We’ve enjoyed (and put on) live-streamed concerts; we’ve joined listening parties to hear new work, and we’ve spent many, MANY hours carefully piecing together virtual collaborations – filming video and recording audio, then sending to a musical friend for them to add their parts. It’s a whole new world of technical learning to get to grips with overnight; and while the virtual collaborations are great fun, I don’t think the casual scroller on social media can have any idea of the hours of painstaking work that goes into each one! (To that end, please do check out the Gigspanner Big Band “virtual live” version of Earl Brand [below] – and many thanks to John Spiers who did the final edit). Zoom singarounds and virtual ceilidhs keep the folk spirit alive. Audiences have been very supportive during live streams, donating to the tip jar – but there are calls from many artists to cease putting shows out for free, even if people are generous – with the idea that it devalues the perceived worth of what we do even further.
There has been a move in recent years towards a patron based model, and this is something myself and Phil have started to explore, making it possible for people to subscribe to us via Bandcamp. The idea is that an artist then has a regular monthly amount, much more like a salary, to be able to budget their life and concentrate on producing more art. In return, subscribers get access to special subscriber-only perks, plus big discounts on merch etc. It seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement, but time will tell if it enables the survival of the grassroots scene.
Because it’s not just the musicians who are vital to making the scene thrive. Another aspect of the loss of the live shows is the effect on those backstage. I feel very lucky that there is so much support for musicians and grateful that we have a strong union and many organisations offering assistance. But the folk scene wouldn’t continue without the efforts of booking agents and promoters putting on the shows – and they have no recourse to online streaming or teaching. There is an as-yet incalculable loss of venues that will have to be faced. Sound engineers, lighting technicians, tour managers – all of these people, many of our friends, find themselves in an impossible position.
However, I do feel there are positives to come out of these strange times. Geography has suddenly become irrelevant, and so we are able to connect with fans and friends from all over the world much more readily – something I hope we can preserve once all this is over. This also enhances the sense of connection in the folk music community – I truly feel it is a wonderful and supportive scene to be part of. I personally am appreciating not having to spend so much time on the motorway! While I’m missing the shows, the realities of the situation definitely feed into discussions I’ve had with many musician friends about the continuing practicality of a travelling life in environmental terms. And of course, it is lovely to have more time to play music.
I listened to a podcast from a man who had been in prison, in high-security solitary confinement, for years. He said that the way he survived those years was by focusing on routine, and on setting himself up for life on the other side. Perhaps the music industry could use this time similarly. Could we take all the inequitable, broken pieces of the old major-label model, and decide now is the moment to change? A fairer distribution of streaming revenues, a greater value placed on music, and all the other arts that are sustaining us through this lockdown period? Pause has been pressed; I’m looking forward to hearing a better song when it’s time to press play.
Subscribe to Edgelarks via Bandcamp here: https://philliphenryhannahmartin.bandcamp.com/subscribe
Also, subscribe to their Youtube channel to get notification live performances and lessons on here.
Online livingroom concerts, like the recent one below, are also available on-demand in case you missed them and you can still make donations to Hannah and Phillip via Bandcamp or Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/edgelarks.
https://youtu.be/BrVUNvsmF_k?t=572
Hannah is also a member of the Gigspanner Big Band, our Artists of the Month. Their latest album, Natural Invention (review/interview), is released on April 10th 2020 and is available from https://www.gigspanner.com/shop
The Gigspanner Big Band are Peter Knight – Fiddle, Vocals
Roger Flack – Guitar, Bass, Vocals
Phillip Henry – Dobro, Slide Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Hannah Martin – Fiddle, Banjo, Tenor Guitar, Vocals
John Spiers – Melodeon, Concertina, Vocals
Sacha Trochet – Bass, Percussion, Vocals
www.gigspanner.com
www.edgelarks.co.uk
www.johnspiers.co.uk
Photo Credit: Steve Stoddart