‘Lost is innumerable’: Australian songs from COVID hit | Social and Cultural Affairs

Melbourne, Australia – Peter Noble remembers a time when he closed his music festival just hours before it was opened.

“It was dangerous, dangerous for me and my whole team,” he told Al Jazeera.

Noble is the director of Bluesfest, an Australian music festival that has seen stars such as James Brown, BB King and Norah Jones perform on stage.

Residents of the famous coastal resort in Byron Bay in upstate New South Wales, the award-winning Bluesfest attracts about 25,000 people in the region, creating millions of dollars for the economy.

However, the results of COVID-19 showed that the event was closed by Australian health officials the night it opened, in one case in the region.

“We were ready to go and we were in talks until the night the government ordered the people,” Noble said. “I still shake my head and go and say: ‘Are those actions, the only ones that existed?’

“Not only was it closed but our entire area was closed for an hour. The losses are innumerable. It is not just the millions of dollars we have lost and lost, and the tens of millions of dollars our region has lost due to failure to sell completely. ”

The 2021 ban earlier this year took place after last year’s meeting. In 2020, he was given a three-week notice.

The banning of coronavirus music events has had an impact on the Australian music market.

Not only are big festivals like Bluesfest closed, small gigs should also be closed, tours changed and even the ability to try and write restrictions due to regular closures.

A financial comparison with technology company PwC Australia shows that Australian companies had $ 1.82 billion Australian dollars ($ 1.36m) in 2019 – a number expected to drop by 90% by 2020.

Australian brave musicians You Are The One I saw their 32-year journey come to a close in March 2020 because of the plague.

Its members live in various parts of Australia and because of restrictions on their travels, they have had to record their new music from a distance.

“We just needed to change,” bass player and manager Andy Kent told Al Jazeera. “We’ve managed to paint history in a way that we never had before.”

Australian music companies traditionally rely on tours and theaters to make money and for artists to be seen.

It’s Me, who started playing together in 1989, and I fully understand the importance of living in new and emerging teams.

“If you have 2,000 people in a room, your business [merchandise] sales should be high, ”Kent said. “And the more you travel, the more people are dealing with you which is why your reputation goes up and the more chances you have to play on the radio or in your business will go up.”

You are the one who has managed to record a new record even though they were all in different Australian states and could not travel across borders [Courtesy of You Am I]

Kent tells Al Jazeera that even though you have the opportunity to be over 30 and have the courage to be honest, the lack of travel and performance poses a serious challenge to new and emerging teams.

“This important structure in front of a large number of people is very important for the music business and the tour groups,” he said.

Go online

Yet Kee’ahn, a well-known traditional musician, has struggled with the issue, releasing his debut single in mid-2020.

With my hometown in Melbourne a few months later, Kee’ahn felt it was the right time to start the song.

“I was like, I really want to put this song in because I love it and I think it can be really helpful at the moment,” Kee’ahn told Al Jazeera.

With no chance of touring or touring to support the release of Good Things, the song still copied radio shows from the internet only and also won an award at the 2020 National Indigenous Music Awards.

“Everyone was on the Internet [due to the lockdown] so it sounded like that, “Kee’ahn said.

The singer – whose name means “dance, sing and dance” in her family’s Indigenous Wik language – says the closure has opened up an online opportunity that many musicians may not have previously considered.

“Personally, I’m curious [in how] Tik Tok and Instagram have influenced the way music is [how] artists can also make money on streams and start singing without doing anything, “he said.

“I really like the internet that shows on Zoom and IG live. The younger generation can adapt to the internet. I’m not saying the older generation can’t, but I think it’s easier [for young people]. ”

Kee’ahn is interested in exploring the opportunities that have opened up and re-opening the window [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

However, despite having the opportunity to participate online, Kee’ahn also acknowledges the limitations.

“It’s not the same thing to do online via Zoom,” he said. “But it has been shown how music can be easily found online for people who cannot see for themselves. Ine [still] consider music to be very important. ”

Noble is still convinced that the Australian music industry needs support.

“I do not want this to be the end of what is happening in Australia because of this,” he said. “I see people turning to entertainment that worries me.”

Singers and artists were able to get the Australian government-sponsored grant from Jobkeeper, a low-cost fundraiser designed to support workers who are unemployed due to the collapse of COVID-19.

However, the opportunity to find a Jobkeeper is now limited, and with the government providing $ 135 million ($ 101m) to support the project, this is significantly lower than the $ 2 billion ($ 1.5bn) generated annually.

Noble says that loud music, in particular, is important, not only for audience enjoyment but also for the benefits it brings to musicians.

“Since revenues from CDs have become zero and advertising is zero, music companies rely on live performance for their profits,” Noble said.

“And now I’m starting to see a mix of events happening instead of loud music. I assure you that the pay of those recipients may not be the same or that they come close to the recipients because of the performance.”

Noble says the Australian government should support music producers in supporting the return of music.

Thousands of people have been able to attend the games and the Olympic team has been sent to Tokyo, although Australia has some of the world’s travel restrictions on COVID-19 – until even citizens have not been able to return home.

Peter Noble expects Bluesfest to make it to the end of October with the entire Australian team [File: Torsten Blackwood/AFP]

However, destructive measures have greatly reduced the music venue and the ban on dance.

“There’s a joke going through the factories that all the musicians are running on stage wearing a football jumper and hitting the ball in the audience and we can’t be stopped,” Noble said. “But there’s a lot of truth to this joke.”

Despite the challenges that COVID-19 has presented, Noble is planning a Bluesfest for the third time.

Now to be held in October by a whole group of Australians, he says “it was very difficult for us to get up and get out of bed.”

The festival – and the music itself – can be tried again.

COVID-19 is back in the encore and Sydney is in the process of closing down on a new epidemic driven by Delta diversity.