How to party during the coronavirus crisis

Corona is changing the world. Cultural events are being cancelled and moved online: people are staying at home and taking part in social events via live stream.

A post by Melanie Molata & Joelle Wörtche

Tuesday, 9 June 2020

The festival season has been cancelled. People are sitting at home in isolation. Concerts and major events in Germany have been cancelled or postponed until the end of August due to the coronavirus pandemic. But we don’t have to give up our beloved cultural activities entirely.

Creative solutions for cultural events

Leisure and cultural events require creative solutions during the coronavirus crisis. Organisers are developing formats that work well both online and offline: livestream festivals, digital living room concerts and drive-in cinema concerts. For example, the German artist Max Giesinger gave his first-ever drive-in concert as part of the #wirbleibenzuhause festivals.

But it is not just the style of the concerts that is changing; lyrics are also being rewritten and adapted to current circumstances. The well-known band Queen, for example, has released a ‘Corona edition’ of their song and rewritten their global hit ‘We Are The Champions’ as ‘You Are The Champions’.

Music is finding new ways forward! During the coronavirus crisis, culture is going digital and, in doing so, bringing people together again. Showing solidarity and being there for people in lockdown is the motto of many artists. But is that really a long-term solution? Or is the whole thing just a temporary measure?

Celebrities are getting involved by using their influence: fundraising campaigns for greater solidarity during the coronavirus pandemic

Global Citizen, together with the World Health Organisation (WHO), organised a spectacular online event featuring many world-famous artists. A global TV and live-streaming event in support of the WHO and all those on the front line of the fight against the coronavirus worldwide. The message behind it was very clear: stay at home! All are called upon to take the most important and effective measure in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus. And taking part is not difficult at all. All you had to do was: stay at home!

This is precisely the motto under which Global Citizen, together with the WHO, organised a ‘historic event’: the massive online festival ‘One World: Together At Home!’. It grew out of #TogetherAtHome, a virtual concert series aimed at fostering a sense of togetherness in times of isolation. The charity concert lasted 8 hours and raised 128 million US dollars.

Local events are going digital

Even local events such as the Schlossgrabenfest in Darmstadt, which has been held every year in the city centre since 1999, had to be cancelled this year with a heavy heart. The Hessian music festival usually features over 100 bands over four days, but this year it was held as ‘Schlossgrabenfest@Home’ for the first time. The Darmstadt-based livestream and video provider vsonix supported the organisers by producing a free livestream.

Through their initiative, ‘Wir feiern Musik@Home’ (translated: ‘We Celebrate Music@Home’), they created a livestream for their visitors for the first time and broadcast it on YouTube and Facebook on 16 April 2020. Eighteen bands performed live from home, whilst the band Strandakustik appeared as guests in the vsonix studio.

Featuring a mix of interviews, unplugged performances and video recordings of past Schlossgrabenfest performances, the stream reached a peak of around 1,500 concurrent viewers and lasted over three hours. To date, the stream has been viewed over 35,000 times on Facebook and YouTube (as at 4 June 2020, 12:45).

We’re going digital

Across all sectors, people are now exploring technical possibilities. They are learning and working with digital tools. Schools are switching to online teaching, and employers are sending their staff to work from home. Barriers to the use of digital tools are thus being removed, and digital literacy among young and old alike is on the rise.

Experts believe that the trend towards digital cultural offerings will continue and develop in the future. But has this trend also reached the cultural scene? Why are streaming services free? Are we not prepared to attend online concerts and pay for them? Or would all providers have to switch to paid content?

Could streaming be a substitute for live concerts?

However, it is also important to note that digitalisation brings with it many positive effects and new challenges. Artists are particularly affected. Free live streaming is no financial substitute for live concerts. Artists deserve to be paid. During the coronavirus pandemic, live streams are offered for free or donations are requested to foster a sense of solidarity amongst the ‘audience’. Rarely is money demanded for the streams.

The ambivalent culture of free content online divides musicians. Whilst some live streams from artists’ living rooms are launched for promotional purposes, others are looking to the future and considering how they can monetise their content – for example, by posting short video clips on social media that then link to an affordable full version.

Live streams are a sign of solidarity, but they do not provide financial compensation for the loss of earnings that musicians, technical staff and booking agents are currently suffering. After all, live performances account for two-thirds of total turnover in the music market.

At present, due to the abundance of free live streams, there seems to be a certain reluctance to ask for money for one’s own art online.

Digital platforms for artists are booming

Through the live streaming service offered by ‘United We Stream’, not only live concerts but also DJ sets are being broadcast online in response to the closure of all venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The streams not only showcase the artists but also collect donations for an emergency fund. This should enable outstanding payments, such as rent, to be settled. The format has now gained worldwide acceptance. “The advantage is that you can listen to the stream all over the world and our DJs have fans everywhere. And because we’re part of a global community, our streams are also broadcast by arte concert from time to time. This is, of course, a great opportunity to showcase ourselves across Europe,” says organiser Klaus Bossert in an interview with Hessenschau (translated from German).

Solidarity fund for artists who do not receive emergency aid

Over 80,000 events across Germany had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Federal, state and local authorities have set up an emergency aid programme worth billions to support freelancers, the self-employed and micro-enterprises in the cultural sector. But freelance stage and sound technicians, lighting technicians, event assistants and all those involved in setting up, organising and running cultural events are also struggling with a loss of income. For this reason, #handforahand is collecting donations to support freelancers in the cultural sector.

Greater appreciation?

Perhaps these new digital possibilities will change fans’ perceptions and they will get used to attending concerts online via streaming services more often. After all, digital solutions are currently helping to restore appreciation for culture and all events, and it remains to be seen how this trend will develop in the future.

Sources:

How the agency managed to convey the festival atmosphere despite the pandemic

Reading about the dichotomy between solidarity and free culture

Survey on interest in live streams during the coronavirus pandemic

Schloßgrabenfest live streaming and COVID-19 measures such as the special edition support mugs