INTERVIEWS BY ROB DUGUAY + CHRIS FARAONE + SHIRA LAUCHAROEN 

Over the past three months, we’ve interviewed hundreds of creatives, promoters, and everyone in between about how their lives have been changed by COVID-19. When it comes to music, we have certainly been interested in and covered the financial plight of those who lost gigs due to the closing of clubs. But while that continues to be one focus of ours, we’ve also asked musicians about their experience turning to live streams. These are some of the highlights … 

DJ WhySham on lost income

“As a local DJ, most of my services and income comes from community-based gigs. Within an hour I seen all of my events I was booked for over the past four months quickly cancel within four minutes after the state declared an emergency. Within four minutes, my housing, food, and mental health all played ping-pong with each other determining what will be the next steps. You can plan for rainy days, but as an artist each day is a rainy day.” 

Billy Bragg on endless possibilities

“I’m always in favour of finding different ways to support musicians, but I feel that the more we do these kinds of events, the more people will realise that they’re a thing in themselves. It’s a more intimate experience than a gig in an auditorium. The economics may prove attractive, as your capacity is limitless on the web.”

Edrie Edrie (Walter Sickert & The Army Of Broken Toys) on pandemic parenting

“Like many parents, we’re also juggling working, creating, parenting, and homeschooling, so our five-year-old will also be with us and part of the process. The rest of the band members will be online too, and we’re hoping we can all connect and bring a flavor of what it is like to be in the studio with us.”

Adam Ezra on connections

“Sharing our music is the fuel that makes us happy and gets us through our hardest times. Rather than look at these upcoming months as an isolating shutdown of our mission, we’ve decided to turn this next chapter into an opportunity to gather with as many of you every night as we can. Listen to some music, hang with each other, and take part in whatever antics are unfolding in our little shared world.”

Jesse Dee on supporting musicians

“Live streaming concerts are a great way to support the livelihood of musicians at this time, as well as shuttered venues and their currently unemployed staff. While it can’t compare to the shared experience of a live performance in the flesh, I think there are still benefits to be enjoyed in the virtual performance setting.”

David Wax on rule-breaking

“Suddenly, all the music industry infrastructure that typically mediates our connection to our fans vanished. Now Suz and I are speaking and singing directly to our audience and they are tipping us directly. We have no touring expenses like gas, hotels, childcare, our bandmates and our crew, which make it extremely challenging to come home with any profit.”

Evan Greer on priorities

“Being away from people who I love for just a few weeks has been excruciating. It’s important to remember, and fight for, the millions of people behind bars who are kept away from the people they love all the time. Mass incarceration in the US is perhaps one of the greatest failings of humanity. Getting people out of prison should be a priority all the time. During a pandemic, it’s a human rights and public health imperative.”

Eli “Paperboy” Reed on coping

“As the days went on I at least knew that every day I’d have an outlet to do some singing and get out some of the feelings I was dealing with. As the audience got bigger it became kind of like collective therapy for myself and everyone watching. I love making people happy by being able to play their requests, no matter how obscure.”

Courtney Swain (Bent Knee) on innovating

“After we had to cancel our headlining tour in April, the six of us in the band really wanted to share something special with our fans. Vince [Welch] had the idea to release the stems from our second album, Shiny Eyed Babies, and we thought it might be fun to tack on a remix contest. It was a casual thought and we weren’t really expecting a huge response. Once we announced the stems and the remix contest, it brought us a lot of joy to see how excited people were.”

G. Love on artist needs

“As musicians we say yes to everything and put a lot of time, love, and energy into helping raise money for communities and causes around the world. This is wonderful, but the musicians themselves often get overlooked. During this time every musician and their crews are out of work like so many people out there with very few applicable grants and loans available.”

Nikki Coogan (The Devil’s Twins) on fan connections

“While we can’t be with them in person right now, we felt the want and need to give back to them in the way they do for us. Being able to take requests of everyone’s favorite songs and talking with our fans and friends by using Facebook’s premier function has made it feel more like a show experience.”

Linnea Herzog (Linnea’s Garden) on limitations

“For now, the safest realistic option is live streaming performances and us musicians need to brainstorm best practices to work with the existing technology. Also, let’s not be judgy towards people who are clearly trying. Some people only have access to a phone to make videos—that doesn’t mean their videos are automatically garbage.”

Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, The Breeders, Belly) on pitching in

“I started doing the Sunday Series of covers to raise a little money to help out local venue staff and full-time musicians whose livelihoods are being hit hard by lockdown. There are many people in the Boston community doing the same, each in our own way. It’s also been good for me in that I get to keep playing with friends.”

Ry McDonald (Copilot) on opportunities

“The silver lining to this pandemic has been connecting and working with a lot of new people in the industry.”

Ryan Montbleau on streaming tech

“Nothing works much better than a good room sound and an iPhone in my opinion, but it’s been magical every week in its own way. It’s interesting to think about what will happen moving forward. Nothing will ever replace a bunch of bodies being in a room sharing the same experience.”

Ani DiFranco on trying new things

“I think I am a bit terrified to turn my laptop into a window that anybody can walk up to and look through. … This is my first ‘yes’ to the world of live-streaming and the world of trying to engage with people, make art and inspiration happen through this sneaky secret window on my kitchen table.”

Dan Blakeslee on finding new audiences

“I have gotten a lot of good responses and felt the love through comments and emojis, I also feel like folks have been extra generous with these shows. The best part is that all of the people who aren’t able to attend my shows in person because they either live far away or have kids are now able to view the performances.”

Cliff Notez on inevitability

“In terms of the future of streaming, I think concerts were headed this way in the long run regardless. Our society has grown increasingly more digital and we’ve lost a bit of human connection everyday. This was one of the reasons I wanted to make a digital media company, get ahead of it, and try to do things that continue to push the culture in the way we usually do.”

Narcie Hadjiconstantinou (No/Hugs) on looking ahead

“People aren’t realizing that the music market is going to permanently change after COVID-19 is over. This is not a conspiracy theory, it’s a micro and macro economic prediction based on supply and demand as well as opportunity costs on behalf of the venues.”

This article was produced in collaboration with the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism as part of its Pandemic Democracy Project.

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