It’s not just those with Coronavirus (or COVOID-19) that are going to be struggling in the coming months.
The creative industry needs your help. You might be disappointed a festival or gig you were looking forward to was cancelled. While that is a bummer, these cancellations affect many different layers. The promoters that have laid out cash to make the shows happen take a huge loss straight away. The venues that were going to be home to the shows lose their bookings and the bar spendings. Bands that were going to play are losing their fees. Photographers lose their bookings to cover the shows. Illustrators get no new requests to create artwork.
Whether people lose money they already invested or money they had planned to make, Coronavirus is going to cause a lot of problems for people in the creative industry.
How you can help
You can help by buying music, prints, or anything that can be sent to you. Streams on Spotify or Apple Music are the least helpful right now, and the payments are too few and far between. Buying something from an artist (whether it’s a musician or creative) or from a venue is the best way to help keep food on their tables.
Musicians
Any band you listen to most likely has a BandCamp. If the artist has a BandCamp, the money goes direct to the artist every 24 hours and isn’t held up in some purgatory. That means that any purchases you make on BandCamp directly to an artist page is a great way to support the artists you love in a time they might need it most.
Here are some BandCamp listings for bands I work with:
Clowns – Music | Clowns
Camp Cope – Music | CAMP COPE
WAAX – WAAX
Ceres – Music | CERES
Skegss – Music | Skegss
The Hard Aches – The Hard Aches
The Chats – The Chats
Photographers
You can support photographers by buying a print from them and have it shipped to your door. If you’re going to be staying indoors during Coronavirus, may as well decorate your same four walls with an awesome music photography print, right?
Products – Luke Henery – Prints, film and cameras
Store – Pat O’Hara Photography – Prints
PRINT STORE – Michelle Grace Hunder – Melbourne Music Photographer – Prints
Dan Stork – Photo book by an awesome sound engineer
Mitch Lowe – Prints from himself and other awesome music photographers
Tim Lambert – Prints
Venues
Go to a gig! A lot at the time of writing this are still operating. Even if you hear of a lot of shows being cancelled, if you’re comfortable, go to a show! If you’re not comfortable, buy a t shirt and have it shipped to you. See what’s on at any venue you frequent (for me that’s Crowbar and Fortitude Music Hall) and check out the store pages for anything they sell that isn’t an event.
Get your income source added
If you’re in the creative industry, no matter what your role, get in touch with me and I’ll add your link to the list above. Make sure you tell me the link to what people can buy to keep food on your table.
If you’re struggling, help is out there
You can contact:
- Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636
- Support Act – 1800 959 500
- Lifeline – 13 11 14
