Pay to play

Extolling the joys of live music recently, I've admittedly been very much writing from the perspective of a punter. You've got to feel for musicians who were itching to get back to doing what they love, only to come up against the cost of touring crisis.

In the face of paltry streaming revenues, travelling around and performing live was seen as the means of making a little bit of money, but now - except for the few acts at the top of the tree - touring has become a painfully/prohibitively expensive or even loss-making business. 

Secretly Canadian band Wednesday sparked the debate by sharing details of their SXSW expenses. A bunch of alleged music fans responded to suggest ways that they could cut corners and costs, but Zachary Smith Cole of DIIV and Ella Williams aka Squirrel Flower were among those rightfully irritated at the implication that artists should be expected to suffer for their art.

The pandemic is clearly a significant contributing factor. Not only is there the cost of testing, there's the ever-present danger that one of your party is going to come down with COVID. Low's tour is just one of many to be derailed by infection, despite their plea for audiences to wear masks. As Zola Jesus has pondered, is this just a new risk that musicians are going to have to live with?

Belfast band New Pagans' European jaunt in support of Skunk Anansie may have been cut short by COVID, but bassist Claire Miskimmin has emphasised that Brexit as well as COVID has "truly done a number on small bands". Charges, regulations, ridiculous bureaucracy - everything is fucked. It's fair to say that White Lies would agree, having been forced to cancel a Paris gig because their equipment was wrapped up in red tape.

Without an end to the pandemic or the removal of Brexit-related barriers in sight, the outlook is bleak - a future in which only privileged artists with independent means are able to survive and tour? Let's hope not.