The recent admirable community spirit of musicians to rise above adversity is fast fading as the bodies representing them have gone to sleep even as Covid-19 threatens to wreak wider damage to the industry.
Associations representing live musicians have not struck a chord with the authorities, leaving individuals to fend for themselves.
The chest-thumping of certain associations over so-called efforts to convince the government to reopen live entertainment in pubs and nightclubs is nothing but a croaking, bawling version of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”.
Their laudable initiatives of providing food aid to families in the early weeks of the lockdown and organising live streams over Facebook to solicit donations have slowed down or are beneficial only to some musicians.
While indoor events are being organised with limited audiences as per the SOP, many artistes are left behind due to restrictions in organising such shows.
There is every indication that a clash of egos between leaders and their flock from rival music groups has diverted their attention from looking into matters at hand to a show of one-upmanship.
In the wake of wider devastation to the live entertainment scene, these bodies should be engaging the government in intellectual discourse.
For starters, I suggest a town hall session involving all the stakeholders and government policymakers to highlight the problems that have afflicted the industry over the past seven months and offer creative solutions, not conjectures.
There is a nagging sense of anxiety that the government is not fully aware of the severity of the damage caused by the pandemic to the musicians, nightlife businesses and other support services in the industry.
It is not beyond our skill set to come up with solutions. It only requires coming together as one instead of taking potshots at one another.
A proposal would be to allow musicians to perform in gastro bars. A waiver for entertainment licence should be considered until the coronavirus situation returns to normal.
The associations should also have a sit-down with media editors, not to harp on the same issues, but to get ideas going forward.
The forum should also be an occasion to highlight to the editors how skewed reports, particularly on pubs and nightclubs, portray the establishments negatively.
Nonprofits can help music associations to seek data on the full effect of Covid-19 on the entertainment economy and health impact on musicians.
Presently, it is plain speculation about how much income musicians, venues and other related businesses lost while the live music economy was shuttered.
No one knows how many musicians need medical aid, especially those seriously ill. Their condition is only known when they approach associations for financial help.
The survey results will be a big help to policymakers to decide how to assist individual artistes and businesses to get back on their feet.
The same results could be made part of the national census to show the income of musicians, many of whom make poverty-level earnings from performances and other revenue streams.
We do not know what will be possible for venues and other hospitality businesses that have effectively been closed since public gatherings were prohibited in March.
Because commerce centred around large gatherings will likely be the last to restart, those already vulnerable businesses will need massive amounts of assistance to have any hope of reopening.
With constraints on our movements and general way of life becoming more and more restricted, we are feeling a loss of control never experienced.
We are missing our normal social support from friends and family, and our freedom to control our day-to-day lives.
Making music provides a means to regain control but we will only succeed if everyone works together again just as we succeeded in controlling the virus when everyone joined hands.
In the meantime, I have launched a petition to bring the plight of the musicians to the notice of the government.
Vishnu Shakthi is a veteran musician and FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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