“From Live Scenes to Live Streams”
(Musicians on Quarantine)
By Lia Isabel A. Reoma
When the pandemic hit, musicians and production crew were out of jobs. No more live shows, no more gigs, and definitely no more concerts, this is where musicians and their production crew, also known as the roadies, earn their living. For musicians, it is “no work, no pay”, or we can say “No gig, no pay”. Most musicians have no regular income and worst is that most of the local artists and musicians have no insurance or even savings since they live on a day-to-day basis. While others were struggling, other musicians decided to take a break from the music scene. Bands like JK Labajo Band and IV of Spades are now on hiatus.
In addition, musicians and production crew were not the only ones in the music industry that were affected by this pandemic, but also live music venues. A lot of bars and restos were closed for good and one of which is Route 196. Route 196 had been part of the musical journey of today’s famous indie artists and bands like Clara Benin, Reese Lansangan, Ebe Dancel, Ben & Ben, IV of Spades, Munimuni, Lola Amore, and This Band when they were all just starting in the music industry. Routes 196 have been the home of the rising indie acts.
The pandemic may have killed the music industry but never the musicians’ creativity. During the past months, musicians have found a new stage to perform on, which is social media. Musicians went from live scenes to live streams. There have been a lot of FB and IG live streams. I have a band/duo with my sister called the Pepper Alley and we performed on gigs a lot but because of COVID-19, we started performing on live streams and it really helped us a lot. Every time we perform on benefit live streams, we get new followers on our band page. On our FB live shows, people were requesting our original songs. It’s such an amazing feeling for a songwriter like me when people recognize and appreciate our songs. We were also able to meet new people, mostly musicians, producers, radio DJs, and organizers. Other people started messaging us saying how they loved our songs and wished that we would release a single, others requested if they can create our music videos and be our official photographers while others invited us to play on their events. It’s so overwhelming that our connections became wider and wider every day and I’m very thankful for that.
This pandemic has not been all bad for the music industry. A lot of artists and bands were able to release new singles and even albums while on quarantine. They’ve also been able to spend time for themselves and their families, which they haven’t done for a long time, especially for those bands and artists who have hectic gig schedules, and also their crew who assisted them this whole time.
