The cultural and creative industries were badly hit by the corona measures. The music sector was hit especially hard: event locations had to close, artists were out of work, they often had to pay back Tozo received and festivals were cancelled. A large number of artists lost most of their income. Would the cultural sector in general, and the music sector in particular, survive Corona?
The music industry after Corona
Pauwke Berkers
"This crisis could be a historic dividing line for the music industry"
Many music makers are already living below the poverty line, and anything could happen and the whole industry would collapse. The current crisis has exposed this alarming financial position of the music industry, and widened the differences within it. "In that respect, this corona crisis is a good time to look at how the music industry can be better organised in the future," says associate professor and cultural sociologist Pauwke Berkers of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication in an interview with EM Magazine. Berkers will investigate the long-term consequences of the corona crisis on the music sector, and how the sector can become more resilient.
This is all the more important when you consider that music has a demonstrable positive influence on our well-being. "Music can contribute to increasing social cohesion, reducing social inequality and rethinking a rationalised world," is Berkers' conclusion in an essay in Sociology Magazine in March 2021.
