From singers to a record shop businessman and an event organiser: individuals in the music business are enduring the hardships during lockdown.
Inoperative venues, tours being deferred and a pathetic situation for live performances in the events has turned some lives tips torvy. Once the events halt, the entire workflow of aspiring musicians, session players, sound engineers, booking agents, recording studios, DJs, tour managers, event staff and many freelancing livelihoods are adversely being effected. It’s the worst effector sector now.
While the artists facing the economical fallout desperately yearned for a relief package, the government has never given a mention. Presently, in an attempt to beseech administration for compensation, Bengaluru-based performer Debjeet Basu has begun an online petition through which he intends to accumulate enough petitions to take it forward to the finance minister and PM of India. The request has received more than 1,600 forms since it was initiated on May 19.
This appeal isn’t constrained to artists; it’s for the general business – technicians, sound and light engineers, venue proprietors and staff, and so on. The artist states the he spoke to a couple of prominent artists and few technicians, many concurred that our industry has been totally ignored.
“As an industry, we are not a huge component of the population, so it’s safe to assume that this petition may not get universal support. Even if we get 5,000-10,000 signatures, that’s a lot for the industry in India. The most important thing is to get our voice heard,” he affirmed.
Francis Perry, managing director of Total Productions, an event production firm based in Bangalore, says his firm has equipment worth Rs 25 crore that is provided to venues and festivals on rental basis, all of which is stalled now. He says that covid-19 crisis has now become a far fetching idea to get the due recognition and feels like the industry doesn’t even exist.