The music industry is in shambles. Here are the solutions.

COVID-19 is spreading fast, wide, and we have no vaccine or treatment. Billions are social distancing, sheltering in place, and self-isolating.

The impact on industries that rely on people going out and getting together is unimaginable.

Our team has reached out to independent musicians from several European countries, as well as Canada, to find out what the fallout has been so far.

But we’d like to not just state the obvious.

We want to offer solutions.

Music has to go much more online-heavy than before.

One music professional told us that their whole music business is in danger because all events have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely. Most bands and musicians have lost at least several thousand dollars or euros on 5–10 cancelled on postponed events.

This is the profit that will never be recovered.

Moreover, with the COVID-19 virus not being under control with a vaccine or a treatment drug yet, the prospects of larger gatherings in the near future is highly doubtful.

Some musicians are able to get by with tutoring.

Others have jobs outside the music business.

What’s next for the music industry?

With staying home, wearing masks, keeping your distance from others becoming the new normal, online shows is something that will have to migrate from the realm of a DIY, impromptu idea to a commercialized ticketed event.

Holding online events that are ticketed concerts with quality props, program, and good content and sound is one of the top solutions we here at Show4me envision to be the saving grace for the industry.

We’ve just opened up this functionality — which we planned earlier but were forced to toll out at the beginning of April — to help musicians, bands, and their teams do just that.

More on online concerts on Show4me

Another way to earn money of your music online is creating a community around your art and work.

Many musicians shy away from asking fans to contribute to their careers, but the fact is, music is not just art, it’s work.

Musicians spend the hours they could be spending earning a living elsewhere creating the music and entertaining. That should be rewarded fairly, like any work.

Building a community of fans who love your art, support you and believe that your work bringing some joy and music to their life is worthy — that is what is going to help you make a living off your music.

Show4me has a number of tools to make that easy.

A musician or a band create their Artist club in the network. This is the place where they create their brand, share their music, interact with fans, but also monetize.

There are two types of fan subscription to the Artist club of their favorite musician/band — free and premium. Premium allows for unlimited listening to the music in the Artist club, as well as direct messaging with the artist. It costs $1/year.

Another option to monetize is selling music albums, singles, and EPs.

On Show4me, fans can either buy them at the price set by the artist OR HIGHER.

Yes, the fan can just type in their own, higher, price to contribute to the career of the artist they support and can (and want to) pay more for their music.

There’s also the option to create campaigns to presell show tickets and crowdfund live events (both online and offline).

Fans can buy tickets before the show goes into production, allowing the musicians and their teams to gauge the demand for any particular show without any financial or reputational (“empty seats”) risks.

Music crowdfunding is another option.

Regardless of the amount of money you need to record and produce your next album/EP/single, you can crowdfund it with a campaign on your Show4me Artist club.

Fans can contribute and then get your album as the reward.

We go into more detail on each of these ways in our blog post we’ve just published, so check it out!