COVID-19 has impacted the Music Industry a massive amount over the last 9 months. Touring staff, crew members, artists, venue owners and their staff have been greatly affected by the pandemic across the country. While artists and their immediate staff have been able to barely stay afloat through virtual concerts, merchandise sales, and streaming royalties, smaller venues are not able to benefit from these sources of income. Smaller venues’ lack of opportunity to make money has led them to become the most negatively affected Music Industry sector due to the pandemic. As COVID-19 has worsened over the course of its existence in the United States, it has affected venues across the Front Range. It has most recently contributed to the closing of the historic eighty-seven year old venue known for its jazz roots, El Chapultepec.

With all of the various shut downs this year, many bands and musicians have turned to live streaming to keep the music alive and play shows for fans. Right now, there’s really no other way to play live “shows” for your followers. However, the art of live streaming successfully is full of nuance and know how. When you show up to a venue to play a show, you automatically have a great backdrop, a sound engineer, and a light display for your show. Online, it’s 100% up to you to create the experience. So where do you even begin when planning to play an online live stream?

Right now, a band or musician’s online presence is everything. There’s little to no opportunity to play live shows, so online promotion and posting is about the only way to reach their audience. However, musicians are musicians - they’re brilliant at playing music, but transitioning to a 100% online strategy can be hard for some. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my tips and tricks to marketing your band online for begginners. Today, I’m going to give an overview of creating your online brand on social media, organically (without paying).

Well… it happened. We’re here again - in the red. We can’t eat inside restaurants, enjoy the company of friends at bars, or be graced with the gift of in-person live music of any kind. So many people are hurting right now, and the music community is one of the top industries when it comes to lost income due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. The local scene and independent venues have been especially hard, as many don’t have a security fund to fall back on. Local venue owners, full-time musicians, stage hands, lighting designers, sound engineers, and others involved behind the scenes have likely put everything they’ve got into the role they love. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t support your friends who are musicians or who work behind the scenes in the industry. Here’s how: