How THE PANDEMIC is impacting emerging artists
It’s been over a month since the British government banned mass gatherings. In the following weeks, we’ve seen clubs, pubs and gig venues from Inverness to Isle of Wight shut their doors for the foreseeable future. Things are starting to feel rather surreal for music-lovers, let alone for the artists that make it.
Keeping their music in circulation hasn’t been too difficult for bigger-name musicians during the pandemic - bands like Biffy Clyro are live streaming every Friday and Lady Gaga has been one of many to broadcast her own digital festival, ‘Together At Home’.
But how has the lockdown affected those who are yet to hit the big time? As the latest reports predict concerts and festivals to be suspended until at least next year, Cerys Turner interviews artists in and around the Warwick University area on how their work has been affected by the pandemic, and what they are envisioning for a future in which no one truly knows what to expect.
RATTLESNAKE
Rattlesnake are one of many newly-formed first-year bands at Warwick University. Lead guitarist George Egerton describes their Tame-Impala inspired sound as "psychedelic garage with a bit of punk and stoner rock thrown in for good measure": it was a project they always knew they would pursue seriously. But like many other musicians putting out content in 2020, Rattlesnake’s plans have been massively impeded by the pandemic.
"We were going to record an EP, Lady with a Dog, in April, which we’ve now had to postpone. We were also going to play as many shows as we could in Term Three and had a headline show planned for Kasbah [Coventry nightclub] in June, which we’ve sadly had to cancel."
Over £13.9m has already been recorded in losses for musicians, a large quantity of which is due to gig and tour cancellations.
Image: Rhythian Morris
For Rattlesnake and other smaller bands, it’s not the economic aspect that’s hit them the hardest: the intimacy of performing to a room filled with music-lovers has been a far more disappointing loss.
"It’s one of the things that we all truly miss, and it’s sad that we can’t play the new songs we have. Performing live is such an intoxicating feeling that no words can really describe - the experience of having people dance to your songs is immense and I really miss that. I'm definitely looking forward to having it all back."
Although George speaks of the struggles Rattlesnake have had in lockdown - members are quarantining in different locations, without access to studio equipment - he emphasises that it hasn’t been impossible to stay connected.
Image: Rhythian Morris
Even without the safety net of a powerful label under their feet, Rattlesnake are making the most of the time they have at home. After all, lockdown is not without its silver linings.
"We’ve been doing a lot of writing. We’ve got lots of new music that we can perform once we can play live again. Quarantine has given me a lot of time alone in my room with my guitar and that naturally leads to a lot of new songs."
What are their plans for after the crisis has passed? All being well, to get these bedroom sessions into the studio.
"We’ve got a lot of awesome songs that we really want people to hear, and hopefully we can continue to grow and play more shows for more people in the future."
Ellie Dixon
But about those who have left university, without the assurance of a degree or student loans to fall back on?
At just 21, Ellie Dixon, a former Warwick student, is now pursuing music full time. Influenced by the ‘mixture of singer/songwriters’ she listened to in childhood and the ‘upbeat pop, rap and r&b’ that feature on her playlists now, she’s been going strong in the music game since she first began to write and perform at just 15.
It was not until she began her Maths degree, however, that she realised that music was her dream: "I was filling all my time between lectures with music", she tells me from her Cambridgeshire home. However, all of that has now been put on hold.
"I had lots of gigs lined up in Cambridge and London, including some high profile festival slots at Camp Bestival, and reaching out for help on new releases. Now all the gigs have been cancelled and the festivals most likely too, so that’s been a big loss in terms of exposure and opportunities."
Image: Sophie Winter
Playing live is influential to an artist’s success. Think of all the acts you never would have known if they hadn’t been supporting your favourite artist on tour, or playing down at your local music venue. Revenue from these performances is now non-existent, along with the coverage it brings. Many musicians are now being forced to put their dreams on hold to make an income in different ways.
"[Concerts are] a great opportunity to spread your music, network, meet other musicians, and also make money. All my paid gigs have gone and only one honoured my payment. I'm taking on a few paid projects from home but the main bulk of the money, which, as an independent artist is already pitiful, isn't coming in any more."
Despite these drawbacks, Ellie isn’t letting this get her down. Rather than feel discrepancies between her own success and bigger industry names, she instead takes a different take: "I think it's an interesting equaliser for artists" she muses, "People like me who make their music from home are still able to do their thing whereas more well-known artists no longer have teams and productions at their disposal. It's a real exposure of one's creativity as to whether they're still able to provide interesting and engaging content."
Image: Sophie Winter
A quick scroll through social media proves her theory. Watching different musicians live streaming or doing challenges - Ellie recently won El Train’s 'El Train Challenge' - you can notice who feels in their comfort zone, who feels happy to perform straight from their houses, and who feels natural interacting with fans directly and through many different platforms. (Hint: it isn’t the bands used to selling out stadiums.)
"Suddenly influencers have to take selfies in the same location every day like the rest of us mere mortals: it’s prompted a push for imagination and initiative from everyone."
And what lessons has lockdown taught the rising star? Putting things into perspective, for one: "what I've learned throughout this is that my career isn't everything. As much as I'm working hard on my music and love what I do, I'm making sure to take rest and family time. As a culture we spend the majority of our time assessing things by their economic benefit. While sitting in the garden with my dogs isn't bringing in the money, I'm definitely going to be doing more of it."
RYAN OVER
A couple of hours southbound, Ryan Over has been isolating in his home in Basingstoke. Out of all of the artists I’ve interviewed, the 19-year-old Chemistry student may be the most suited to making music from his bedroom - his genre is lo-fi, an "umbrella term", as he describes, for music that has a "slightly lower production quality and some imperfections".
"The popularity of this has made it easier for unsigned and "DIY" artists to make music,’ - one YouTube account, ChilledCow, has racked up over 1.5 million subscribers, ‘the mixing and mastering doesn't have to be perfect and small imperfections, such as being slightly out of time, are ideal.’ Despite his hopes, Ryan is yet to perform his music live- a prospect which is looking increasingly unlikely as lockdown restrictions continue.
"I planned a show for Term 3, a collaboration with Koan Records to have a chilled lo-fi at night at Clink [Leamington Spa bar], which has now been cancelled. I thought it would be easier to finish off projects and start new ones during quarantine but with so much time it almost feels harder to sit down and motivate myself to be productive. The uncertainty around exams and assessments for university are not helping."
Whilst the music industry comes with enough challenges, balancing this with the precarious higher education system makes the experience even more taxing: Warwick University has been criticised for a lack of clarity over exam deadlines and timetables, as well as the instability that results from putting learning entirely online. This isn't even considering the disruption students faced due to the University and College Union strikes from December to February, which in some cases led to students losing up to six weeks worth of teaching.
Ryan, at least in musical terms, has seen some benefit to being stuck at home: "my streams on Spotify increased by a decent amount at the start of lockdown, up to 500 extra streams a day." Ryan now has over 440,000 streams and almost 20,000 monthly listeners on his Spotify, crytothemoon.
Nevertheless, it’s tempting in this time to see how other, bigger artists may have it easier: "I think very large artists haven't been impacted as much as they have lots of sources of revenue - including merch and streams. However, smaller artists that rely on live shows and selling merch at these shows are going to really struggle, even with the government's support for self employed people."
PREPOST
This group of first year students met through Warwick’s very own BandSoc - a society that provides a platform for musicians to meet and perform. Speaking to Becky, the band’s front-woman, she discusses how being forced to connect digitally is impacting the members, who live in separate homes from Oxfordshire to Yorkshire.
Keeping schtum about potential releases ("there’s definitely more time to spend around musical instruments, and potentially muster up a new tune…"), Prepost are taking notes on how other artists are making the most of being at home: "there has already been fun opportunities to witness other artists - both local and wider known ones - starting to implement similar changes to their work and put out their own stuff despite the distance."
She admits how tough it can be for smaller artists to keep their audience engaged during quarantine: "bigger acts have more advanced facilities to create content alongside the established fanbases to support it. In that sense, the struggle is greater for us and local bands alike." However, she makes it clear that Prepost are not alone in their struggle.
"Postponed tours and gigs are affecting the entire entertainment industry right now. This is definitely a struggle shared, although for a performance-based band like ours it hits especially hard."
Artists like Prepost, who rely heavily on gigs to get their music heard, are at risk of seeing it go bust. Whilst the UK’s live music scene was valued at £1.1 billion back in 2019, more recent reports suggest that this might be one of many industries now skating on thin ice: ‘Larger gatherings – conferences, concerts, sporting events (...) I think those things will be the last to return’, said health care professional Zeke Emanuel.
Prepost, like all other artists right now, have been subject to cancellations - the gigs they had planned for the summer term have been scrapped, and with any autumn reschedulings looking dubious, it’s hardly medicine for morale: "it's a bit of a knockback in a moral sense (...) We're not sure when we'll be able to recreate that same immersive experience a live performance can provide.'’
For the time being, it’s all about adaptation: Prepost have been using messaging apps like Whatsapp to share ideas and audio files. "Instead of getting to practice in person, we’ve been having to work on things digitally (...) It’s been tough to exchange ideas and produce new material together. But not impossible!"
And of course, a little hope for the future never hurts. When asked what their plans were once performing was given the government O.K, Becky was quick to reply: ‘first and foremost, getting gigs back on the map to support and work alongside other local artists.’
BEN HUNT
For Ben Hunt, lockdown has been about finding out who exactly he is as a musician.
"As of yet, my music is still to find its true identity and style. I'm relatively new to creating and producing tracks."
Raised in a musical family in the small village of Virginia, Surrey, Ben has been surrounded by instruments for as long as he can remember. Nineteen years later and at the end of his first year studying Hispanic studies with Mandarin at Warwick University, he’s starting to find his feet: "I’m continuing to search for a style that resonates with me."
Inspired by rap and hip-hop artists, particularly Travis Scott ("it was when I was watching his inspiring documentary 'Look Mum I Can Fly' that I decided that I wanted to pursue a music career"), his latest stuff has seen him experimenting with both genre and style.
"I'm experimenting with reggaeton, a type of music that, for me, has such good vibes. I've also been experimenting with Spanish and Portuguese, which, as a language fanatic, has been a nice way to combine two of my biggest passions. It's been a way of both maximising the reach of my music and bringing people together from across the world."
Has the outbreak impacted him negatively? Far from it - the time at home has actually helped his music career, coupled with the extra space and the break from studying.
"Before the outbreak, my plans were to try to fit music in where possible amidst studying my degree (...) My classes and exams have now been cancelled, which has given me the time I need to fast track my new single. At home again, I have much more space and better resources for creativity."
"After releasing my first single I decided I was going to release two or three more songs that I had been working on within a few weeks, with a full album release on the horizon, hopefully during summer. Only a few months ago this vision would have seemed ludicrous."
Not only has Ben’s time and resources changed, but his approach to making music has been completely reshaped by the Coronavirus outbreak: "in these times of loneliness and separation I want to create music that brings people together."
With everyone forced to stay at home, music streaming has soared. Compared to last year, music streaming has gone up by 0.4m to 8.36m in 2020: this has been a big benefit to artists like Ben, who primarily market their music online.
This has been consequential to Ben reshaping his online presence: "I have made sure to be more active on my social medias, constantly giving updates to my followers on new projects and ideas, as well as seeking their opinions."
He’s even incorporated Zoom into his work, the new telecommunications app that everyone from Charli XCX to Miley Cyrus have been using to communicate and create: "It’s a very unique experience, but works great for sharing ideas and developing lyrics."
Like Ellie, Ben is also taking away lessons from lockdown beyond his music career.
"Everyone should use this time to pick up that old hobby that succumbed to the bustle of life, it may be what someone else needs right now. We should use this time positively and come out of this situation wiser, more skilled, and as better members of our community."
SOHLER
SOHLER, a four-piece alt rock band, are a mix of both current and previous Warwick students: "I think we all agree it has been a dream of ours to do this as a career, which we’ve started to think about more seriously after the positive reaction to our debut single 'Computer'."
Unlike the prior bands, their members are dotted across Europe: guitarist Eden is in the Netherlands and bassist Rares comes from Romania. Formed in "a world untroubled by highly contagious diseases and debates over the benefits of injecting bleach", as self-confessed band grandad Wil wittingly puts, the band are another BandSoc offspring, winning the 2019 edition of Battle of the Bands.
Taking inspiration from the likes of Muse, Arcane Roots and Biffy Clyro, Wil mentioned how seeing the amount of content out there from bands/artists all over the world has made us realise the scale of our task". Fortunately, they managed to record the bulk of their debut EP before lockdown began: "it’s at the stage now where everything is recorded, and it just needs tying together with mixing and mastering. It’s just been a process of taking time out to get the other instruments and vocals recorded, but really we have it all setup that we’re comfortable doing the last little bits in isolation."
When it comes to promoting their new EP, however, the outlook isn’t as positive. Restrictions have "put a spanner in the works" in terms of gigs, and those band members still studying at Warwick are dealing with the new, online exams.
"It’s deprived us of a revenue stream and our lack of resources make it difficult to compete with bigger bands as a result.We’d usually be all together at uni where it was much easier to get together and get an idea off Garage Band"
Wil continues on the topic of connecting during lockdown: "The practice room on campus is really where everything comes together and with it being shut, and us being so far away, it's become the biggest struggle currently."
"We obviously don’t have the funds to be competing with bigger bands but even sending songs off to bloggers and radio stations require payment. It’s really the gigs that we’re struggling with, at this level it’s so important to build up a following and gigs like Kasbah are nice little money spinners for bands at our level."
"Ideas are still flying back and forth but it’s really important to get it formally down in a live setting. We’ve got a plan in the works to do acoustic and ‘live’ isolated versions of our songs, to give people something different than just listening to the tracks on Spotify."
They're also hoping to get a music video out for their latest track, ‘Computer’: "It’s so great we live in a time now where it’s so easy to keep in touch with people so we’re certainly looking to utilise that and keep ourselves sane."
SOHLER have equally benefitted from greater streams now that everyone is stuck inside - "no one could run away when we released 'Computer' last week, so the response has been great", Wil comments on the track garnering over 1k streams since its release.
"Hopefully we’ll put on some shows to finally promote our EP which will be out in June. We definitely want to get out there and try and bring our live show to people because I think we all would agree we love gigging. We’ve got a lot of energy on stage and it’s a lot of fun playing with this band. Really, we just want to see everyone again and have a laugh making some music."
You can follow all of the featured artists on social media here:
Rattlesnake - 'Sherbourne's on Fire' via Spotify
Facebook: @rattlesnakecoventry Instagram: @rattlesnake_
Ellie Dixon - 'Ugly' via Spotify and YouTube
Facebook: @elliedixonmusic Instagram: @elliedixonmusic
Ryan Over's - 'Ghosts Aren't Scary' via Spotify, crytothemoon
Instagram: @ryover
Prepost
Facebook: @prepostband Instagram: @prepost_theband
Ben Hunt - 'Don't Save Me' via Spotify
Instagram: @bhunt_music
SOHLER - 'Computer' via Spotify
Facebook: @sohlerband Instagram: @sohlerband
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