Ancillary 9 — The Return of Live Music
As Americans, we struggle with what reopening looks like. Partially because many of us never really experienced a full “lockdown” like those in European countries faced. Partially because we all have state governments telling us different versions of what’s “right.” Partially because of the increased polarization of our politics. The contributing factors are endless, but they don’t need to be. When it comes to reopening, there is no need to act like we are starting from a blank slate. From New Zealand to the Netherlands, there are many countries we can look to for guidance on opening America’s music venues.
Take New Zealand for example, whose Covid-19 response has been renowned by scientists and envied by Americans, myself included. Although the geographic composition of New Zealand is advantageous, they couldn’t have achieved the success they did without strict Covid-19 guidelines. These guidelines in combination with innovative ideas enabled New Zealand to reopen its venues early on. In fact, they achieved an incredible feat by hosting a 120,000+ music festival known as CubaDupe (NME). Music industry exec Rueben Bonner is located in New Zealand. He owns a management and booking company known as Banished Music. Bonner was one of the pioneers in New Zealand’s live music success. He created a fundraising effort to aid venues in offsetting rent and payroll costs (Washinton Post).
If New Zealand’s efforts aren’t inspirational enough travel across the globe and you’ll find the Dutch are also attempting to find the best way to reopen venues. Taking place in the Ziggo Dome, an iconic Amsterdam venue, the Dutch hosted a music event with 1,300 attendees. This music event did not take palace because they felt like reopening, as is often the case in America. Instead, this event was hosted to aid the government in creating reopening guidelines. The attendees were monitored and their movements were traced in an attempt to determine if reopening venues is safe (The Guardian).
By studying the efforts of music industry executives across the globe, I want to evaluate multiple perspectives on reopening live music. I will use this information to determine the best way to reopen America’s music venues. In the process of America determining their guidelines, I believe venues should stay closed and continue to be funded until they can reopen with at least 70% capacity.
