By Karen Valencia
During the last couple of months there has been a large influx of music coming to multiple streaming and music-selling platforms. This can be a huge risk to take during this time because of COVID-19.
Due to the pandemic many artists have taken a huge hit in album sales, and a big loss because they were not able to tour or perform live. The cancelling of shows like Coachella and SXSW, as well as artist’s own personal tours, hurt both small and large artists’ because they no longer got the publicity that they would have obtained from these music festivals. Many of these tours were artists’ major source of income and it helped them promote their albums.
Additionally, people’s priorities are different during this time. Instead of spending their money on buying songs or albums, which they could obtain through free music apps, they are using their income on other essential things.
Nick Lopez, a music fan from Austin, Texas, keeps up with music drops often. He often likes to promote his favorite songs or albums on his Instagram or on Snapchat.
“Honestly, I love posting my favorite music on Social media because I hope other people end up liking it as well,” Lopez said. “If it ends up helping an artist get a listen on a streaming platform, I’m glad.”
Streaming has actually helped many artists during the pandemic. Now that people are spending more time in quarantine, music has been a form of entertainment for some people.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in 2019 engagement in global streaming has risen to 64%. It has been increasing exponentially compared to past years.
Even though the music industry has been suffering this year, it has not impeded musicians from releasing music or other content to their fans. Fall of 2020 has seen a high number of albums drops from many different genres and artists.
There’s is actually a lot of new music dropping this Friday; according to Billboard, on November 20th there will be over 20 albums dropping; the highly anticipated Korean Boyband BTS’s album “BE” is dropping, and Ariana Grande has recently dropped an album that overtook multiple charts.
