{"id":38376,"date":"2020-10-31T12:22:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T12:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=38376"},"modified":"2020-10-31T12:22:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T12:22:11","slug":"the-musicians-fighting-to-keep-their-industry-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/the-musicians-fighting-to-keep-their-industry-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Musicians fighting to keep their industry alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>When the UK\u2019s lockdown was announced on March 23rd, music venues all over the UK<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>were forced to close, many of those venues have yet to reopen and hundreds of them may<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>have closed their doors forever. But with no live music how do budding musicians carry on<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>making a living and how does the industry survive without live performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rishi Sunak\u2019s comments on ITV earlier this month seemingly suggested that performers who\u00a0are struggling to make a living due to coronavirus restrictions may have to retrain and\u00a0acquire new skills.<\/p>\n<p>The Prime Minister also suggested that those performers who can no longer make a living will be helped to find \u201cbetter jobs\u201d; these comments caused outrage\u00a0within the performing community.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38380\" style=\"width: 977px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38380\" class=\"wp-image-38380 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/FC356F85-DB57-4981-B681-2540896ED164_1_102_o-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"967\" height=\"725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/FC356F85-DB57-4981-B681-2540896ED164_1_102_o-1.jpeg 967w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/FC356F85-DB57-4981-B681-2540896ED164_1_102_o-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/FC356F85-DB57-4981-B681-2540896ED164_1_102_o-1-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 967px) 100vw, 967px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-38380\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">KOKO in Camden Town, temporarily closed due to the pandemic photography by Max Letek\/Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">London and Birmingham based musician Liam Deakin was left sick by The Chancellor\u2019s\u00a0words, \u201cIt just knocked me devastated, I have put everything into making music, it\u2019s my\u00a0trade. To be told to find something else just feels like we are being left behind\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Deakin, 22 is the lead guitarist of indie band The Clause. The band had a summer full of gigs\u00a0and festivals which were then cancelled overnight as well as a tour with Leeds based band\u00a0The Pigeon Detectives.<\/p>\n<p>The band was left without an income and unsure of their future, \u201cit was terrifying, it\u2019s a really\u00a0scary time. All my money is made through gigging and we went seven months without\u00a0stepping foot on a stage\u201d Deakin told us, \u201cno money to pay the rent and a lapse in my mental\u00a0health was all down to not performing\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Really missing live shows today&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Can\u2019t wait to play to you all after this\ud83d\udda4<\/p>\n<p>Stay safe x <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ENIxoBjK1r\">pic.twitter.com\/ENIxoBjK1r<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; THE CLAUSE (@theclauseuk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theclauseuk\/status\/1262816268400365568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There was hope when outdoor performances started again in May, August also saw some\u00a0indoor venues reopen with social distancing restrictions put in place. But even then and with\u00a0a \u00a31.57billion bailout package from the government, many of those venues simply haven\u2019t\u00a0been able to welcome back music lovers.<\/p>\n<p>Financially the damage is already done and due to size many venues simply are unable to\u00a0adhere to the restrictions. As well as the reduced numbers of those allowed to attend the\u00a0events meaning some venues wouldn\u2019t make sufficient profit from putting on events.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_38378\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38378\" class=\"wp-image-38378 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/58FA26F1-B065-4306-9CCD-60FF14FB63E0_1_201_a-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/58FA26F1-B065-4306-9CCD-60FF14FB63E0_1_201_a-1.jpeg 750w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/58FA26F1-B065-4306-9CCD-60FF14FB63E0_1_201_a-1-300x298.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/10\/58FA26F1-B065-4306-9CCD-60FF14FB63E0_1_201_a-1-150x150.jpeg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-38378\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Clause (left to right Johnny Fyffe, Pearce Macca, Liam Deakin, Niall Fennell) photograph by Luke Jones<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In September Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pledged a \u00a3450,000 emergency fund to help\u00a0London grassroots music venues \u201cdevastated\u201d by the impact of the pandemic. In a statement\u00a0Khan said, \u201cLondon\u2019s world-leading music venues have been devastated by the impact of\u00a0COVID-19, that\u2019s why I\u2019m giving \u00a3450,000 to support 141 grassroots venues across our city,\u00a0tailored to their unique needs, such as rent disputes, local council discussions, or direct\u00a0financial aid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Clause are looking to the future. They have just finished recording their debut album\u00a0due to be released by Universal Records next year and have recently been able to start\u00a0gigging again.<\/p>\n<p>But they remain scared about their industry, \u201cwithout small venues bands like us can\u2019t pull\u00a0through and independent music risks being lost forever\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the fear of another lockdown looming and new restrictions being placed around the UK\u00a0every week, many more music venues face collapse and with them the musicians who\u00a0survive on their stages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Words: Jack Sanders | Subbing: Grace Staley<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the UK\u2019s lockdown was announced on March 23rd, music venues all over the UK\u00a0were forced to close, many of those venues have yet to reopen and hundreds of them may\u00a0have closed their doors forever&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":38380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,33,92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-culture","category-music"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}