The music industry had already been hit severely by the Covid-19 and now the rise of a new variant, Omicron is bringing back the old memories once again. The music industry’s biggest revenue makers are live performances and concerts. The pandemic caused all music festivals and concerts to shut down for more than a year since it started in 2020. The shutdown caused the music industry all over the world to lose billions of dollars within just a single year. The pandemic is far from over and its newer and more infectious variant has already crept into the day-to-day lives of people across the world. The USA has already logged 1 million Omicron cases and the numbers are increasing every hour.
Music venues had already been seeing a massive decline in visitor numbers due to the fear of contracting the virus in the crowd. A lot of people have tested positive for the virus after attending a music festival. Recently a report on UK music concerts and their visitors found out that up to 40% of the ticket holders were not coming to the show in the fear of the new variant Omicron. The music venues have been facing huge losses due to the rise of Omicron. While the governments in many countries are banning concerts, a lot of organizers are canceling or postponing the festivals themselves.
Artists canceling shows
Many artists have been pulling out of shows or postponing their concerts due to the fear of Omicron. Some of them canceled because their crew members or themselves have contracted the either Covid-19 or Omicron virus. Doja Cat decided to not perform in the UK’s iHeartRadio’s ‘Jingle Ball’ tour as she tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. Earlier a few members of her team got infected by the virus and she had to cancel some of her upcoming shows. And now that she herself has tested positive, all her future shows are either canceled or postponed.
Lil Nas X has also pulled up from the Jingle Ball tour after he tested positive for the virus. Coldplay is also on the list of artists withdrawing from the show as some of their team members contracted the virus. They also did not be performing on The Voice of Germany.
Pearl Jam has postponed their Europe Music Tour till July 2022. Aerosmith rescheduled their European to June and July of 2022. Taylor Swift, Harry Style, Bryan Adams, Billy Strings, Josh Gorban, and more have also rescheduled, canceled, or postponed their shows due to the intense surge in Covid-19 and Omicron infections.
Grammy postponed
The 64th Grammy Awards have also been postponed as the US is experiencing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases caused mainly by the Omicron variant. The Recording Academy and CBS announced this Wednesday that the 2022 Grammy has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a future date. In the announcement, they said that they have postponed the show keeping the health and safety of the music community and the audience in mind.
The ceremony was supposed to be held on January 31st. but there is no sign of the infection rate slowing down. There would be a huge risk if the event is held on that day. The award was supposed to be held in Los Angeles. As per the reports of the LA County Public Health office, on Tuesday, in Los Angeles County alone, 21,790 people tested positive for the virus. Thousands of people had to be hospitalized due to the virus.
The Grammy nominations for the awards were announced on November 23rd, 2021. The nominations were selected from the works between September 1st, 2020, and September 30th, 2021. The new dates for the event had not been announced yet.
Winterruption festivals postponed
Canada has experienced a devastating surge in Covid-19 Omicron cases as well. The upcoming Winterruption festivals that were supposed to be held in six Western Canadian cities have been postponed. The Regina Folk Festival and the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon announce on Wednesday that they were postponing their 2022 festivals, which were supposed to be held in January.
Both of the festivals are offering refunds to ticket holders and they plan to reschedule the concerts in spring if things get better. The other four festivals were supposed to be held in Calgary, Winnipeg, Swift Current, and Edmonton in January. The producers of all six events are working together to come up with new dates with artists and venues.
Even though the audience is trying to help the music industry to stay strong in the time of its need, the ongoing pandemic is delaying plans and causing a catastrophic amount of losses for the artists, producers, organizers, and others who are directly or indirectly depended on the music industry.