Supporting musicians in a dark time

You certainly don’t need me to tell you about the massive disruptions in all phases of life by the coronavirus, including the world of creative music. As the Music Workers Alliance notes, “the vast majority of the music sector has lost the economic means for basic survival.” This brief post is intended as a guide to some of the strategies that are being used by creative musicians to cope with the crisis, continue to make music, and somehow, make some money.

• First thing to note is a petition titled A CALL BY MUSICAL ARTISTS FOR BASIC FAIRNESS IN THE DIGITAL MARKETPLACE that is being circulated by the Music Workers Alliance. I urge everyone reading this to add their names. Clink here to find the petition. 
• There are at least two organizations raising money for musicians. One is the brand-new Jazz Coalition, which is launching a Commission Fund in an effort “to keep artists in our broad and global jazz community active and compensated to create new work.” Find out more here. 
• Also, The Recording Academy and its affiliated charitable foundation MusiCares “have established the COVID-19 Relief Fund to help our peers in the music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.” There’s more information here. 

The ability to live-stream events has been adopted by a number of performers and organizations.

• In Chicago, the Experimental Sound Studio has been streaming The Quarantine Concerts since March 20, described as “a collaborative endeavor meant to provide artists a space to share their work and continue to earn a living during this time when most live performance opportunities have been cancelled due to COVID-19.  We believe in the necessity of art during difficult moments like these, and feel fortunate to live in a time when loss of mobility does not have to mean loss of community.” There’s a full schedule of events here and they are all archived. 
• Pianist Fred Hersch launched Fred Hersch At Home this week, an online concert series offering listeners and viewers what's described as "an expansive, in-depth musical experience." Check it out here.
• Pianist/composer Satoko Fujii and trumpeter/composer Natsuki Tamura are presenting daily Facebook Live concerts  through the end of the month. There’s a schedule here. 

And there are more fresh ideas:

• Clarinetist Ben Goldberg has been creating a musical Plague Diary by recording a piece at home every day and posting it on Bandcamp. He started on March 19, and as of this moment, there are 52 tracks available for your listening pleasure. Pay what you can at this link.
• After putting out Liberty Ellman’s Last Desert CD at the end of March (review coming soon!), Pi Recordings has suspended its intended release schedule for the rest of the year and begun a digital-only series titled This Is Now: Love In The Time of COVID. Release number one is a solo set by alto saxophonist Steve Lehman.  He used his iPhone to record Xenakis and the Valedictorian in the passenger seat of his 2011 Honda CR-V, from March 25 to April 15, 2020, for his mother’s 80th birthday. There’s more information here. 
• Volume 2 of Pi’s This Is Now series is "InWhatStrumentals: Music from In What Language?" the previously unissued instrumental version of In What Language, the acclaimed 2003 collaboration between Vijay Iyer and Mike Ladd. Learn more about it here.
• The storied ESP-Disk has had to shift course as well. The label plans to keep putting out music and generate income for musicians by changing the scope of some releases. The Coalescence by Owl Xounds Exploding Galaxy will be released on June 5 in an extremely limited edition physical release of 30 vinyl LPs. It’s also available to stream or download. There’s information here. 
• Finally, trombonist Samuel Blaser has had time “to revisit his recording archive and select some hidden treasures” for issue on his new digital-only Blaser Music imprint. The first release is Audio Rebel, recorded in Brazil in 2013 while on a duo tour with guitarist Marc Ducret. Find it here. 

On a personal note, I’d like to say that I am healthy and safe in the small Northern California town that I call home. I sincerely hope that everyone that reads this blog is similarly safe.