With casualties coming in every few hours in the second wave of Covid-19, various entertainment industries are facing a huge crisis to handle the financial downfall and issues among the technicians and artists all over the country. Although the industry is fighting back with new ways to monetize music consumption and innovative models, mostly the Covid-19 crisis for the second time has affected the upright growth of the music industry on a whole another level, with productivity rate falling to almost negative.

Ayush Kumar, a music producer and artist from the state of Jammu and Kashmir has taken a deep perspective to this issue right from the ground level. “As people turn to music for emotional support and comfort in these tough times, any negative impact on music listening has been more limited. There have, however, been immediate implications for some income streams, like the cancellation or postponement of most live music events has hit many artists. The impact on live is particularly severe for many artists from the industry as this is going to take some time to recover from and some elements of this part of the industry may never be the same again”, says Ayush dwelling on the financial problems that have arisen.

Keeping the financial problems apart, the arrival of Covid-19 has opened a scope for live streaming sessions for music and concerts which can incorporate more audience than a real concert can hold. Ayush observes that the pandemic has created a new demand for the music that people love, and in turn new revenue streams for artists across the country, beyond just live physical performances.

The pandemic has shown a lot of innovation along with providing an opportunity for artists to find new ways to commercialise engagement beyond the live arena. Many musicians can be seen breaking the physical barriers of Covid-19 and collaborating to create music that can entertain as well as aware the audience about the Covid-19 precautions.

As Ayush has been an active user of the instagram, he can see that a lot of artists are using Instagram Live to promote their work. TheyÂre sharing previews of their tracks to keep their fans in the loop. Artists are even bringing up singing challenges to keep their fans engaged and add to the accountability of their music and presence. Ayush firmly believes that digitalization has had a huge positive impact on the crisis caused for the music industry by the Covid-19. “The next two years will be a change in trends for many and the streaming of various music sessions will be made available at your fingertips for a fixed rate”, he says.

Even with such advances in the industry, music is still learning how to function and drive revenue in a new normal, which is going to be in the forefront for a longer period of time with new strains of the virus coming in.