We’ve seen a run of honorable efforts from the music industry to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 for its worst hit citizens in the past couple of weeks.
Germany’s GEMA set the standard by launching an emergency fund worth up to $43m for songwriters and composers, while efforts in a similar vein have come from fellow licensing orgs such as the UK’s PRS For Music and France’s SACEM.
Meanwhile, Universal Music Group has launched a multi-million dollar effort to help its artists, songwriters and partners, while everyone from UMG to Warner Music Group, Amazon Music, Spotify, TIDAL, the Jackson Estate, Pandora / SiriusXM and YouTube Music have made sizeable contributions to US-based industry relief body MusiCares.
Spotify has announced its own unilateral effort, which will see the digital service donate up to $10m to Coronavirus-related causes. That’s ‘up to’ as, in addition to an undisclosed donation to the likes of MusiCares and the UK’s Help Musicians, Spotify says it will match individual donations pledged via its own website.
“Michael Rapino, CEO and President of Live Nation, and his family have personally donated $250,000 to the Crew Nation fund.”
Yesterday (March 31), Live Nation Entertainment – one of the music industry’s hardest hit companies by COVID-19 for obvious reasons – announced its own efforts to bring aid to those whose incomes have been devastated by the virus.
The company has launched Crew Nation, which will see LNE contribute an initial $5m to a fund designed to help touring and venue crews who have been temporarily left out of work by the cancellation and closure of shows.
In addition to this, mirroring Spotify’s charitable model, Live Nation will match up to another $5m, dollar for dollar, donated by artists, fans and employees via the Crew Nation website.
Michael Rapino, CEO and President of Live Nation (pictured), and his family have personally donated $250,000 to the Crew Nation fund.
In a statement, Live Nation said: “Live music inspires millions around the world, but the concerts we all enjoy wouldn’t be possible without the countless crew members working behind the scenes.
“Crew members are the backbone of the live music industry, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting them through this temporary intermission until we can once again unite millions around the world through the power of live music.”
Live Nation statement
“As COVID-19 puts concerts on pause, we want to extend a helping hand to the touring and venue crews who depend on shows to make a living. Crew Nation was created to do just that.”
It added: “Crew members are the backbone of the live music industry, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting them through this temporary intermission until we can once again unite millions around the world through the power of live music. Crew Nation is powered by Music Forward Foundation, a charitable 501c3 organization, that will be administering the fund.”
Tencent Holdings, which just led a consortium to acquire 10% of Universal Music Group, has launched a $100m fund for COVID-19 relief efforts.
Another company donating $100m is Netflix, which, like Live Nation in music, is targeting this money at freelance crew members who have been left out of work in the film and TV industry.
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos explained: “We are only as strong as the people we work with, and Netflix is fortunate to be able to help those hardest hit in our industry through this challenging time.”Music Business Worldwide
