live music

During the last year, music consumption has been confined inside the four walls of individual homes, but at the same time it has expanded with the help of streamed concerts which give access to performances from around the world.

As the pandemic fades in Finland and live gigs resume, what have we learned from the abrupt leap into the virtual space? And where do we go from here? Is live streaming here to stay – or just the first step?

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a boom time for freelancers, according to Forbes. But not for freelance musicians.

Maarit Kytöharju is a Helsinki-based photographer who specialises in taking photos of music and musicians. She made us a compilation of 12 photos reflecting the shifting moods in live music in Finland in 2020.

“There is a solemn atmosphere at concerts in 2020, held with social distancing. Nothing, it seems, can be taken for granted any more. Circumstances may change at short notice, and any given live performance may turn out to be the last one for a long time. Audiences are subdued. There is a sense of ceremony at concerts: guided by staff, we exit the hall in an orderly procession, faces covered.” Auli Särkiö-Pitkänen discusses the importance of extraordinary concerts in these extraordinary times.

In November 2020, the pandemic situation in Finland has remained calm enough for cultural functions to carry on.* In these exceptional times, there is an unusually great hunger for art, and socially distanced concerts provide a vital antidote to anxiety and uncertainty.

For all the grief that the coronavirus pandemic has caused, it has also brought out a great many strengths in the music sector. People in the arts are no strangers to creative, solution-oriented thinking and reactiveness, and the exceptional circumstances we are experiencing have bred novel concepts, operating models, content and applications.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused an abrupt and total dissolution of the work opportunities and income of music professionals. Freelance musicians, concert venues and festivals have been the hardest hit, but the long-term impacts of the crisis will reverberate throughout the sector. FMQ talked to representatives of organisations in the field of music in Finland to gauge how they feel about the current situation and outlook. What have we learned about the music sector in the light of the crisis so far? Are there any potential positive outcomes?