Coronavirus effects on the music industry in China and Globally

Update 01.04.2020

Midia Research has reported a recent bump in streaming music after a long downward trend. With the unforseen bounce back to normalcy in daily life it can be forcasted that this trend will continue to grow. 

Updated 23.3.2020. The coronavirus has finally slowed down in China but in Europe and the US, viral infections have been on the rise. Countries are closing down their borders, flights are being cancelled, large areas have been quarantined and the global economy is suffering.

China has taken drastic measures for tackling the virus. Road checkpoints with coverall-suited personnel measuring body temperature have been implemented, Adipay has even developed an app to classify infected people as low- or high-risk and large scale quarantines of whole cities have been enforced. Many people in China are still staying at home and working remotely to slow down the spreading of the virus.

 But what does this all mean for the music industry?

While the live sector is going down, streaming is actually going up

Many major live events like Coachella have already been cancelled or rescheduled. South by Southwest announced it will not be arranged this year, artists like The National and Chinese superstars Andy Lau and Jolin Tsai are cancelling their tours. 

This has led to people innovating the delivery of "live experiences" and compensating for their loss. Shanghai Symphony Orchestra cancelled their February and March tours, but the musicians have posted master classes on their WeChat page with informal videos about home practicing as well as playlists to “fight boredom at home”. The videos have got a great response with hundreds and thousands of views. Club goers are participating in raves from the comfort of their own homes by joining streams of DJ-shows organized by Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

The standard quarantine time for anyone infected or with a suspected infection is 2 weeks, and many more are staying at home due to areal quarantines. This means that people are consuming more entertainment at home, including streaming music and music videos. It’s hard to say how long this situation is set to last, even for experts.

Though generally the economy is on a fast downturn, it has been forecasted that entertainment companies offering streaming and gaming services will benefit. Tech stock experts Nasdaq have been encouraging people to invest in stocks of Chinese media company Netease (the owner of Netease music) and are forecasting a steady rise in their value. Chinese media giant Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) published it's Q4 of 2019 paying subscribers number of 39.9 million which is 4.5 million more than in Q3.

50% discount for Artists

We are confident that countries can overcome this epidemic by working together and that artists will be performing in China and globally again in no time. In the meantime, help people in China fight boredom and enrich their lives by distributing your music to over 50 Chinese streaming services and your videos to the top Chinese video platforms with Musicinfo! We want to support artists in this difficult situation by offering you 50% off all services with the discount code SUPPORT50

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Sources:

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/3-dividend-paying-tech-stocks-to-buy-now-to-combat-renewed-coronavirus-fears-2020-02-21

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/03/05/tomorrowland-winter-cancels-coronavirus/

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/03/06/sxsw-2020-canceled-coronavirus/

https://www.newsweek.com/national-bts-green-day-stormzy-coronavirus-covid-19-concert-tour-cancelled-1490103

https://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000006432819.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/arts/music/arts-coronavirus.html