27 Apr The New Normal S01E01: ft. Abhilash Sagar
Hello! So as I mentioned in the previous post, I had posed some questions to my good friend, Abhilash. He works with Raw Live, an entertainment and artist management company based out of Delhi. Abhilash and I have been working quite closely for the past two years now. We have done numerous shows together, attended even more and when none of that is happening – we have spent countless hours chatting about pretty much everything under the sun.
Abhilash, along with other members at Raw Live, primarily curate shows and book tours at venues across the country. From organizing tours for artists like Parvaaz, Ankur Tewari to electronica forefronts like Arjun Vagale, Midival Punditz – they have worked with most of the coveted acts in India. The covid pandemic has not only had an adverse impact on the artists losing out on the performance opportunities, a sizable setback is being felt by the agencies who primarily rely on bookings and curating shows to generate revenue. Accordingly, I decided to connect with Abhilash for some insights that could help navigate this Uber Pool of all artists since the driver is circling through all sorts of uncertainties and confusions at the moment.
Sharing his thoughts:
How has the current situation impacted your business?
As you know, being a booking agency, our business is completely dependent on live shows and concerts. Since the governments across the world have put a ban on all kinds of public gatherings, obviously all the shows have been cancelled. Since it is the need of the hour, we’ve had to put a stop on all our operations till further notice. Apart from the direct team working with the companies like ours, there are thousands of other people whose livelihood are directly dependent on the live music performance industry – such as full-time performing / touring artists, managers, technicians, programmers, resident DJs and so on. While the bigger companies can afford financial hits for some time, smaller entities are really feeling the pressure for survival.
What do you feel is the need of the hour – more social media live performances or a structured mechanism, a dialogue and guidelines to cope with these uncertainties?
Live streaming of performances is not new, but it’s not an alternative to the live music economy at large. If you’re asking me what’s the need of the hour – I would say ‘survival’ for next few months until we have an idea of what the next steps are. With the live music industry at a standstill for the foreseeable future, artists will inevitably rely more and more on streaming to get by. Online petitions suggest the need for companies like Spotify to increase their royalty rates payable to the artists. An emphasis and dialogue on such matters could be very helpful.
Various research studies indicate that concerts, festivals, large gathering shows cannot happen until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus, which looks to be at least a year away. There is no specific timeline for modifying restrictions that have been placed in response to the outbreak, so until then it’s a bit of a wait and watch situation. Having each other’s back as industry catalysts would for sure help all of us cope with this.
Being a booking agent and a curator – how do you plan to put together your calendar considering tricky times have led to many uncertainties. Are there any specific models in place for when the performance industry is renewed?
For now everything is on hold. We anticipate for the next 12-18 month (which is the time predicted for the development of a vaccine), bringing folks together in large numbers will be difficult because of the inherent risk. Also, major liability issues can arise for organizers. We wouldn’t want to risk it or bear the responsibility for possibly hurting someone and risking the society. Even with the progress on a vaccine and testing, fans may be hesitant to return to concerts for a while, and the events industry will have to re-earn their trust. Holding festivals on the other hand is going to be completely off, that will only follow after global guidelines have been made. In terms of bookings, we’ll probably go one gig at a time as opposed to bulk bookings and curation.
I don’t perhaps see anything starting off before September in the live events sector. Even after starting the smaller events in September, we will still need at least next 6-12 months to get everything back to whatever accepted scenarios are. If everything goes well in the next 4-5 months, maybe we can plan some club shows in the last quarter of 2020, fingers crossed.
What according to you is going to be the new normal for artists, booking agents, venues and festivals for time to come?
The new normal seems like the engagement on the web world. From releases to album launch shows, everything will take place online. In order to earn money, artists and their management should think of creative ways of online monetizing models – could be paid live streaming shows, artist – fan interaction, brand collaborations, etc. There would be no usual-normal circumstances at least for next one year.
When shows hopefully resume in 2021, promoters will probably treat the disease like another security measure at the gate: temperature checks, mandatory face masks or even on-site COVID-19 rapid testing – these could be some potential measures in the future.
Similarly, booking agents and management will emphasize more on artist’s safety before anything else. Less meet and greets with fans, no people in the artist’s booth, venue sanitization, double check on F&B health code at the venue. Not to propagate fear but being cautious will surely be a big part of the new normal.
For lack of a better word – “problems” of an artist are always somewhere on the list of things, with this added covid fallout and lack of performance opportunity, how would you suggest they could focus on building their brand and also look into monetizing through their art?
I feel artists should focus on building new content and an online fan base. Once the lockdown is over and situations are safe, they’ll have a larger online audience to cater and invite to for shows. Also, the biggest asset in the music business is personal relations, artists should look for people who can help them build their career and connect with them via email, since now a bigger number of people are available to discuss and have a conversation. If artists can’t play shows as a way to retain old listeners and find new ones, the way they could get more engagement is to keep releasing music and broaden their catalog. While we see indie artists are releasing more music in these times, on the other hand statistics suggest – streaming is going down day by day even after everyone’s in lockdown.
Artists can use this time to practice their craft, write more material, do short videos from home, and plan for shows in the future, whenever that is a possibility. It is a lean period, but it is certainly not the death of all music. We should remember that the music will, someday, start again.
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Well it seems like the performance industry for sure has taken a pause – a necessary one I believe. With tricky times like these taking over, it almost feels a bit scary figuring out what’s next. Glad I could connect with Abhilash and understand a bit more about how a domestic booking agent is functioning at the moment and their outlook for the future of the performance industry. If you’d like to connect with Abhilash and continue the conversation you can find him on Instagram (@abhilashsagar) (@rawllive.in). The Musicians Union of UK has shared some useful advice for musicians on live performance careers during disruption from Covid-19.
Up next, we have Joy Singh, Partner of Raasta, the Carribean Lounge (Hauz Khas Village, Cyber Hub and Bombay) and Yeti – The Himalyan Kitchen ( Hauz Khas Village, Cannaught Place, South Point Mall Gurgaon and Khar Bombay ).
Stay safe stay tuned!
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