With festival season, concert tours, and shows in general currently on hiatus, the music industry is ready and eager to make its comeback — but how?
A new feature via Pollstar investigates — The Comeback: How The Concert Business Is Going About It, though it seems to raise more questions than answers. However, the cover story discusses the “titanic economic and social consequences of all ‘non-essential businesses,'” what the article refers to as an oxymoron, and highlights what to expect with “Phase One.”
From Michigan to Tennessee to California to Florida, and all 50 states, the concerns remain the same amongst industry heads. If venues were to reopen now there’s obviously a safety risk involved, but there’s also a huge cost for venues to open and operate at a lower capacity when the time comes. There’s a fine line and there may be consequences. 
Patchwork Presents’ Dave Poe explains: “Any city or state that opens up too early or certain businesses open too early, any rise in infections is going to push us back and potentially start things over.” One thing is for sure — we really don’t want to start over.
Judging by the article, it seems every state and every city will be handling reopenings differently. That goes for businesses and venues as well, with festivals most likely to be the last, dependent on “size, site, and date.” The music industry is also looking to sporting events as a guide.
Across the world, Ireland has already started its plan to bring back large entertainment events. Too soon? We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
Stay safe.
Source: Pollstar | Photo via Alex Estrada for Insomniac Events
