In times of hardship and uncertainty, it is inspiring to see the music industry come together to help one another and the wider world. We’d like to recognise the outstanding efforts from our friends and colleagues in these unprecedented times.
From charity funds and foodbanks to fundraising compilations, the support efforts are ongoing, demonstrating what an incredible united community the dance music and nightlife industry truly is.
Below we show only some of the incentives that have surfaced globally:
The Studio 338 team have transformed their Greenwich space into a foodbank for the vulnerable and elderly to attend, putting a call out for volunteers to help. The 338 crew have also offered their help to the vulnerable with simple chores and shopping. Their full focus has been put into helping as much as they can during the temporary closure of the venue.
London venue FOLD has offered its space to the NHS, meaning the venue can be considered for clinical or non-clinical use by medical services, meaning anything ranging administrative operations, to critical or specialist care. While of course hope that things won’t come to that, we applaud FOLD for demonstrating how to make the most of their currently unused space in a time when the NHS is so stretched.
Berlin’s Nightlife Emergency Fund
Nightlife worker’s livelihoods have been severely affected by COVID-19. For support, the members of Berlin’s clubbing community under Berlin Collective Action have gathered to kick-start the Nightlife Emergency Fund on crowd-funding platform Better Place. The purpose is to provide financial help to high-risk nightlife workers in the party capital. With venues shut and nightlife at a halt, Berlin’s most vulnerable nightlife workers face terrifying times. The community calls for financially stable nightlife enthusiasts to offer any support they can.
Lobster Theremin
In just one day UK record label Lobster Theremin compiled a three-part compilation featuring 45 artists to donate profits to mental health charity Mind, homeless charity Shelter and an independent fund for independent artists. The compilation named PLUR (Peace.Love.Unity.Respect) aims to brings a wealth of love as well as financial support to those in need during such tough times.
Bandcamp has highlighted the struggle for artists during the pandemic, many of whom are self employed or reliant on revenue from touring and gigs. To support artists in these unfortunate times Bandcamp waived their own revenue share on Friday 20th March, from midnight to midnight, in an effort to give more to the artists who are being directly impacted. The results proved to be remarkable, with fans buying $4.3million worth of music and merchandise. The outcome demonstrated what can happen when music lovers from around the world unite.
Last Friday, fans spent $4.3 million—15x a normal day of sales—in support of artists on Bandcamp https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f
— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) March 23, 2020
Spotify
Spotify have pledged up to £8.4 million pounds to support artists effected by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as matching donations made by the public through its COVID-19 music relief page. As well as this, many of Spotify’s creator tool features will now also be free, partnering with MusiCares, the PRS Foundation and Help Musicians for the initiative.
The global music community needs us all. Help us to uplift organizations that offer relief: https://t.co/AQDoHYEP06#SpotifyMusicRelief pic.twitter.com/i7t1n6IsFw
— Spotify (@Spotify) March 25, 2020
Help Musicians have launched a fund for musicians who have encountered financial hardship due to coronavirus, setting aside £5m to tackle the short-term financial effects, where professional musicians can apply for a one-off grant of £500 towards household costs.
As for us at Defected, we witnessed the love pour from one and all during and after our Virtual Festival last week, so we’re going to do it again this Friday. This week we wanted to go one step further in doing our bit for the global efforts, by donating to the World Health Organisations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Plus we’d like you to do the same, so while you’re partying at home, we’ll have a button where you can donate yourself, alongside the stream.
"We need people indoors, safe. We’ll provide the music and good times, they just need to stay in and be a part of this huge global House Party. We also want to extend the concept by fundraising for the global COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.” Simon Dunmore
With the above being just some of the astonishing ways our wider music family is contributing, we encourage you to get involved too – let’s keep the support going, as we all know that during challenging times music brings us together. Nothing is more important than uniting and helping wherever we can, however big or small. Whether you tune in to a virtual party, purchase music or volunteer at a foodbank you are contributing to the bigger picture and we salute you!