The Jonas Brothers are most likely still going to be financially stable even though their Vegas Residency is now cancelled due to COVID-19. But other, lesser-known artists rely solely on the revenue from their live performances and merchandise sales to pay the bills. With events being cancelled left and right because of the virus, many performers find themselves out of work, and therefore out of an income. On top of that, many musicians simply want to perform and share their music with the public.
Dan Mangan, a Vancouver musician, co-founded Side Door to help with this problem. Side Door is a website that benefits performing artists, “hosts” (meaning the people that have venues such as a bookstore or a backyard that can host small performances), and audience members. Hosts post on the website about their venue, then artists who are wanting to perform somewhere can contact the host about booking a show there. From there the public are able to purchase tickets to locations near them and gain access to intimate shows for a reasonable price. The host and performers can negotiate 90 per cent of the ticket sales between themselves while Side Door collects 10 per cent to keep their services going.
Since gatherings are discouraged during this time, Mangan has been performing his music every Saturday afternoon (since March 21 until further notice) at 12 p.m. PST from his basement, but instead of inviting an audience over, he is live streaming it over Side Door and charging only $6 per viewing. Of course performers are able to use their earnings how they please, but Mangan is using the money to donate to a local charity. On March 21, $1265.48 for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank was raised through one of Mangan’s online performances.
Locals Lounge, a monthly event in Vancouver that brings together emerging artists with the local community, is also partaking in the #Quarantunes performances through Side Doors and live-streaming a show for $6 on March 26 featuring Local Lounge’s host and musician, Ian Cromwell. This allows the public to still enjoy live, intimate performances from the comfort of their own home while discovering a new artist.
Not all artists are using Side Door to reach fellow isolators through their music. Ben Gibbard, front man of Death Cab for Cutie, is performing every afternoon at 4 p.m. PST through YouTube and Facebook. Gibbard is not charging anyone to watch but chose to stream these performances to encourage everyone that we are not alone in this pandemic. He also takes song requests.
These artists are taking matters into their own hands, providing joy and even financial support to those that need it in these uncertain times. So as we sit at home completing final papers, take a quick break and tune into a concert via livestream to boost your mood and maybe even support someone in need.
