By Ashley Janties
With the closure of entertainment venues and postponement of shows to suppress the spread of COVID-19, musicians will have to use online platforms to sustain themselves.
Musicians have taken to different social media platforms to encourage people to stay safe and at home but now, faced with the reality of a possible extension of the lockdown, hosting online show, live concerts and promoting their content might just be the way out for musicians in a quest to generate income.
Suzy Eises, who recently had a live at home show courtesy of Goethe-Institut told unwrap.online that the collaboration with Goethe-Institut is a very supportive concept.
“At the moment, online platforms are the only way for us, musicians to go. The only other thing I could do at the moment is just recording at home, new music new ideas for the people to purchase. I guess could do music videos but at the moment due the lack of income the only thing I can do is record” said Suzy.
Suzy, who had to open for the African giant, Burnaboy’s concert before its postponement, caught the attention of international musicians by reposting her content on twitter.
“Online promotions and online marketing is vital because you get to reach a larger market. local musicians shouldn’t see Namibia as their only market, you have to reach the whole world.
Award winning artist, Big Ben who had to start another project in Europe on 1st April, told unwrap.online that he feels his livelihood was taken from him since the outbreak of the pandemic, because as a performing artist income comes from performing.
“As a musician, I have one of the longest running personal websites over 10 years now, okinikini.com, where I sell my music. So that website continues running, I’m trying to see if I can sell a little bit more of my music online,” said Big Ben.
He urges musicians to keep preparing and creating new content while on lockdown, though it may not generate an income right now it can be use as recovery once the lockdown is over..
