Songwriters channeled their existential dread into their work, with climate change and COVID looming over urgent and indelible albums from the likes of The Weather Station, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, and Gojira. Yet in spite of all this inequity, pressure and confusion, the music itself was the industry’s saving grace, same as always.
Before vaccine mandates were normalized, the onus for imposing such common-sense measures fell on musicians, forcing them to go out on a limb and risk alienating fans and show promoters in order to play safely-artists did just that anyway. Bandcamp and their wonderful Fridays continued to be a vital lifeline for artists struggling to make ends meet, supporting them directly when other income streams had run dry. Worse still, a perfect storm of bottlenecked vinyl production and skyrocketing demand left many indie artists on the outside looking in when it came to getting their records pressed in 2021. Independent venues were struggling even prior to the shutdown that prompted the movement and legislation to save their stages, and the streaming economy continues to pay the vast majority of artists a pittance.
Of course, it’s worth pointing out that “normal” wasn’t all that great to begin with.
It enabled them to share with audiences the releases they wrote and recorded while they were stuck on the sidelines-a chance to step out of 2020’s shadow and let their eyes adjust to 2021’s sunshine. But on the whole, this year finally gave artists the opportunity to get out and support their latest records after an existential threat to their livelihoods, making their all-important returns to the road. Some artists canceled or postponed as many shows as they were able to play, as the pandemic’s summer surge, in particular, continued to destabilize the industry. After an all but tour-less 2020, this year brought bands back out of their bedrooms, basements and rehearsal spaces, off constant livestreams and back onto stages at last. Like stepping out of a dark room into broad daylight, or that first halting conversation after an extended silence, 2021 was a time for the music world to gradually readjust to normalcy.
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