Fête de la musique, the day is an annual music celebration first marked in Paris in 1982 due to Jack Lang, the Minister of Culture in France, who declared the June 21 was the right time to ask communities to go outdoors and experience music.
Little did he know that a virulent disease would change the way this annual celebration would be perceived and make many like us rediscover our love for music.
A few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic became our reality, I revealed I used to be pregnant with twins.
I enjoy a decent beat similar to your average person, but my consumption was largely hooked into the radio stations I tuned in to during my morning commute to figure. When the pandemic reared its ugly head, my life and work were consumed by the news: how could COVID-19 spread; who was more vulnerable; what was the daily caseload within the country; were pregnant women more vulnerable? I’m nearly sure exactly when that turning point came.
The pandemic spread out a Pandora’s Box of fears for several like me, forever changing the way we approached life, lived out our daily routines, and even the way we consumed music.
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Business of music
The pandemic also remained unbiased within the way it changed the music on a macro level. The primary being live music, which makes up over 50 percent of total revenues and comes mainly from sales of tickets to measure performances.
At this point, they weren’t holding concerts to earn money in ticket sales but to lift money for COVID-19 relief.
Services like Twitch, Instagram TV et al. Streaming platforms also enabled new monetization methods, including memberships to artist channels that allowed early or exclusive access to content, similar to virtual gatherings and paid-commenting features. Even websites like, where you can find play-along chords of popular songs like “Happier Than Ever” by Billie Eilish, have been utilizing advertisements to monetize their site.
For the typical Jane, aka this writer, this changing tide allowed me to spread my taste in music. Suddenly, not left at the mercy of the local station, I used to be branching out and dipping my toe in sounds beyond the favored. Down the hole, we went with Spotify serving up the globe as our own personal stage with changing sounds, languages, and rhythms.
It’s a year later now and therefore the world is gradually returning to a semblance of normalcy.
This reporter has also returned to figure post-maternity leave, throwing herself once more to the sounds emitting from the local stations.