COVID-19 has made quite the impact in not just the U.S., but the entire world in a very short amount of time. Many people have been put out of work during this time and it by no means is only affecting everyday normal people. Over these past few months we’ve also seen an influx of lesser known artists and performers struggling to get by as many of their lives have been turned upside down due to this virus. 

There seems to be somewhat of a misconception that most artists have more money than the average person and while that may be the case for the medium to large scale artists during normal times, we are definitely not living in normal times. People have a common misconception. What people seem to not realize is that most smaller artists make the majority of their money out on the road playing shows. When you take away the ability to play live shows, you take away most if not all of a person’s revenue. Not to mention the fact that all of that money made has to be split amongst those involved whether it be a record label, band-mates, or just simply your road crew. 

While live shows being canceled has had a massive impact on smaller and bigger artists alike, another factor has been albums being postponed, mainly due to shipping issues. Even though not all artists are making the decision to release their music at a later date, the ones that are, surely weren’t expecting for something like this to happen and will sadly miss out on the money that would have come in from both streams and physical copies.

Luckily even in such dark times, there is always a shimmer of light in the form of different bands and companies coming together. Many have combined in order to help support one another and of course their crews that would have been out on tour with them if it weren’t for all of these cancellations. If there was ever a time to help out and support your favorite artists, now would be that time. I know personally that I’ve taken money that would have gone towards events like concerts and have instead set it aside to buy some merchandise from my favorite bands in order to help show support and to help out in any way I can. I firmly feel that everyone should try to do the same if you have the resources to do so, no matter how small of a contribution it may be, at this point anything and everything will surely help and be appreciated.