Good Riddance, 2020! (Now What?)

Welcome to 2021, Reader! 

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about what a garbage fire 2020 was. We get it. We all lived it and hit a massive learning curve as we sought to learn what our industry looks like during global pandemic. We have a lot of work left to do in that department and hope you’ll join us as we continue to innovate this year. 

So what’s to come in 2021? We can all agree that 2020 was a big exercise in realizing you can’t predict the future, but we definitely hope to see further innovation in our industry’s glaring deficit: Concerts.

Large video streaming platforms (Twitch, YouTube) and proprietary concert streaming services like LiveFrom have made rapid, large steps in adjusting to gathering music fans in a distanced world and providing an immersive experience with a digital equivalent of a merch table with collectable tickets, limited edition “tour” shirts and high-quality show flyers.

Within the next year, we hope and expect to see music reentering the physical space as it began later in the year with Drive-In Shows. We’ve seen countless visions of what socially distanced shows could look like, ie. in the now-famous imagery from the UK’s first socially distanced venue Virgin Money Unity Arena in Newcastle (Pictured).

How can we innovate and monetize for our artists and venues in this new world? Maybe VR? Perhaps human hamster bubbles? A little food for thought as we move through this strange, strange world of ours.

Happy New Years,
180dB Staff