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Nearly half of the thousands of people working in live music in South Africa might quit the business for good, according to the country’s biggest-ever survey on the effects of 2020’s Covid-19 shutdown.
Some 47% of live music industry professionals, including artists, say they are at risk of being driven out of the industry altogether due to their inability to continue with “music-related activities” at present, reveals Impact Analysis: Live Music and its Venues and the South African economy during COVID-19, a report by the South African Cultural Observatory (SACO).
SACO commissioned the research in August to discover how the sector has been affected by the measures imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus. “It is important we understand how the various sectors of the industry have been affected and continue to be affected by the pandemic, as this empowers us to provide better insights to both policy makers and the industry,” said the organisation’s executive director, Unathi Lutshaba.
Among the study’s key findings are:
Around 90% of the live music industry lost income due to Covid-19
In response to the findings, the SACO report makes a number of recommendations, including launching a national ‘music desk’ specifically to work with the music industry and reducing licensing costs and red tape around the use of public space for Covid-secure performances.
“It is our hope that this report will contribute in some small way towards the industry and stakeholders from other industries who wish to participate assisting in the recovery,” adds Lutshaba.
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A South African public research body has an unveiled online tool to measure the economic impact of music festivals.
The South African Festival Economic Impact Calculator (SAFEIC), developed by the Department of Arts and Culture’s South African Cultural Observatory (SACO), analyses three elements of economic impact: total spending on accommodation; total amount spent by festival promoters in the host economy; and actual economic impact, including the multiplier effect on the host economy.
The tool – the brainchild of American academic Bruce Seaman, of Georgia State University, and Rhodes University lecturer Jen Snowball, also SACO’s chief research strategist – is based on a similar calculator developed in the US.
“Until now, the only way to estimate the economic impact of an event was to run an expensive visitor survey and employ a researcher to analyse the data and calculate the impact,” explains Prof Snowball.
“Until now, the only way to estimate the economic impact of an event was to run an expensive visitor survey and employ a researcher to analyse the data”
“Not all events have the budget to do that, so the SAFEIC offers a reliable way of estimating economic impact at no cost to the organisation.
“While it won’t provide the same level of detail as a survey and impact study done for that specific event, it will provide a realistic estimate of what the economic impact is. An added bonus is that the results can be used in feedback to communities and sponsors.”
According to SACO CEO Richard Haines, SAFEIC will unlock “both an understanding of the impact of events and reporting that supports decision-making”.
“We are very proud of this SACO product, which we are offering free to industry practitioners and researchers,” he comments. “It’s been a great collaboration of minds and we are excited by its potential impact on the industry.”
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