This has obviously been an exceptionally trying time for Australia and the world. The music industry, particularly live music, has been hit exceptionally hard by the COVID-19 crisis. According to the I Lost My Gig Australia initiative, Australia has lost $300M across 274,000 gigs and events (https://ilostmygig.net.au, March 21 2020).
Understandably, Umbrella will also be moving it’s dates to reflect and protect public health and safety policy. Umbrella Festival 2020 will now be held across:
18 September 2020 – 4 October 2020
We hope there is a recovery globally and in Australia in this time. If circumstances change, and it is deemed unsafe to go ahead with our new dates, we will cancel by July 1 2020. We want to aid and encourage the resurgence of live local music, and hope that Umbrella’s new dates will help facilitate this. With this aim in mind, Umbrella Festival will be waiving the $25 event registration fee, now with FREE registration for ALL events and venues. Registrations are still open, and will be open for print in our program till July 1 2020. Tickets go on sale from July 22 2020. We hope to celebrate local live music with you all again soon. In the meantime, we sincerely hope you are all staying safe through this trying period.
If you have any questions regarding Umbrella Festival 2020, please contact us via [email protected].
PLEASE NOTE: Music SA’s primary physical location is temporarily closed for COVID-19 safety precautions, so there are no in-office meetings available at this time.
HOW CAN YOU HELP SUPPORT THE LOCAL MUSIC INDUSTRY?
Here are some simple steps that you can take to support local SA music:
- Buy local band merchandise
- Stream/buy local music
- Ask radio stations to play Aussie music
- Spend your refunded concert tickets on future concerts
- Subscribe to live streams of concerts
- Donate to support act / crew care
- Donate to artist fundraising
- Write to politicians and ask for venue tax relief and other cost saving measures
There are also many initiatives created to provide relief to those employed in the Australian music industry. We have collated a few for you below:
The Sound of Silence
The Sound of Silence, or SOS, is an initiative started by industry professionals to support local artists. If you have the funds, please consider purchasing one of their SOS Tees (designed by Jack Irvine – designer for artists such as Billie Eilish and Skegss). They have also provided a list of links directly to the merch stores of over 450 Australian artists. “In the absence of touring, merchandise is the most instant investment you can make into any artists career”. If you are not in a position to help financially, you can show your support by posting on your socials with the tag #thesoundofsilence.
Support Act
Support Act is an emergency appeal campaign to help provide financial relief to the Australian music industry held on the fundraising platform, MyCause. “ We urgently need to fundraise in excess of $20 million dollars to begin providing even a modest level of crisis relief to people who have been impacted.” Please consider donating if you are in a position to do so – any amount (big or small) can help.
Keep your Ticket
#KeepYourTicket is a social media campaign encouraging those who bought tickets prior to the COVID-19 crisis to concerts that have now been postponed or rescheduled to keep it for new dates, rather than asking for a refund. While not everyone in this time will be able to do so, we encourage you to #keepyourticket if you can. By holding onto your ticket you are keeping your funds in the industry during this crucial time. It also allows bands to avoid paying for and implementing new advertising campaigns to re-advertise their already paid for campaigns.
I Lost My Gig
I Lost My Gig Australia is an initiative to try log all the financial losses in the Australian music industry. Recording these losses is very important because it can facilitate better government (and other) relief packages for those impacted. If you have lost a gig over this time, please remember to record it with I Lost My Gig Australia!
