It’s impossible to ignore the effects Coronavirus is having on the world and the temporary death of the live industry is a grave one.

Countries around the world have been going into lockdown for the past few months, major events and meetups for the year have nearly all been cancelled or postponed, and cites and towns around the world look barren.

Many musicians and venues have been feeling the serious effects of concert and event cancellations. For many it can be a primary source of income and has meant major losses with varying degrees of recuperation depending on their country and affiliates.

Reports are now suggesting that losses could reach $8.9 billion if the effects of Coronavirus last until the end of the year. It comes as a dramatic blow especially after 2019 broke the record for the amount of revenue generated from live events.

Pollstar, who have made the predictions, said that based on 2020 Q1 “the year’s box office would have reached $12.2 billion”. There are still hopes that at least some, though likely not all, venues and events will be able to return later in the year but Pollstar are predicting what might happen in the worst-case scenario.

They continue: “Estimating what might have been lost obviously depends on when the business rebounds, but if the rest of the year is dark – which is a worst-case scenario and certainly not expected – the potential $12.2 billion yearly worldwide estimate minus the grosses from all the shows completed before cancellations and postponements places potential losses for the remainder of the year right at $8.9 billion.”

Of course, staying home and staying safe for the meantime is without a doubt better than seeing a gig. But as I’m sure many of you are, we are missing live music a lot. Thankfully people have been coming together online in various ways – including loads of live-streamed gigs. From the Hamilton performers to a Backstreet Boys reunion, check and see if your favourite artists or local performers are doing anything online to sate your live performance palette.

For those of you who are performers yourselves, we wish you all of the best and hope you’re finding the support you need.

If you are finding yourself with more free time and in-need of some creative relief we’ve been compiling all the free software, apps, plugins and more that companies have been releasing in a regularly updated post you can find here.