We receive numerous enquiries these days, partly from jazz fans who want to support “their” scene in difficult times, partly from musicians who see their income falling away. On this page we have collected some tips and links on the topic of “Corona and jazz”, intended to help us all to get through the next few weeks and to keep jazz alive. We will update them regularly, but hope that the crisis will be over as soon as possible.
Stay healthy!!!
Support of musicians:
Buy their CDs (best, if they offer it, directly from their website)
If you ordered and paid a concert ticket in a club, some venues offer to forward the ticket price to the musicians if you don’t ask for the money back. Some even offer to add their own share per ticket (this probably only works for venues receiving public funding per concert anyhow). Some promise to use the money not paid back for future concerts after the crisis. And there are some who pay the musicians’ fee now, preceding a later concert catch-up.
Canceled shows
Concert promoters are just as affected by the crisis as musicians. In the jazz sector, there are both professional organizers, who have to pay salaries as well as rent for rooms, and jazz clubs organized solely by volunteers. The latter, however, are also part of a more extensive infrastructure, involving their local suppliers of beverages just as much as instrument rental companies or piano tuners. All concert promoters are currently working hard on developing strategies for their specific scenes in order to keep jazz alive after the crisis is over.
Some festivals have been canceled completely, others have already been re-scheduled for a later date.
Some clubs are making sure to fill previous off-dates with some of the acts they had to cancel these days.
Some musicians move to the internet with performances, either “for free” or with an optional PayPal contribution button added. (Let it be added that not all musicians would prefer this detour into the virtual world, unless it can be guaranteed that their music is recorded as well as possible.)
Musicians’ survivals
Many musicians who earn part of their livelihood through lessons stay in contact with their students through Skype, Facetime or other video platforms.
Others use the time of canceled concerts to rehearse, compose, arrange or communicate with colleagues about future projects.
Donating to help musicians
We are receiving a number of enquiries from jazz fans these days who are aware of the fact that many professional musicians can and will suffer from the current crisis, but also from artists who are faced with having to pay their rent despite just having lost a significant part of their income. In the following paragraphs we want to list some of the aid funds we have been made aware of and will add to this list as we learn of more. Our list is limited to aid funds and state measures in the Federal Republic of Germany. For other countries please contact for example the national Music Information Centers or specific public support programs for culture.
The most direct way to donate to musicians of your choice is to donate directly. It helps if they have CDs or other items for sale on their website.
There are musicians, though who might not even have a website, let alone a way of receiving your donations online. For these you might donate to regional or national foundations offering funds for artists in need.
Some countries have established funds for immediate support of financial emergencies of “self-employed micro-entrepreneurs”. In Germany, both the regional Industrie- und Handelskammer and the Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) offer information about such emergency funds.
More links about help funds for the German cultural scene can be found on the German language version of this website (click on the German flag un the bottom of this page).