ABSTRACT

While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the live music industry have received much attention, little consideration has been given to regional music production clusters more broadly. Evaluating the impacts of the pandemic on the music economy of North West England, this paper identifies key areas of support required as music businesses transition into a digitally-orientated post-COVID period. Findings demonstrate the ways in which the pandemic encouraged or forced music businesses to innovate with new digital ways of showcasing, promoting and distributing music. Yet, while digitalisation offers many opportunities, these are often difficult for businesses to capitalise upon. The paper argues the need to place business support at the heart of local cultural policy. More specifically, the paper makes the case for a soft institutionalist approach whereby local policymakers, the market and civil society work together to generate and distribute crucial resources of human, financial and social capital.

摘要

尽管 COVID-19 大流行对现场音乐行业的影响受到了广泛关注，但很少有人更广泛地考虑到区域音乐制作集群。本文评估了这一流行病对英格兰西北部音乐经济的影响，确定了音乐企业过渡到数字化后疫情时期所需的关键支持领域。调查结果表明，疫情如何鼓励或迫使音乐企业通过展示、推广和传播音乐的新数字方式进行创新。然而，尽管数字化提供了许多机会，但企业通常很难利用这些机会。该文件认为需要将商业支持置于当地文化政策的核心。进一步来说，