You Can help!
Many of my colleagues who are independent musicians have lost a huge amount of work due to cancelations due to Covid-19.
Here is a partial list of suggestions that you can do to help your favorite INDY musicians. I had a discussion with someone a few days ago about this. They were saying that they would buy the music of <insert name of musician who plays to huge theaters and stadiums here>.
With all due respect to the James Taylors and Elton Johns of the world, they are going to be just fine. I am not saying they don’t deserve help, but what I propose is that you support the musicians who play small venues, bars, house concerts, or present musical programs in schools, libraries and in Care Facilities. These are the artists that are feeling the pain acutely and are scraping by even in the good times.
Here’s what you can do:
–BUY THEIR MUSIC DIRECTLY FROM THEM!!! Yes I shouted that. Not Amazon, not CDBaby, not iTunes, not Spotify or Pandora or other streaming services. Contact the musician directly through their website or if they have an online store use that. The best email in the world is from someone who writes “I want to buy your CD”
–subscribe to their Patreon account at Patreon.com. If you can’t part with your hard-earned dollars, subscribe to their email newsletters. This one always lifts spirits because it means that someone cares about how and what we are doing.
–Contact your CongressCritters. Let them know that working musicians need relief too. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has set up an online letter that you can use to write to your Reps. Please do this, or better yet, CALL THEM! https://bit.ly/2WkxuOo
–My Union, AFM Local 1000 has an Emergency Relief Fund specifically for times like these and benefits our members. The link below can take you to the website where you can make a donation. https://www.local1000.org/product/emergency-relief-fund/
Anyone can make a donation. NB: the donation IS NOT tax-deductible, but know that you are helping working musicians who in many cases have lost thousands of dollars of income. In the past, our ERF has made the difference between losing a home and keeping it.
–Share this post far and wide.
