KOCHI: When the Covid-19 crisis engulfed the world like a raging fire in the early part of 2020, few had predicted its colossal impact on the economy. 2020 was also the year that NH7 weekender, one of the biggest independent music events in the country chose to go online.But, the pandemic dealt a particularly harsh blow to independent artists, musicians, creators and performers who saw their earnings dry up with a sudden halt in events and social gatherings.
While established artists could rake in some money through online gigs, a sizable section of upcoming creators found that monetising their performances failed to attract substantial viewership. Event organising companies in the city including Papercup Events, V12 Verve, The Cuckoo Club and MicDrop which specialise in conducting offline events catered to young audiences saw a near complete cessation in activity after the initial frenzy of hosting online shows.
“We had weekly line-up of online shows up until May but we realised that it didn’t make sense to continue with it. The model wasn’t sustainable as we weren’t charging for these shows,” says Sanjay Sundar, co-founder of Papercup.Self-taught singer Nafisa Haniya whoon Wednesday performed at a show held by MicDrop at a cafe in Kochi says she realised how much she loved performing live over virtual gigs.
“I have done a lot of Instagram live shows in the last six months and it is a different ball game altogether. You get a sense of how the audience is vibing when you are in the same space as them but that is not the case virtually. I personally find online performances more taxing. I prep a lot more as the audience who take the effort to tune in are mostly astute listeners. So virtual events are basically more work and less returns,” adds Nafisa.