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OK GO

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

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LISTEN: OK GO Premieres "All Together Now" ok-go%E2%80%99s-new-single-all-together-now-tributes-covid-19%E2%80%99s-frontline-workers

OK GO’s New Single "All Together Now" Tributes COVID-19’s Frontline Workers

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All proceeds from streams and downloads of the song will be donated to Partners In Health
Onaje McDowelle
GRAMMYs
May 13, 2020 - 12:45 pm

On their new single "All Together Now," released Wednesday (May 13), GRAMMY-winning rock troupe OK Go pay homage to the heroism of frontline workers helping to battle the global spread of the coronavirus. Recorded from the band members' homes and released alongside a visual of the collective performing the single from isolation, the song touches on messages of hope and universal action that have come out of the pandemic. 

In an open letter to fans, OK Go lead singer Damian Kulash elaborated on inspirations behind the new track, noting an essay by historian Rebecca Solnit, "The Impossible Has Already Happened: What the Coronavirus Can Teach Us About Hope," and also explaining his own personal battle with COVID after he and family members unexpectedly contracted the virus, having now fully recovered from the frightening process. 

Kulash writes that he caught the coronavirus when there were only six known cases in California. His wife, Kristin was bedridden with the virus, and the family’s two-year-old twins caught wind with severe cold and flu symptoms as well. "My heart aches for those who haven’t had the same luck, who are suffering unimaginable loss and hardship, whether from the virus or the havoc it’s wrought on the world," he stated.

"For all of us, the future has gotten scarier and more unknowable, and it’s bearing down on us faster. But for me, as this new strain of anxiety has spread, it’s brought an incongruous companion: a new breed of hope."

In the song, Kulash begins by saying, "It’s all still the same, everything is untouched but forever changed." He continues, singing, "Everywhere on earth, every single soul, everyone there is all together now... All that mattered then, all that matters now, all that matters after the world shut down."

All proceeds from streams and purchases of the song will help to support the global health organization Partners In Health. Each donation will come with downloadable bundles that include the "All Together Now" mp3, exclusive coloring pages taken from scenes of the group’s most iconic videos, and other featured assets. Donations are being accepted here.

Justin Bieber & Ariana Grande Drop "Stuck With U" 

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Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool' vinyl in Paris 

Photo: David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images 

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#LoveRecordStores Day Releases: Radiohead & More radiohead-hinds-arctic-monkeys-more-have-special-releases-loverecordstoresday

Radiohead, Hinds, Arctic Monkeys & More To Have Special Releases For #LoveRecordStoresDay

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Albums from Flume, Black Pumas, Hinds, John Lennon and Yoko Ono also to take part in the initiative to support record stores in the U.K.
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
May 21, 2020 - 1:22 pm

Radiohead, Belle and Sebastian, Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and more will have special record releases for the United Kingdom's recently announced Love Record Stores day happening on what was to be the rescheduled Record Store Day 2020.

Several of the special releases will be made available at 9 a.m. local time at participating shops' websites. Flume's self-titled album, Black Pumas's self-titled album, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool, Hinds' Leave Me Alone, John Lennon & Yoko Ono's The Wedding Album, are among records being sold during the initiative. The event's website said more special releases could be announced.

https://twitter.com/LoveRecsStores/status/1263385811095085057

Here are just some of the special releases that will be available on June 20th! Find out more here https://t.co/zRJRY27Nfd pic.twitter.com/znXDvLVZFY

— Love Record Stores (@LoveRecsStores) May 21, 2020

Love Record Stores day aims to support record stores after Record Store Day 2020 had to postpone its original date of April 18 to June 20 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Record Store Day was rescheduled again and drops are now happening on August 29, September 26, October 24. 

The event is partnering with record labels to feature limited edition records, they said on their website: "To ensure that this hugely important, annual opportunity to highlight the work of record stores remains active this summer, #loverecordstores is partnering with a wide range of record labels who have already pledged to make special, limited edition releases available via over 130 independent record stores’ online platforms on June 20th."

Love Record Stores day will also feature a variety of livestream performances and DJ sets. Rock singer, musician and The Charlatans vocalist Tim Burgess was named Love Record Stores 2020 ambassador.

"So pleased to be working alongside @LoveRecsStores so we can do our best to help independent record shops during these testing times," he tweeted.

 For more information on participating stores and record releases, check out the Love Record Stores day website.

Record Store Recs: Chulita Vinyl Club On The Best Music Stores In L.A., Oakland, Austin & Beyond

GRAMMYs

Photo: Getty Images

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Indie Publicists Persist Through COVID-19 Pandemic independent-publicists-persist-through-coronavirus-impact-music-industry

Independent Publicists Persist Through The Coronavirus Impact On The Music Industry

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A part of the greater fabric that helps the music industry run, indie publicists are re-strategizing their approach while facing financial hardships during this unprecedented COVID-19 "new normal"
Jennifer Velez
GRAMMYs
Mar 27, 2020 - 3:43 pm

On the morning of March 16, Loren Medina sent an email very different from the kind she's used to sending. The Los Angeles-based publicist behind Jessie Reyez and Kali Uchis wasn’t running business as usual. She wasn’t sending a new single or album press release announcement. Instead, she found herself sending out a plea to the music industry.

"Dear colleagues and media partners, it is our duty to find creative solutions to keep our industry afloat," she began."With lockdowns enforced and more travel restrictions soon to come, we must not let the current situation paralyze us and/or allow the virus to take up all the space in the media."

By now, there is no doubt the music industry will come out of the coronavirus pandemic as one of the hardest-hit fields worldwide. Live music is gone: Tours and concerts, which serve as both a space for music discovery and the primary source of income for artists, have been universally canceled or postponed. Already, the loss of live music events alone could potentially be in the billions in the U.S.

GRAMMYs

Loren Medina

Other areas have not gone unscathed. Although Medina says her clients are not pausing their record releases, other artists, including Lady Gaga, Haim and Kehlani, have postponed or rescheduled major projects, citing the coronavirus as the reason. Elsewhere, Amazon is prioritizing deliveries of essential goods and has stopped CD and vinyl orders for the time being, a move that could ultimately hurt smaller labels the most. Across the pond, musicians in the U.K. have so far lost 13.9 million pounds (+$17 million) in estimated earnings, according to the Guardian.

Medina’s home has become a type of ground zero. She now works remotely, just like the possibly millions of other people across the U.S. under the government's direction to stay home in an attempt to flatten the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic curve in the county, which now faces upwards of 86,000 cases. At her newfound home base, she assesses how to move forward day-by-day as the music industry faces such an unprecedented time.

A part of the greater fabric that helps the music industry run, Medina, who owns Guerrera PR, Marketing & Management and also represents acts like Omar Apollo and Cuco, among other artists, has been forced to re-strategize. Other publicists, tour managers, festival organizers and countless more in the music industry ecosystem are on the same boat. The new reality consists of social distancing and quarantining, a scenario that creates a challenge for parts of the modern music industry to function. Beyond it all, the virus is stripping music of its magic; no longer can people from all over the world come together in one place to enjoy it.

Independent publicists and smaller PR agencies now face their own unique challenges. Many run on project-based work focused on touring and album campaigns. With artists now canceling tours and rethinking album releases, the music publicity sector now faces a potential, and significant, loss in income—if not now, then in the future. On top of that, there is no option of severance for many publicists if they lose their jobs or clients.

While Medina isn’t experiencing a loss of work now, because she works on project-based campaigns, future clients might be at stake as some artists are holding off on releasing new music until the current situation is alleviated.

RELATED: How The Global Coronavirus Pandemic Is Directly Impacting Songwriters, Musicians And Artists

For Detroit-based publicist Nathan Walker, tour-related press comprises 50 percent of his work. Nearly every tour date he was working through his boutique PR company Riot Act Media, whose roster includes Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Young Jesus and STRFKR, was canceled last week or was on "the wait" to see what happens. 

Part of his new normal, which also means working from home with his wife and a four-year-old, has been trying to uncrack the new pitching protocol. There is an ongoing conversation among publicists about how to pitch music media during a never-before-lived pandemic that only seems to worsen by the day and continues to dominate headlines. How should they be pitching about music now?

"I'm just trying to be really calculated with my pitches so that I'm not just blanketing people with lots and lots of music," Walker says.

And he isn’t only practicing caution with media, but empathy as well.

"When I pitch an album during this time, I’m including a note sincerely hoping, because these are people I’ve worked with for years. I'm sincerely hoping they're in a good place right now," he says. "I'm just trying to keep the train on the tracks and send them a record that I think they'd love, and if they want me to stop pitching them, that's OK. I will understand."

Walker, who is staying hopeful about the situation and doing what he can for his artists, is not alone. Sarah Avrin of Girlie Action Media, Marketing & Management, home to Bikini Kill, Imogen Heap, Palehound and more, is pitching with thoughtfulness, too.

"I’m really focused on carefully and thoughtfully reaching out to journalists to make sure that they’re in the headspace to be accepting pitches and discussing new art at the moment," she says.

A Desire For Escapism

Artists continue to put out work, whether or not pitches about it are accepted, and publicists will continue to push for their clients. "It may be a little less busy right now," Avrin says. "But I think it’s going to pick up as artists have time on their hands to create and want to get engage, whether it’s livestream performances or just putting out new singles and sharing."

Although initially she felt panic, Medina's email to media partners was one of her first steps toward regrouping her approach to engaging with the media. "I was just like, OK, technology can definitely make us rethink the way we do things and can provide us the opportunities to keep going and not completely stay stagnant,” she says. "We still want to consume content, we want to be distracted, and there's a need for artists to continue to push out content.”

Phoebe Smolin, who owns Locamotive PR and has worked with Caloncho, Mon Laferte, Carla Morrison and more, says culture is needed now more than ever. 

"We can't lose sight of how important [culture] is, and in a time where we’re all connecting in a way that we haven't before, I just think it's necessary," she says.

https://twitter.com/mdoukmas/status/1242591460022763520

The @Chicago_Reader has lost 90% of its advertising revenue and we're now relying on individuals and foundations more than ever to keep us afloat. Please consider giving or becoming a member at this critical time! Every $1 helps us survive another week 🥰https://t.co/zDD3YaYZyc

— Maya Dukmasova (@mdoukmas) March 24, 2020

Smolin spent two days just replying to cancelations and has seen a loss in work in Europe, the U.S. and Latin America. She has also brainstormed with artists and media on how to move forward. 

But Walker says sending pitches to some publications can be tough right now as they face their own troubles. Amid a constantly changing landscape dominated by digital giants like Facebook and Google, the virus has caused even more economic strain on traditional print magazines and newspapers as well as digital publications relying on ads.

Playboy announced its magazine will fold, stating: "the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic to content production and the supply chain became clearer and clearer, we were forced to accelerate a conversation we've been having internally: the question of how to transform our U.S. print product to better suit what consumers want today."

Alt-weeklies, which largely specialize in covering regional music and arts scenes and local live events, across the nation have announced layoffs and staff salary cuts. The cancelation of this year's SXSW greatly impacted the Austin Chronicle. Seattle's The Stranger and the Portland Mercury both announced layoffs, with the Mercury also announcing it would temporarily stop its print edition. Ad sales are cutting back and have affected newspapers like the Chicago Reader.

RELATED: Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region

“The other biggest challenge is promoting something like music to the press, who are currently worried about losing their jobs and also worried about a global pandemic," Walker says. "It's hard to be a publicist in these times because … It just seems frivolous to try and cheerlead music to people that have been crying, worried and stressed all day."

Change Needs To Happen

Just as the coronavirus has shed light on the weaknesses of governments around the world, this pandemic is highlighting how unfeasible the music industry has become for artists in the age of digital streaming. Music artists still heavily depend on touring and live events as a major income stream. While streaming comprises a majority of the industry's revenue, low royalty rates are not enough to make a living for some—the average musician makes between $20,000 and $25,000, according to a 2018 survey. Ultimately, the coronavirus will change the world and it will change the music industry along with it. How and if it will benefit artists remain the million-dollar questions.

For now, some artists have pivoted to livestream concerts. Erykah Badu, who had concert postponements due to COVID-19 precautions, is doing a series of streaming performances for which she is asking fans to pay $1, essentially sidestepping the middleman. Other artists have used "digital tip jars" to which fans can donate, while some have asked for nothing at all.

The rise of livestreams has become one of the industry's reactions to the pandemic, giving publicists material to help spread the word on what their artists are doing now. But livestreamed sets will never replace a live set, according to Medina, who's also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California’s Thorton School of Music.

https://twitter.com/baduworldmarket/status/1240134275971899400

Apocalypse One. Live interactive experiment from @fatbellybella. This weekend. YOU choose the songs. $1 to get in. Stay tuned for details. pic.twitter.com/qdqNzNQr8q

— baduworldmarket (@baduworldmarket) March 18, 2020

Walker agrees: "Cybersex isn't sex. It's a temporary adjustment. Whether it's something that we can make financially viable during this time, depending on how long this time extends to, I'm not certain," he adds. "It has to come from the fan's heartfelt desire to support the artist."

Everyone in the industry is bracing, day by day, for what the repercussions for the loss of revenue and income will be. The situation has brought Walker to think about what it could mean for publicists specifically. "If I'm being honest, it's made me afraid that my work will no longer be viable," he says.

The uncertainty in the industry is at an all-time high and people are scared, but the situation has brought publicists to find solace in each other. "We're in a music community, so we're trying to be there for other people, even though we're indie publicists at other companies; we’re a friendly company and there are other friendly indies out there, so we're all putting our heads together," Avrin says.

Smolin says she's become a "pseudo- psychologist" for her artists who fear what the pandemic's outcome could mean for them. Ultimately, the situation has caused relationships with her clients to strengthen. 

Medina feels her extensive experience as an indie publicist has made it easier to survive such times of uncertainty. "Last week, I was very worried. I actually felt a little bit depressed," she says. "This week, I'm like, it's fine. I'm going to figure out what else I can do. If I have to put a pause on PR, I'll figure out what else I can do. It's nothing that I've never had to do before."

Avrin is taking things one day at a time. She believes this experience will force everyone in the industry, from artists to media, to get creative while also potentially opening unique opportunities for independent artists. All in all, "It’s hard to say there is a silver lining," she says. "People are in pain and people are dying."

Recording Academy And MusiCares Establish COVID-19 Relief Fund

Bandcamp

Bandcamp

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Musicians Earn $4.3 Million From Bandcamp musicians-earn-43-million-bandcamp-nearly-800000-items-sold-friday

Musicians Earn $4.3 Million From Bandcamp With Nearly 800,000 Items Sold On Friday

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"On a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch"
Rachel Brodsky
GRAMMYs
Mar 23, 2020 - 12:34 pm

Last Friday, March 20, in an effort to help artists impacted by coronavirus-related concert cancelations, music discovery and streaming platform Bandcamp waived its revenue shares for 24 hours, with a number of independent record labels following suit. 

Now, according to a statement from Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond, the streaming platform has reportedly had its biggest sales day ever, with nearly 800,000 items sold. 

Last Friday, fans spent $4.3 million—15x a normal day of sales—in support of artists on Bandcamp https://t.co/ElpCIN3s4f

— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) March 23, 2020

"The numbers tell a remarkable story," Diamond wrote today (Monday, March 23). "On a typical Friday, fans buy about 47,000 items on Bandcamp, but this past Friday, fans bought nearly 800,000, or $4.3 million worth of music and merch. That’s more than 15 times our normal Friday, and at the peak, fans were buying 11 items per second.

"We don’t yet know the long-term impact of Covid-19, but we know that we all need music—to uplift and inspire us, to heal us, and to give us hope,” the message continues. “We’ll continue working to make Bandcamp the best place for fans and artists to come together and sustain each other in the challenging times ahead. Thank you again, and we wish you all good health!”

In support of keeping the music community alive and thriving, you can also donate to the MusiCares COVID-19 relief fund here.

MORE RESOURCES FOR MUSIC CREATORS & PROFESSIONALS:

Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: West Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: East Region
Resources For Music Creators & Professionals Affected By COVID-19: South Region

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[From left]: Bartees Strange, Anjimile and Jordana Nye. Photos courtesy of Julia Leiby, Maren Celest & Grand Jury Music

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What's It Like To Release A Debut During COVID? bartees-strange-anjimile-more-what-its-release-debut-album-pandemic

Bartees Strange, Anjimile & More On What It's Like To Release A Debut Album In A Pandemic

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A variety of rising artists sit down to discuss the unusual and inopportune circumstances of releasing a debut record during COVID, and what it takes to make the best of an impossible situation
Mike Hilleary
GRAMMYs
Oct 27, 2020 - 1:36 pm

Video-chatting through her phone, Wichita-based singer/songwriter Jordana Nye shows me a tattoo she recently got on her right forearm. Written in small red ink is a single word: "numb." "I feel like I've just been kind of numb throughout the whole thing—like my tattoo," she says. Laughing at herself, almost as an aside, she quickly adds, "The decisions you make when you're in quarantine."

The "whole thing" Nye is referencing is of course the increasingly fragile state of the music industry as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a global health crisis that has in just a few short months forced the closure of concert venues across the country, the cancelation of festivals and tours, and manifested an overwhelming sense of uncertainty for the untold number of musical artists that make recording and performing songs their livelihood. While established, high-profile acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, and BTS are fully capable of releasing a new album in the middle of a volatile and complicated environment and experience little to no impact on their financial bottom line and cultural cachet, those like Nye, who only just made her first steps into the industry with the release of her debut album Classical Notions of Happiness in March, are finding themselves mentally and professionally hobbled at the exact moment they are trying to introduce themselves to the greater music listening community.

In addition to Nye (who has followed Classical Notions of Happiness with the EP Something to Say and has a second EP … To You scheduled for release in December), a variety of rising artists, including Christian Lee Hutson (Beginners), Anjimile (Giver Taker), Bartees Strange's Bartees Cox Jr. (Live Forever), and Nation of Language frontman Ian Devaney (introduction, Prescence) all sat down to discuss the unusual and inopportune circumstances of releasing a debut record during COVID, and what it takes to make the best of an impossible situation.

The Initial Shock

Jordana Nye: I kind of went through like the worst depression. I mean, you just gotta keep swimming. It's hard to sometimes. But you get medicine, get therapy, talk about stuff. That's what I did, and it helped a lot. I couldn't even do anything for maybe three months straight. It was the worst.

Ian Devaney: It was kind of disbelief, especially when I realized how long it would go on and I realized what that would do to small and mid-sized venues. I was like, even when we do come back from this, the landscape is just gonna be so totally different. What does this mean as far as these businesses as independent hubs in the community? But my brain also just zoomed out to the corporate consolidation of touring above the D.I.Y. level basically. Are the only people who are going to be able to keep their venues open the ones who aren't as artist-friendly?

Bartees Cox Jr.: After we released my EP Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, it was crazy. We got invited to play this WNYC soundcheck live show thing on March 12. And then we also had a show in New York on March 13. And this was when the shit was really going down in New York. And we were there, we played the thing, and we were all like, "Dang, this looks like it's gonna get really serious." And then after the EP came out, my team and I were like, "Well, do we just not do anything for a year and a half? We have momentum now. We should just ride this and keep writing." And that was just it, let's just follow the wave. It's working right now. So why why stop, you know?

Read More: Anjimile Opens Up On 'Giver Taker,' Sobriety, Identifying As Trans & More

The Road Is Closed

Christian Lee Hutson: Just from my perspective, the thing that seems to help debut artists the most is supporting other artists on tour, and that element has been completely taken out of the picture. Having your name tied to whatever the act is you're opening for and getting a chance to be in front of new people that might not have heard you on whatever streaming playlist, that aspect is probably the most damaging.

Ian Devaney: I've always been someone who feels like Nation of Language captures more people through the live show. And so when it became clear that we weren't going to be touring for a long time, I was like, "Oh, I guess we're doomed. I guess we'll put these things out and maybe some people listen to them, and then it will just fade away and we'll get on with the next thing and wait. But I was very shocked and flattered that the record started doing much better than I ever thought. That was very exciting. I feel very grateful for that.

Bartees Cox Jr.: I'm glad that we put Live Forever out now, instead of right at the beginning of the pandemic, because I don't think people knew what the f**k was going on in March. I saw some bands, put some records out that were really good in February and January who had huge tours booked all summer. I feel like this really hit them in the chest. That just takes so much like gas and energy out of you.

Ian Devaney: We were three shows into a tour, when they were like, "OK, everyone has to go home." It wasn't just disbelief that a dangerous thing was happening, but disbelief from the whiplash of the fact that we were about to be on the road for a month. But now, I'm back in my apartment. There was confusion and then, yeah, just real sadness of not knowing when I'm gonna get to do this again.

Christian Lee Hutson: Doing my first real headline tour, that was supposed to happen. I was supposed to on it right now, actually. In June I was also going to tour with one of my favorite bands, The Magnetic Fields. I was excited to spend a month with them. Those are two things I feel like, "Oh, man, those would have been cool." And hopefully, in a world where we're safer, those things can still happen.

Read More: Bartees Strange On 'Live Forever' & Why "It Shouldn't Be Weird To See Black Rock Bands"

Ian Devaney: I was really looking forward to playing the Seattle show on our canceled tour. KEXP seemed like the first radio station that consistently was reaching out to us and playing us on a regular basis, and we kind of developed a close relationship with them. And to me they've always been sort of one of the gatekeepers of like, "Oh, I'm in this level now. KEXP knows about my band." And so, them just being excited for us to come and us getting the sense that people just driving around in their cars during the day were hearing our music—and that being such a strange thing to wrap our heads around—it felt like we were gonna show up and be like, "We've arrived."

Jordana Nye: I was going on my first tour. I felt unprepared. I was also really nervous. And then when the COVID stuff started, there was a surreal moment where I was like, "What? I was just about to do something that could impact my life in such a big way and now it's gone." I was told there was gonna be hotels.

Christian Lee Hutson: Not touring is a huge change in my life in general. I've been touring with other people or just on my own for the last 11 years in my life. So to not do it at the one time I've finally released an album and not be doing it feels hilarious.

Bartees Cox Jr.: I keep telling myself, "It's just delayed. You will get to play the record for years. It will always exist." It won't be the same, but I also think when shows open up, people are gonna be really hyped to go to shows. The bottom line is, it'll be okay. Again, I have no choice. It's hard to like dwell on that. I knew that would be the case, before I put it out.

Fiscal Feasibility

Anjimile: I would describe it as not an ideal time, but I also have never monetized like my music career in a major way. It's not like, "Oh, no, all this money I usually make is gone!" [Laughs.]

Christian Lee Hutson: My wife and I are both living on unemployment and savings right now and just kind of hold on as long as we can, just hoping that touring can come back before we're in a crippling amount of debt.

Ian Devaney: The unemployment insurance is currently supporting me. When we left for tour the restaurant I was working at I said, "I understand if you won't have a space to me when I get back," but they were like, "We I think we'll be able to work the schedule," and I thought, "Perfect." But then the reason we came back was because everything was shutting down. And so I got an email suggesting we should all file for an appointment, and we'll see what happens.

Jordana Nye: At least I have my job back in Wichita. I work at a brewing company called Norton's. They're super involved in live music and it's a great place. I was like a barback during the summer. And now I'm a dishwasher. It's humbling.

Team Building and Content Alternatives

Bartees Cox Jr.: I just feel sometimes [as a new artist] you're the only one that knows that you have something special, and you just gotta build around it. And then all of a sudden people just show up around you. You have a team and you have a plan. But you got to make the first step.

Anjimile: It definitely changed the scope and nature of the promotional cycle. When it became apparent that touring was not happening I was like, "OK, so I guess we'll have to get creative and do other things to generate and maintain interest in this record."

Christian Lee Hutson: I think everyone was just flying by the seat of their pants, like, "We'll do the best that we can do and we're just gonna do everything that we can as we think of it." Those were really the kind of conversations that were had. The funny thing about all of this is all you can do is throw your hands up and just do it, surrender yourself to it. And I feel like everyone has a label and Phoebe and me and my management, everyone has been pretty good at just being like, "Alright, we're just gonna roll with it."

Anjimile: I'm also working on building a team. I now have a booking agent. And I'm talking with managers for the first time and that's super exciting. I'm doing all these behind the scenes team building stuff.

Ian Devaney: We've actually, in the middle of the pandemic, gotten booking agents. And they were like, "This is weird, but we an tell people about the band for when things open back up. We can get your name into circulation of who's being considered for what." You can get the sense that they are ready to just throw us intensely on the road, and we are ready to do that as well.

Bartees Cox Jr.: Will Yip, who runs memory music, was just like, "This thing is super fresh. It's good no matter what. You got to just trust us." I was the most apprehensive because no one's ever cared about my music or anything I've ever done. So I was like, "Well, OK, if this is what you think, I trust you guys." And they were all just so passionate about it and they just worked so f**king hard. My publicist Jamie and manager Tim, they just really pushed the record really, really hard. Teams are so important. I didn't know how important they were until really this year, how much how much it helps to have a label and a manager and a publicist that love you and love your record, and are going to put in extra hours and go the extra mile. That was the difference-maker. I think that's why it didn't matter what was happening around us because yes, it's an election year, yes the world was literally ending, yeah there's a pandemic. But this record is f**king good. And it's not the first time a great record has come out when things are really bad.

Anjimile: I got hit up by a U.K. booking agency first, and they were like, "Hey, obviously, there's no touring happening right now, but we love your sound and we're looking into the future to see where you would fit in certain clubs, and we just want you on the team." The same thing happened with my new U.S. booking agent. She was like, "We've been following you for a couple years, seen your name everywhere. Booking doesn't really exists, but I want to work with you and get you on the team and we can talk about slowly building what a live Anjimile thing looks like."

Ian Devaney: I think part of it is letting fans know that we're not stopping. It often helps me emotionally invest in a band if I can believe that the band is really in it to keep moving. I don't know if that makes sense. People will email us or reach out through Bandcamp and things like that. And it's always just really nice to hear people's stories of how they've enjoyed the record.

Jordana Nye: My team taught me to just try to keep working and keep busy until we get a sense of what the hell is going to happen—and just release music because it's really all you can do. Anything you can do, you just have to do it.

Anjimile: I think the main idea for me is just galvanizing and continually engaging my social media presence. My social media numbers have climbed substantially as a result of this release, which is exciting. And not to sound like a f**king music industry business guy, but content is helpful, and so I'm just trying to create chill content without losing my mind. We're about to have a contest. We've got a video coming out. Hopefully people can sit at home and watch. I want to try and create content that folks can engage with at home. Part of our merch is boxers. We were like, "What about hats?" "Well, nobody's gonna see the hat." "What about fanny packs?" "Nobody's going anywhere." "OK. Boxers. People will be at home wearing them." We're just trying to be as creative as possible.

Jordana Nye: I've got some music video stuff in the works. There's a new one coming out that was filmed in my home of Wichita for "I Guess This is Life," and my best friend is in it with me. It's very, very sweet. And I can't wait for it to be out. But I'm also shooting a music video out here in L.A. for the track "Reason." It’s going to feature me walking an invisible dog on a leash. I'm f**king excited for that. I can't wait.

Ian Devaney: Our manager has been really kind of fantastic and diligent. In his mind there's still people who don't know the record. And so just because it came out in May, doesn't mean we're not going to keep working it as though everyone knows it, because they don't.

Mental Health Whiplash

Christian Lee Hutson: It's like, for debut artists, what do you have to compare it to?

Bartees Cox Jr.: I almost feel like more people are listening to music now than they were before, like really listening through albums, and really interacting with them.

Christian Lee Hutson: I think it would make me crazy to sit around and just be like, "Damn it, I spent all this time on this and of course when my record comes out, this is what happens." I mean, I'm actually kind of encouraged by the response to the album just in general, because I feel like it's such a weird time for music to come out and I'm happy that anyone has found it at all considering it's come out in the most turbulent year in recent memory. That aspect I feel positive about, like it was weirdly worth it, even though I'm not doing all of the things that I thought I would be doing a year ago.

Bartees Cox Jr.: I mean I've never had fans like I do now, and I'm doing all this during a pandemic.

Ian Devaney: In a strange way, I'm glad we're putting music out now. I feel like we are, as much as anyone can, engaging with the madness and sort of being defiant in the face of the madness and not giving up on trying to be creative and trying to dream big about what we can do in the future.

Anjimile: It feels surreal, but at the same time I've released music locally in Boston over the years. And nothing has ever come of that. And so releasing an album nationally with a label, I think my expectations were actually pretty low. Usually when I put out music nobody cares, you know? Why should they really care? And this time some people cared, and I was like, "Holy f**k." Even that that was beyond my expectations. And so I don't know, I'm just kind of trying to go with it. Because even though things feel weird, and at times, unfair and strange I don't know what is going to happen in the next three months, six months, nine months, right? I'm just cautiously cautiously optimistic about what will happen next. Because I do think that so far, things have actually happened right on time. Even though shit is really weird right now, and I don't know what's going to happen next, maybe something positive in my career will occur. Who knows?

Bartees Cox Jr.: I was talking to a friend about this. You look at these areas in music, or in America, like Vietnam War era music or these other big social phenomenon and the music that came from it, I think that one day people will look back on this quarantine pandemic era and think, "All these records came out during this weird ass time are interesting because of it."

What Comes Next

Bartees Cox Jr.: I was thinking that bigger artists that need bigger studios are gonna kind of be hamstrung by this where more D.I.Y. people can just be like, "Yeah, I'll write another record."

Jordana Nye: Going on tour, getting experienced would have helped my career a lot in way. But working on new music is also helping it.

Ian Devaney: For Nation of Language, we're planning on putting out a seven inch either like, December or January. So we've been working on two songs, as well as songs for the second record.

Anjimile: At this point, in the year, I have a lot of songs written, some which I think might be good. And so I'm just stacking up demos at the moment, trying to make sure I have like the juiciest tunes available.

Jordana Nye: I'm still just making music and content, and it kind of tells me that I can pretty much do anything that I set my mind to, which is comforting, especially in dire times when I feel like I'm not doing anything at all, and I feel like I'm a loser. People are digging the new stuff so I'm super excited for that, and makes me want to do more with different genres and just play around with them.

Bartees Cox Jr.: I'm gonna really take my time. I put out two records this year. I don't feel like I gotta like, hustle. I just gonna just keep working try to make some money and hold it down.

Christian Lee Hutson: I'm honestly just writing a lot and I am recording a lot of stuff at home. Early on in quarantine, I was just like, "Alright, in order to tell the days apart, I'm gonna record a different cover song for fun every day." So I did that for a while until I got bored of that. And now I'm just demoing and recording new stuff. It's the only thing I really know how to do. And I'm grateful that there's a lot of time to do it. Something I noticed observing other friends' album cycles in the pre-COVID world is the amount of time that they had to actually write and follow up their debuts is actually pretty slim, which I feel like I have a lot of time to accomplish that.

Capturing Los Angeles' COVID-Closed Venues

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