‘Losses Are Incalculable’: Australian Music Reels From Covid Hit

Covid 19 also did not set the Australian Music Reel free from its killing effect. The moment when Peter Nobel had to shut down his Music Festival just only a few hours before it was going to open, still gives him goosebumps. That moment was a shocking, traumatic situation for his entire team.

Noble is the Director of Bluesfest, an annual Australian Music Reel festival. James Brown, BB King, and Norah Jones are the stage performers of his team. The entire team was ready for their performance at the Australian Music Festival but the unfortunate covid 19 blocked their road just before few hours of the commencement.

Just like 2020, the music show is cancelled this year too. Australian musicians and artists were able to access the Australian government’s allowance, a minimum wage welfare scheme designed to assist workers who became unemployed due to the COVID-19 fallout. But, the access to that allowance has now over, and while the government committed a further 135 million Australian dollars to support the music industry, this remains far below the nearly two billion Australian dollars generated annually. It affected the musicians not only in a financial way but also had an emotional impact on them as they love to perform and see their fans enjoying their music.