Abstract

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Vancouver, B.C. has long been home to a thriving independent music scene. However, with the onset of the COVID pandemic, musicians lost their main source of income and means of communication with the audience: live performances. As a consequence, from 2020 to 2022, digital platforms and social media became music venues of the new age, and a primary way for artists to stay connected with listeners and each other. Thus, COVID-19 challenged the relationship between digital and physical spaces and made online mediums the key ‘performance spaces’ for both mainstream and independent artists.
In this Master’s thesis, I examine how live streams became the dominant music venues in 2020 and explore the way these streams remade social and physical connections as well as the relationships between physical and digital spaces within the Vancouver independent music scene during the global pandemic. This study is inductive, qualitative, and exploratory in its orientation, and the main research method is a series of semi-structured interviews with the local independent music scene members who have been especially active on streaming platforms during COVID. The study finds that while live streaming has been a critical medium for performance during the pandemic, musicians view it as a complement rather than a replacement or substitute for in-person performance concerts, owing to the distinct dynamics and aesthetics of the medium. The findings underscore the critical place of concert venues continue to hold for the Vancouver scene and the need for greater government support for sustaining these physical spaces as well as for leveraging new technologies and virtual spaces.
As there is currently limited literature touching upon the connection between music and
COVID-19, this study contributes to understanding what this crisis has
meant for the music industry, and how musical artists have been able to adapt during the
challenging times. Most significantly, an examination of the current experiences with the ‘digital’ lends insight into possible future development trajectories for the city’s music scene and the kinds of policies that can support Vancouver’s independent music scene.