Tag Archives: covid-19

Song Of The Day: Nouvelle Vague By Wake Island

Detroit techno and French pop along with Arabic music influences. Mix that with themes of a Lebanese revolution, COVID-19, BLM, the death of Arab LGBT+ rights activist Sarah Hegazy, and much more and you have Nouvelle Vague by Wake Island.

The electronic duo has now released the song twice, once in French and another time in English. Their full length LP is due to drop on April 30th, 2021, and with that album, the duo explores identity and transformation through their immigrant perspective. The album features songs in English, French and Arabic and is “a tribute to the Arab community who are often faced with no other choice but to leave their homes in search of peace and freedom.”

“…we wanted to show the avalanche of events that happened to us during the year from the Lebanese revolution to the Beirut explosion, the never-ending pandemic, Black lives matter, the death of Sarah Hegazy, the dismantling of the music industry and more. All these events affected deeply us on a personal and professional level. That said, 2020 was also a year where we found love, explored new artistic avenues, opened a new studio, found new sources of inspiration and learned how to improve our lives. We felt a profound shift in our society, a rise of empathy, a curiosity about this “other” that we thought so different, but who turned out to be just like us.”

Wake Island is the duo Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal

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Bandcamp Creates A New Ticketed Live Stream Service To Further Support Artists

Different from most other digital music platforms, Bandcamp has always done their best to serve the artist – rather than the people (and their money) behind the company.

Since the Covid-19 virus starting affecting people around the planet Bandcamp has gone above and beyond to help independent artists from around the globe who have struggled financially because of lockdowns and restrictions.

Since the pandemic began Bandcamp has raised 161 million dollars for artists around the globe through their Bandcamp Friday initiative.

Now, Bandcamp has created a new platform that allows artists to set up a live streaming event for their fans which will definitely enhance their opportunities especially during these times.

CEO Ethan Diamond explains: “When the pandemic eliminated a major source of musicians’ income, we immediately began working on ways to help the artists and labels on Bandcamp, without whom we would not exist. We started with Bandcamp Fridays, a day each month where we waive our revenue share, and so far those have raised $35 million in just 8 days (that’s in addition to the $126 million fans have paid artists via Bandcamp since the pandemic began). Bandcamp Live is the next step in our effort to help our community thrive during this crazy time. Streaming will never replace the experience of in-person performances, but we believe it’s the next best thing, and will provide artists with a powerful tool to build and connect with their fans both now, and when Covid is behind us and we’re all out enjoying the magic of live music once again.”

“Finally, pricing is completely transparent. We don’t pretend our ticketing service is free and then surprise your fans with a “convenience fee” when they check out. You set your ticket price to whatever you want, and that’s what your fans are charged. Our fee is 10%, and we’re waiving it entirely until March 31st, 2021.”

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Bandcamp Continues Their Support For Independent Artists Around The World

On March 20th, 2020, which was a Friday, Bandcamp decided to waive their revenue share from all sold music in order to support independent musicians that are being tremendously affected by the global Covid-19 virus.

The result: fans bought 4.3 million dollars worth of music which is 15 times the normal Friday. This global initiative helped artists around the world to pay their rent, pay their medical bills and so much more. This was a unique and incredible feat.

But the virus and the crisis is still going strong and so Bandcamp has decided to up their game and waive their revenue share on three upcoming dates: the first Friday of the next three months, May 1st, June 5th and July 3rd.

If you want to support independent musicians around the world during these peculiar and difficult times then checking out awesome music on Bandcamp on the before mentioned dates is a great start.

Photo taken from Bandcamp’s press release.