Comment: Five ways musicians are responding to the coronavirus crisis Published on: 4 May 2020 Writing for The Conversation,Dr Adam Behr discusses how music is being made, shared and experienced during the pandemic. The Rolling Stones playing at The One World Together concert. The group have released new music that responds to the pandemic. , Amid wider devastation, the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the musical world. Although online consumption has risen 鈥� 鈥� music-makers are still suffering. Many receive only from streaming sites. And with public gatherings curtailed, concerts, tours and festivals are currently ruled out, jeopardising employment prospects for musicians and the future of shuttered venues. At the same time, people around the world to the crisis. From to , music has become embedded in our responses to disrupted lives. With creators and lovers of music depending on digital mediation, a wide range of approaches to making, sharing and experience music have arisen. Here are five such musical responses. Music about the crisis Living In A Ghost Town is the Rolling Stone鈥檚 first single in four years and their first new original material since 2012. Although the world has changed so much since then, it鈥檚 perhaps unsurprising that the response from the venerable Stones to COVID-19 remains fairly close to previous practice. Written a year ago 鈥� and largely drawn from 2019 recording sessions for a forthcoming album 鈥� Living In A Ghost Town was rushed into release due to its resonance with the quiet city-centres of the current lockdown, albeit after some re-writing and remote recording. could be an early indicator of wider success for the song. And if it鈥檚 not quite 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥� for the Stones, the release via the Polydor label and canny marketing suggest that established practices haven鈥檛 fallen completely by the wayside, and that the old guard have a couple more tricks up their sleeve. Collaborating at a distance The Stones may be musical veterans, but they have nevertheless been beaten into the record books by . Following another record-breaking effort by fundraising more than 拢29 million for the NHS through walking , the second world war veteran 鈥� 鈥� became . His cover of 鈥� with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir 鈥� was an example of how musicians are circumventing the physical restrictions of lockdown to . Ensembles of all sizes, from bands to and all the way up to , have refused to let COVID-19 stand in the way of playing together, turning to a host of software platforms to maintain their collective creativity. Rediscovering old music together Collective experience isn鈥檛 restricted to musicians, or to the latest . It spreads across more widely established social media platforms too. Tim Burgess, lead singer of the Charlatans, has been hosting on Twitter under the hashtag . Each session takes a classic album for participants to discuss and reminisce about communally as they listen at home. With musicians from the albums in question 鈥� such as members of Blur and Oasis 鈥� joining in sharing their memories and pictures, Burgess鈥檚 listening parties occupy a space between fan engagement, a pub conversation and private listening. Public service announcements Not every new release is a career milestone publicity coup like the Stones鈥� new single, or a record-breaking deployment of the latest communications technology like Captain Moore鈥檚 chart topper. Randy Newman鈥檚 new song, Stay Away 鈥� was a more homespun affair. It was a response to to, as he put it, 鈥渟ay some words about social distancing 鈥� because of my scientific background, because apparently there鈥檚 some disease that鈥檚 going around鈥�. Celebrities of all stripes, have been using their platforms to reinforce local and national governments鈥� safety messaging. Newman opted to do so musically, with a characteristically wry combination of public service announcement and love song. Proceeds from the song are donated to a New Orleans music charity founded by jazz legend , who passed away from COVID-19 at the start of the month. Livestreams for venues are not a new development, of course. Charity concerts go as far back as the 18th century and of his anthem for the Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury. Now, however, it鈥檚 music venues that are riven by the current crisis. Hundreds of venues are , with government support . The question has been one of how to make the broadly distributed experience of online streaming work locally. Punk-folk singer Frank Turner, a patron of the Music Venue Trust, turned his attention to a specific venue with personal significance for him 鈥� The Joiners in Southampton 鈥� playing a gig from his home via a Facebook Watch Party that , and staved off its imminent closure. This has flowered into the Music Venue Trust鈥檚 initiative, which partners venues with artists for targeted fundraising streams that go out on venue, artist and the Save Our Venues websites and social media accounts. Music makers everywhere have risen to the challenge of COVID-19, providing emotional, financial and cultural resources for quarantined populations. Now though, more than ever before in previous public crises, amongst those whose livelihoods they need to protect are their own. , Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . 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