In the midst of the current ongoing global pandemic, Thailand has been quite fortunate as it is actually one of the countries least affected by the coronavirus outbreak with only 3,390 cases and 58 deaths as of writing. Following the lifting of restrictions by the government in various phases, Bangkok is slowly coming back to life.
Over the past few months, employees have slowly returned to their offices, local businesses are reopening, and the music scene and live concerts have also returned while meeting the new normal and social distancing measures. However, as the city's famous pubs, bars and entertainment venues begin to reopen and nighttime bar musicians get their jobs back, the same cannot be said for recording artists and event or concert organisers.
THE STRUGGLE
While everything was on pause in the past two months, we saw many of the country's musicians face financial hardship. Without any work or concerts to play at, it is estimated that there are over 100,000 self-employed musicians in Thailand who are struggling to survive.
"Night musicians and recording artists are a slightly different kind of profession. For recording artists, our main source of income besides music sales comes from performing live at venues or festivals who buy our shows. It's not like we get paid every day as we only come to play at certain locations. We are like freelance musicians in a way," said Theodior Gaston, a music producer and guitarist with Flure, the renowned Thai alternative rock group who are planning to be back on the road with some new dates to be announced later in September.
"Like many others, we are a touring band and we have a huge crew. We have two vans, one of which is entirely for all the instruments, drums, and guitar amps. So, it requires a budget to hire artists like us. I understand that most organisers want to see returns on their money, so they need a lot of people to enter the arena or the event. However, with the current Covid-19 measures, they're not allowed to do anything like that."
The latest measures make organising live concerts and festivals a relatively high-risk investment. With a required spacing of 5m² per person and standing tickets not allowed, each venue can only fill out 30% of normal capacity. So, a 1,000 seat location is now down to only 300, so it makes no sense for them business-wise to hire bands during this time.
"One of the first things that music industry attempted to do during the lockdown phase was live-stream events -- around two months ago -- where they tried to sell tickets to live shows that audiences could watch on Zoom. However, in the end, it didn't work out and moreover many bands and artists weren't too comfortable doing live-stream shows. They didn't want to be in a box in the studio somewhere playing music to no one and call that a show," he pointed out. "So that was a phase and now it's gone back to having shows again but starting with smaller shows. So I think it's just taking time."
Teerawut Ittiwut. Tat Bunnag
VIOLATE THE MEASURES
Despite the success of the measures, there have been a few artists in the past month who are still struggling to follow them, namely, luk thung singer "Jenny Dai Mod Tha Sod Chuen" whose shows in Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces have been widely criticised as thousands of people crowded in front of the stage without wearing face masks or keeping distance. Another such case was pop singer "BowkyLion" who recently posted an apology via Instagram after tearing a plastic screen between the stage and the audience while performing inside a pub.
"In hindsight, maybe we can't blame the artists alone. These kinds of things can happen at live concerts also. When emotions are high and people are in the moment, sometimes artists want to be dashing or do something outrageous onstage to be remembered by," said Teerawut "Pam" Ittiwut, a musician and concert organiser at Fungjai.
"Pubs and bars should also take responsibility as well. As someone who plays regularly at bars around Bangkok, I can say that not all places take strict precautions and adhere to safety measures. If you go to a pub tonight, you may find the atmosphere inside has very much returned to what it was before -- people don't wear masks anymore and tables are right next to each other and they shout and sing along with singers on stage. Some of these places only care about getting back to business and making money. They turn a blind eye to measures being violated and unfortunately neither do the authorities."
Theodior Gaston. Tat Bunnag
TURN CRISIS INTO AN OPPORTUNITY
While there have been more and more announcements about upcoming concerts, music events and festivals that are going to happen later this year, it feels unlikely that live music and festivals and show business will completely return in absence of a vaccine. However, while waiting, there are many artists who have decided to dedicate their time focusing on different careers in the meantime.
"I know it's unfortunate. This is such a tough time for many musicians in Thailand but we should understand that we are all in this trouble together. Instead of just giving up and complaining, we should all learn to adapt to the situation and try to survive," said Jiradt "Temp" Wijittrayotsaphak, bassist and touring musician with indie bands like Sahai Hang Sailom and Max Jenmana.
"I am now starting my own business and I have seen some of my musician friends open a restaurant or some even drive Grab now. As musicians, we should take this as an opportunity to start writing some new songs, recording new music, and focusing on the creative side of yourself without having to worry about playing gigs."
