Paris March 27th, 2020
In a time when our whole society is affected by the current pandemic, we, the International Artists Organisation (IAO), wish to issue an important statement regarding the situation for music artists.
Emergency guidelines have resulted in a complete stop for concerts, shows and live performances. As a consequence countless musicians and artists have all of a sudden lost their livelihood, and this when buffers have been hard or impossible to build with increasingly bad conditions in the music industry during the past decades.
Crisis packages are prepared everywhere, but they usually don’t include artists and musicians who are not employed and often don’t pay VAT. Support to the music industry enterprise such as venues and promoters need to be followed by support to artists, they won’t automatically be included in the former.
Lowered taxes won’t help if there is no income to tax, and as of today it’s impossible to tell when artists get the chance to resume performing. Music artists are always ready to perform in order to support those in need, be it catastrophy victims or fundraisers, or when charity organisations ask. Now it’s time to reflect this generosity and present concrete measures to guarantee we still have a living music industry post Corona.
This is a call for policymakers on all levels, locally as well as the highest European level, especially ministers of culture and enterprise, who we trust to represent also the body of creators with little chance to be heard in this situation.
CONTACT:
Lottaliina Pokkinen (Head of Operations, IAO)
lottaliina.pokkinen@muusikkojenliitto.fi
+358 40 8613231