Singapore Raffles Music College.

Life after COVID-19: The Future for Singapore’s Music Scene

Singapore Raffles Music College.
15 Jan 2021

Written by: SRMC

Be it their battle to convince the country of how essential they are, or the concert and festival postponements that came one after another in lieu of the COVID-19 breakout, it suffices to say that 2020 has been less than kind to Singapore’s local music scene.

(photo cred: Mothership via The Straits Times)

However, even with all odds stacked against them, the local music scene still somehow manages to adapt to tough times and shine through. Just like how brick and mortar stores have jumped onto the bandwagon of shopstreaming, so have the music scene jumped onto live concert streaming. With the hiatus of live performances in Singapore, an emerging number of concert organisers, musicians and brands have turned to the likes of live concert streaming to connect with fans.

(Photo cred: Pexels)

With the year coming to an end and promising news of emerging COVID-19 vaccines (finally!), things are beginning to look a lot rosier for the local music scene.

Back in October this year, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) announced that live performances with up to two zones of 50 audience members each will be allowed to take place again at designated venues.

Fast forward to December 2020, local buskers will also be included in these pilots. In the prior month, the National Arts Council (NAC) and Singapore Tourism Board (STB) began accepting applications for outdoor live performances. With buskers performing only 1-hour sets in solo or duo acts at specified venues, these pilots aim to assess the viability of resuming busking activities with the necessary safe management measures in place.

(Photo cred: Danial Tan)

So what will the local music scene look like in 2021? As much as things have relatively stabilised in Singapore and how we hope for it to remain this way, it takes a great deal of collective effort before things can return to sans-pandemic.

Assuming everything goes as planned and locally-transmitted cases come to an end, we can look forward to seeing more local musicians back in the limelight and on the streets in 2021. Perhaps this will be when the naysayers will finally be able to appreciate local talents and all that they bring to the community.

As for concerts and festivals headlined by international artists, things are still looking pretty bleak, especially with the recent news of April’s Green Day concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium being cancelled. As a whole, we doubt that we’d be able to see any concerts by international artists soon, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed for 2022.

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