Darkness before the dawn
Ian Burbidge
Associate Director of the RSA Lab
Leadership
In the first lockdown the RSA coined the phrase 'building bridges to the future' to describe how learning, adaptation and innovation during the crisis might shape and prefigure a better future.
Over the last ten months we have tested these ideas with a wide range of partners turning categories and propositions into concrete examples and proposals. We are nearing the end of the bridge, but what do we want to create on the other side?
The nighttime economy has seen as much carnage as most sectors through Covid-19 due in part to the impossibility of social distancing. DJs and producers, denied their audience and the means through which they showcase their talents, faced a bleak future. Many of the lesser-known were already finding it difficult to make ends meet before the crisis hit. In April some DJs such as Solarstone, Lange and the Thrillseekers quickly pivoted, spotting the opportunity to use Twitch, primarily an online gaming platform, to share broadcasts of live mix sets, which in turn enabled greater interaction with their audience and provided a subscription-based income stream. They have spent less time travelling between gigs and more time composing and producing new music, as well as offering older tracks on vinyl for the first time. In turn, these DJs have been mixing vinyl again, showcasing a seemingly fading art form prior to the pandemic (vinyl sales in 2020 were the highest for nearly 30 years). Creators and audiences are finding opportunity and community amid the chaos, a lifeline of hope during an otherwise destabilising and demoralising period.