Akasa calls for stronger virtual space for survival of musicians in this pandemic

Much like other industries, the second wave of the pandemic has had harsh repercussions on the music sector, too. The live music scene, which was already struggling hard looking for a route to revival, was hit hard. And a weak virtual streaming space is adding to the woes of the artistes, says singer Akasa.

“Last year was very bad for people who earn through live shows because we haven’t really had any shows. And just when some shows started happening, woh bhi band ho gaye. It has been extremely difficult for us,” Akasa laments.

According to her, there’s no way to deal with the hurdle brought by the pandemic as India doesn’t have a live music market as such.

“Virtual streaming is neither possible nor feasible… it’s not the same thing. Even financially, it has been bad for us because work has just stopped and you can’t really do anything about it,” she adds.

Known for indie tracks such as Naagin and Naiyyo, Akasa notes that the ongoing health crisis in India has wiped away the hope of plugging music chords back to live stages in the country.

“Now, everyone is trying to deal with it the way they can, and creating music. Maybe there’s a way to develop the live streaming space, and we need to look at it immediately. Because if this continues for longer, gigs will have to start and live music is something that will happen virtually,” says the singer.

As the uncertainty looms marge, the Shola hitmaker mentions, “You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and that’s why its difficult to say how we can deal with it”. And right now, all one can do is just sit at home and try to create some music.

“Everyone can just hope, get vaccinated and do what’s in our hands because God knows that people who should do something about it, aren’t doing much. So, we should ourselves just take care of whatever we can, and try to figure it out,” she suggests.