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When Will Crowds Roar Again? Coronavirus And Music Concerts : 1A "The people who are really going to feel the brunt of this are the blue collar workers like the stage hands," says reporter August Brown. "The mom and pop clubs, the mom and pop promoters, they're on the front lines of this and this is a real existential risk for them."

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When Will Crowds Roar Again? Coronavirus And Music Concerts

When Will Crowds Roar Again? Coronavirus And Music Concerts

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Neighbors sit around a fire-pit to watch Eddie Vedder perform during the "One World: Together at Home" concert in a backyard in Arlington, Virginia. OLIVIER DOULIERY/OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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OLIVIER DOULIERY/OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

Neighbors sit around a fire-pit to watch Eddie Vedder perform during the "One World: Together at Home" concert in a backyard in Arlington, Virginia.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

One of the things we miss most is standing in a crowd at a concert, alongside friends or strangers, cheering for our favorite performers. And it's likely many of you do, too. 2020 was on track to be the concert industry's most profitable year yet. Based off the first quarter of the year, the trade publication Poll-star projected record ticket sales of $12 billion. And that follows year-after-year growth.

But the coronavirus has made concerts impossible. If concerts and festivals are postponed through the end of the year—as some experts predict—the industry would lose $9 billion.

And while some musicians are reaching fans online, there are many other people who make concerts happen who are out of work.

Today, we talk about how an industry built on social gathering can survive social distancing.

With us for that conversation is Tayla Parx, singer/songwriter; Will Eastman, owner of U Street Music Hall in Washington, D.C.; and August Brown, music industry reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

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