“You must have the courage to say there won’t be any concerts this year,” urges Pascal Nègre, former president of Universal Music France.

“We have a feeling of loneliness”: the modern music industry is still struggling, while the ban on standing concerts still largely shuts down its activity in the current health context in France.

“Annoyed, devastated and fed up, that’s what we feel. We are the only sector that has not resumed, whereas fairs and trade shows will do so from September 1,” complained Aurélie Hannedouche of the Union of Contemporary Music (SMA) to the AFP news agency.

The latest announcements from the Ministry of Culture regarding the large audience size gauges have further darkened the horizon.

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On August 4, Roselyne Bachelot’s ministry said that cultural gatherings of over 5,000 people could be authorised as of August 15 by the local authorities under “certain” health conditions. But two days later, the ministry issued a “corrective measure”: “The rule prohibiting gatherings of over 5,000 people, unless allowed by the préfecture, will be reviewed soon, considering the evolution of the epidemic.”

“We have the feeling that we will be given a positive or negative signal only two or three days before September 1. But as we have been saying since we stopped our activities because of the pandemic, it doesn’t happen in a snap of the fingers. It takes rehearsals, promotion, etc.,” explains the SMA representative.

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And the communiqué of August 4 was not as good as it might have been expected, since it emphasised to maintain the distance of one seat between two people or groups of people.

However, music professionals – organisers, technicians, artists, etc. – recalled their “willingness” to “take over 100% of the public capacity of the venues from 1 September 2020” in an open letter to the government on July 23.

Concerts not economically sustainable

Because organising concerts with reduced gauges, as the players in the sector say, i.e. with reduced audience capacity – and with spectators seated rather than standing – is not economically sustainable in most cases, whatever the size of the venues.

Aware that the date of September 1 “is increasingly difficult to consider for questions related to the programming and organisation of tours in particular,” the signatories of this letter called for “clear and coherent perspectives of scenarios and deadlines as of the next defence council.” They are still waiting for an answer.

“We still have no sightlines,” says Aurélie Hannedouche. “The ticket offices for September are open, should they be closed or cancelled? We would need a decree or an order to do that, because of insurance companies.”

Faisons plus clair pour les personnes qui commentent mais ne comprennent rien à notre situation, nous c’est 1.3 millions de personnes dans l’évènementiel ( techniciens, catering, chauffeurs, hôtesses, sécurité, ménage, salles de spectacles, loueurs de matériel, buvettes etc…) pic.twitter.com/bCAoDyQYbT

— Matt Pokora (@MPokora) August 7, 2020

The singer Matt Pokora says the same thing on his social media: “It would be easier for everyone to ban gatherings. It’s not up to us to cancel them.”

“We’re 1.3 million people involved in the industry (technicians, catering, drivers, hostesses, security, cleaning, theatres, equipment hires, refreshment stands, etc.),” says the famous singer. He criticises steps that are “impossible to apply (this so-called seat gap) when all the tickets have already been sold out for months”.

Matt Pokora had planned to resume his Pyramide Tour on September 15th at the Accor Arena.

Il est temps que le @MinistereCC arrête de jouer avec les mots et donc les artistes et le public ! Il faut avoir le courage de dire qu’il n’y aura aucun concert cette année et mettre un vrai plan d’aide en place pour la filière sinistrée !! @R_Bachelot https://t.co/4aQDqLVcoS

— PascalNegre (@PascalNegre) August 6, 2020

Pascal Nègre, a leading figure in show business, former president of Universal Music France and former vice-president of Universal Music International, also believes on Twitter that “it’s time the Ministry of Culture stops playing with words and therefore artists and the public!”

“You must have the courage to say that there won’t be any concerts this year and implement a real relief plan for the disaster-stricken sector,” he concludes.

A tweet approved and forwarded by the singer Slimane, rewarded for his duet with Vitaa at the last “Victoires de la musique” awards.