OPB Music: "Portland's Independent Music Industry 'Devastated' By Pandemic"
Jerad Walker writes for OPB Music:
According to a survey conducted by Music Portland, a trade association and advocacy group that serves Portland’s independent music industry, the impact of the venue closures has already cost individual Oregon musicians at least $3.9 million. Executive director Meara McLaughlin says Portland’s music industry as a whole is particularly vulnerable because it’s built on working musicians unlike Nashville, for instance, which has a robust publishing industry.
“There are more than 700 individual music businesses in the Portland area, and some are going to be impacted more than others,” McLaughlin explained. “For instrument and gear manufactures, the curve is a little flatter because it’s going take a while for their sort of lack of sales to really catch up. Recording studios have been gutted because their projects were all canceled instantly. They’re almost as impacted as performer income.”