Great news this week for musicians, performers, and others who work as independent contractors: The CARES Act, a Federal Coronavirus relief law, provides some relief from gig cancellations and other impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Act will provide one-time payments of $1,200 per adult that most, if not all, local jazz musicians will receive, and those with dependent children will receive an additional $500 per child. You can join a free webinar this Monday to learn more about how to apply for funds. Read more below.
Madison’s music community joins others around the world in efforts to help others economically impacted by COVID-19. Here are some ways to help others while enjoying live performance videos, shopping online, and exploring what can and needs to be done. This list will be updated on an ongoing basis – if you have something to add, please email WORT Music Director Sybil Augustine.
JAZZ COMMUNITY NEWS
courtesy of Toni Jakovec, Greater Madison Jazz Consortium Newsletter Editor
HELP FOR MUSICIANS FROM FEDERAL CORONAVIRUS RELIEF LAW. Our local professional jazz musicians have been reeling from gig cancellations and other impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. While far from a total answer to the situation, the CARES Act – the new $2.2 trillion federal relief law – will provide some help. The Act will provide one-time payments of $1,200 per adult that most, if not all, local jazz musicians will receive, and those with dependent children will receive an additional $500 per child. Along with independent contractors and “gig economy” workers, the CARES Act extends eligibility for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to self-employed musicians and other artists. The Act also increases the benefit amount by $600/week for up to 3 months, and includes a 13-week extension of the period during which benefits can be paid. In Wisconsin, the UI program is administered by the Department of Workforce Development (DWD), which is awaiting federal guidance on CARES Act details so they can update their systems to accommodate the changes. That said, DWD expects that 98% of UI applicants will be able to apply online at dwd.wi.gov/uiben. As this is a new provision in the UI program, jazz musicians are advised to make it clear in their application that they are filing for benefits as a self-employed individual.The CARES Act also makes sole proprietors, independent contractors and other self-employed individuals eligible for low-interest (3.75%) loans and grants of up to $10,000 from the US Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program. Recipients can use these funds to cover their expenses for mortgage interest, rent, and utilities (though not to pay themselves). At the request of the leaders of Arts Wisconsin and the Madison Arts Commission, local artist and consultant Jenie Gao has posted her assessment of these opportunities here. Loan advances are expected to be available to applicants within 3 days of applying, and not be subject to repayment if the loan application is later denied. Interested musicians are encouraged to pursue these funds ASAP, as this 3-day processing time virtually guarantees that the funds will go fast. Both the grants and loans are awarded through the SBA’s EIDL loan application process, which can be initiated here.
HOW TO SUPPORT MUSICIANS DURING (AND AFTER) THE COVID-19 CRISIS. With local venues being closed for at least another month, Greater Madison’s artist community is taking a big hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. And with the unknown longer-term impact on venues’ survivability, we may be going back to 2008 or worse. With that in mind, our superb local cultural writer Scott Gordon has posted, to his Tone Madison blog, an excellent series of suggested ways to support our local musicians and other artists. Please check it out.
ATTENTION FANS AND MUSICIANS: LIVE JAZZ CONCERT STREAMING. While the coronavirus shutdown has shuttered many of the world’s musical venues, musicians are responding by webcasting their performances and the Jazz at Lincoln Center website provides a list of digital opportunities to stream live jazz. JALC promises to update their site as they learn about more ways to watch. Jazz musicians can also use this website to submit details about their upcoming virtual performances so JALC they can post them to their jazz.org blog. Lastly, you can click here to access YouTubes of complete concerts by the JALC Orchestra directed by Wynton Marsalis.
ATTENTION JAZZ MUSICIANS: CALL FOR TEACHING ARTISTS. Any Given Child – Madison is a Kennedy Center-supported partnership between the Madison school district, the City of Madison, Overture Center, and UW-Madison that aims to increase equitable access to high-quality arts education for K-8 students in the Madison district. With faith that the COVID-19 pandemic will resolve, AGC is currently establishing a database of teaching artists in all artistic disciplines who are interested in conducting a residency in Madison’s elementary and/or middle schools. This database will be a resource for Madison district teachers, enabling them to easily learn about the artist’s work and how to book them for a residency. Click here for instructions for how to be included in the database.
Return Policy Explained is just what the name suggests, you will find various company’s return policy in detail. The articles are complete in nature and all related information in provided. Website is regularly updated and the latest update also contains information regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Local updates as of April 4:
ROCKONSIN will NOT accept any more band applications, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, until further notice. The ROCKONSIN website band application page will be taken down. Your health is priority #1 and ROCKONSIN wants to encourage everyone to practice safe social distancing. Until we get through this national health challenge, and we will, put on your favorite music and get those endorphins released – its good for you!! Take care of those around you and practice kindness. And a big ROCKONSIN thank you to all the nurses, doctors, police, firefighters, EMTs, pharmacists, checkout clerks, day care and nursing home care givers and all those on the front lines during this outbreak to keep us safe and the Badger State and our country moving forward. Watch for further updates on the ROCKONSIN website, Instagram and Facebook. Stay safe!
Groups, links and resources:
Live Streaming Resources For Local Music in Madison
The Facebook group linked above was started by Wendy Schneider (owner/creator of Coney Island Studios, WORT’s Under All The Sound (1st Fridays 11 pm-midnight) and so much more) has very quickly grown to over 500 members including bands and solo artists, audio and video engineers, broadcast and print media, venue owners and promoters and many, many devoted music fans. As Wendy says: “This is a local group to network, skill share, and promote live streaming music events in Madison. Live streaming events are linked here but are hosted by the artists – not the group thread. In response to our public health guidelines, the live music community in Madison has lost its outlet – local venues. Use this group to strengthen live music streaming opportunities!”
Here’s what you can do through this group:
- Post an invite for your streaming event
- This group can act as co-host for an event and all members can tune in and/or share live stream via the event (not via the facebook group)
- Gear and live stream knowledge sharing: — cameras, switchers, monitors, etc.
- A list of “stream savvy locals” who are open to be contacted off thread is coming soon!
Photo: Marina Koyen
Globally shared resources
Virtual Music Events Directory
This living document has 3 main sections:
- An introduction discussing how livestreaming is shifting to embrace the format as an imperative for ensuring global accessibility and reach amidst extreme conditions
- A list of tools you can use to host virtual shows, panels and meetups in the wake of events and festivals getting postponed or cancelled
- A calendar of virtual/livestreamed events in the coming months
If I’m missing any crucial tools or upcoming events, please notify me at cherie@cheriehu.com.
Thank you so much for reading! ❤️
– Cherie Hu
Timely and expiring events and offers:
- Global resource for Spanish-speaking artists and fans
Spanish organization Music & Business is inviting artists who were supposed to perform at SXSW to stream 15- to 30-minute sets live on the company’s YouTube, Instagram and Facebook pages. They plan to launch the first show in this series on March 21. You can email live@musicbusiness.es to learn more about this initiative, and click here to read Music & Business’ full statement (Spanish-language only).
Fundraising offers by local musicians:
The German Art Students
The German Art Students have new music! Our new EP, Rest Area Relief, will be released on April 17.
You can download it now by going to http://gasrocks.bandcamp.com/yum.
We are donating all proceeds from the sale of this EP, and from any online sales of our entire catalog for the foreseeable future, to benefit service workers from the Madison area. We love the bartenders, bookers, sound people, and others who make live music in Madison possible and we want to make sure they get some support during these times of closed bars and canceled shows.
Rest Area Relief was recorded by garage-rock legend Bobby Hussy at his Hex Empire Studios in Madison. It includes four off-kilter tracks in search of ‘70s mysteries, life on the road, and why the hell anyone would want a gong in their drum kit.
“GAS manage to be subversive and slapstick at the same time, providing post-punk, Mad magazine-esque music to the world. Rolling Stone called it ‘nimble-witted new-wave pop.’” – Andy Moore, Isthmus
“GAS has been going since 1997, and somewhere along the way dropped the playful affectation of pretending they might be actual german art students. These days they’re comfortable, as they should be, as just four folks making new wave-tinged power-pop that riffs on highly specific topics, as captured on tracks like “Civil War Reenactor” and “Bjorn Borg.” And you don’t have to be in on any particular joke to enjoy the slap-happy catchiness of a song like “Pompeii,” from the band’s 2008 EP, 79 A.D.” – Scott Gordon, tonemadison.com
“Sporadically filling Madison bars with fans of their high-energy punk rock sound for 22 years.” – Joel Patenaude, Madison Magazine
The German Art Students are:
Andy Larson – Vocals, Bass
Annelies Howell – Vocals, Guitar
Kirk Wall – Guitar, Vocals
Randy Ballwahn – Drums
Please contact us at this email address with any questions,
or to request a CD copy of the EP.
Sincerely,
GAS
http://www.germanartstudents.com
https://gasrocks.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/GASrocks/
@GASrocks