Preface to the second edition

Summary

In November 2019, my publisher informed me that my book The Economics of Music had become prescribed reading on a number of music management courses and suggested a second edition. I readily accepted the offer and agreed to update and revise the book chiefly because the ongoing process of digitization had caused profound changes in the music business since 2017 when the first edition was published. The publisher's request came just before a mutated SARS virus was transferred from animals to humans in the Chinese province of Wuhan triggering the worst global pandemic in a hundred years.

Although the long-term effects on the music industry of the pandemicrelated social distancing and lockdown measures taken by governments in all parts of the world cannot be determined yet, it is clear that the cancellation of live music events and the closure of music venues around the globe won't be without significant consequences for the actors in the music industry. I therefore faced the challenge of analysing the impact of the pandemic on sectors of the music industry and its main players on the basis of the limited amount of data available.

Hence, I have conducted a kind of action research evaluating the continuous flow of news of concert cancellations and postponements as well as financial support measures for the music economy from governmental bodies and other institutions to avert disaster, especially for the economically significant live music sector. It might be the task of a third edition in several years time to assess the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the music ecosystem.

Currently, I am sitting here in Vienna in the country's third period of lockdown hoping that a vaccine will set us on the road to reopening restaurants, bars and cafes and for live music once again to be enjoyed by thousands of fans without fear of contracting a microscopic virus.