The impacts of digital initiatives on musicians during COVID-19: examining the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall

ABSTRACT With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, performance venues worldwide were shuttered, and many arts organisations “pivoted” to digital performance platforms. While existing literature has explored the impact of such strategies on organisations and audiences, there has been limited consideration of the role of digital initiatives in either alleviating or exacerbating the negative impacts of the pandemic on professional classical musicians. This article examines one such initiative, the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall in Australia, and maps the extent to which it may have functioned as a positive intervention for participating musicians during a period of extreme career insecurity. Using survey data from 63 musicians who performed on the platform, I find the initiative partially addressed three negative impacts caused by the pandemic—the losses of work, identity, and community. However, the initiative was unable to counteract a fourth negative impact—the loss of audience—due to its digital format.