In an open letter, signed by more than 3,000 people in the scene across five continents, published today on Resident Advisor, we are calling on collective action from the electronic music community to save our scene.

How you can help:

A note from RA's founders:

Since the beginning, RA has existed with one core purpose: to support local scenes. This has been our guiding star for nearly two decades, informing the decisions we make every day. In the midst of a scary, unpredictable moment, one that is drastically changing the lives of millions of people around the world, our scene is facing the most challenging period in its history.

The world of electronic music is shaped not only by artists and fans, but by thousands of small, independently run organisations and self-employed individuals, from clubs and booking agents to artists and promoters. These are passionate people with the goal of making a meaningful contribution to electronic music. Our scene depends on this network of groups and individuals and the contribution they make.

The events caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have dire consequences for the hundreds of thousands of people who give so much to keep our culture alive. There is hope, however, that we, the dance music community, can work together to find the ideas that positively impact the future of independent music for decades to come. As the world's norms are flipped, we hope this moment fuels countless new ideas and collaborations. This has shown how precarious our industry was. We can seize on this moment to make something that works better for everyone.

We feel a deep sense of gratitude for being part of this community and want to do everything we can at this moment to help it survive this existential threat.

By working together, we believe we can help save our scene.

Nick & Paul

What is Save Our Scene?

Save Our Scene is an open source campaign focused on creating awareness and resources to keep the independent electronic music scene alive during the COVID-19 crisis. Please feel free to use the name, assets or hashtag below for any initiatives that relate to our community.

Here's how you can help:

Buy music and merchandise

Buying music and merchandise from record shops and digital platforms like Bandcamp is an easy, direct way to support the artists and record labels you love.

How you can help:

Buying music

Offer and receive support

Many crucial initiatives have sprung up creating support networks for people across the electronic music community, including advice for out-of-work nightlife professionals and the LGBTQIA+ community.

How you can help:

Offer and receive support

Skip your refund

In these extraordinary circumstances, we are asking RA ticket holders who can afford it to not request a refund for cancelled events. The money will go to the promoters who organised the event, which will help keep our scene afloat. Promoters are an essential part of club culture—they bring in the artists you see every weekend. They generally work with narrow margins, and many are only a few bad parties away from going under. By not claiming a refund, you're making a donation to help save our scene. We'd like to reiterate: you should only consider forgoing your refund if you're in the financial position to do so.

Looking at the data from the first few days of this announcement, we expect this campaign to retain at least £1 million across hundreds of local scenes around the world. We send a huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported this campaign by either donating their ticket or transferring it to a future event.

We are calling on other ticketing companies to offer the same initiative.

How you can help:

Skip your refund

Support petitions and other political activities.

Many of the people who breathe life into this community, from artists to promoters to the small businesses running behind the scenes, have seen their income wiped out. Petitions are being launched across the world to support them. We'll be keeping track of the ones that are most relevant to our scene.

How you can help:

Support petitions and political activities

Attend virtual events

Virtual DJ sets and live performances are taking place in empty clubs and artists' living rooms and studios. In the coming weeks, “virtual clubs” could provide not only entertainment and relief, but potentially a vital source of income for venues, artists and promoters.

How you can help:

Attend online events

Donate

At this time, millions across the globe are worried about losing all forms of income. A successful fundraising campaign can help an organisation survive the next few months without laying off staff. Check in on your favourite party or venue—they may have already launched a fundraising campaign you can get behind.

How you can help:

Donate

Start your campaign

We've created a resource pack with logos etc so you can create your own Save Our Scene campaign. You can download it here.

How you can help:

Download the SOS logo pack

Share with the hashtag:
#SaveOurScene

Support it by changing your social profile image:

We want to hear from you.

This is an utterly unprecedented situation, and we at RA will continue to do our best to act in the best interests of the dance music community. If you would like to share projects you’ve seen or started, have any feedback or ideas for how we can work together on this, we want to hear from you.

Contact us at sos@ra.co