On a cold December night in London, musician Mykki Blanco, mental health advocate Vanessa Maria and psychologist Dr. George Musgrave sat down in front of an audience at the London-based multidisciplinary arts studio and community base, HQI, to discuss how to incorporate mental wellness practices into their work as creatives. The conversation came just a few months after Blanco canceled a 25-city European tour, explaining the reasoning to fans as the "current state of music touring... and the need to look after my own mental health in the midst of it all."

2022 was the year countless countries across the world lifted Covid-19 restrictions and mask mandates, making the year an ostensibly perfect time for musicians and DJs to once again roam outside their local scenes and return to the festivals, long flights and hectic touring schedules that were standard before the pandemic. But there were also new, economic and pandemic-related obstacles that made the year challenging in its own way for artists eager to reconnect with their fans on tour. Added to the typical touring woes were vestigial Covid-19 policies, skyrocketing flight and hotel costs, supply chain issues, suffocating inflation and a newly fickle ticket-buying public, all of which signaled to artists that the state of the live music industry is still far from normal.

Dialing in from Colorado, Fabrice Sergent, cofounder of the Bandsintown Group, explained that the pressure to return to the road had been steadily mounting since last year, when many cities experienced a post-reopening boom. "There's been a phase [since] mid-2021 when people were all excited and positive about getting out of home and finally being back on stage," he said. For many artists, renewed optimism came with an overwhelming concern about fading into obscurity if they didn't immediately tour. "It was kind of this feeling that if you don't go out, you're done," Sergent continued. "People will forget you."

Jubilee, a DJ based in Brooklyn, echoed a similar sentiment as she explained her decision to head to Europe this year. "Okay, I have to go back," she told herself. "I have to show my face to show I'm still alive." An onslaught of traveling woes—including a canceled flight and astronomical flight rebooking costs—in addition to an ill-timed Covid-19 scare, ultimately led her to cancel the European tour, which was originally meant to kick off in June, after all.

Little Simz

In the spring of 2022, London-based rapper Little Simz had originally planned a North American jaunt to promote her Mercury Prize-winning album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. But that tour, too, was canceled. "Being an independent artist, I pay for everything encompassing my live performances out of my own pocket," she told her fans via social media just a month before she was due to perform at her first stop in Portland. "Touring the US for a month would leave me in a huge deficit."

In their own tour cancellation announcement, acclaimed indie rock band Animal Collective spelled out some of what was burdening many artists, many of whom embarked on their first tour since 2020 this year: "From inflation to currency devaluation to bloated shipping and transportation costs, and much much more, we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could." A Euro News piece captured the question on everyone's minds with the headline, "If Animal Collective can't make it work, who can?"

Animal Collective

DJs, though privileged enough to not have to lug much equipment across continents and oceans, still faced surging flight prices, frequent gig cancellations and Covid-19 infections and exposures. Speaking about Bandsintown's predictions for the live music industry in 2023, Sergent said these costs will likely continue to rise in the next year. "We predict 15 to 20 percent increase on average, and it can increase to more than that—like 30 to 50 percent," he said.

Ciel, a Toronto-based DJ, producer and leader in the Music Workers Alliance (MWA)'s DJ and Producer Caucus, spoke of her experience of traveling out of her hometown of Toronto over the summer: "I missed so many flights, our airport was truly the worst," she lamented. "I would get there over three hours before my flight to the US and I would miss it. They wouldn't process anybody because their lines were just so long, and they would hold security for over half an hour, no one would move."

Many also struggled due to changing ticketing practices. Ticket buyers now generally buy tickets closer to event dates, which stresses out promoters, who might cancel an event early rather than stand to lose money. While Ciel experienced many canceled shows herself, she says her touring experience this year was atypically smooth compared to many of her peers' thanks to her agent and an open schedule. "Now, I think what has changed about going on tour is that you need to have way more flexibility in your schedule. It prizes people who did not have to find another job during the pandemic to make a living."

Toronto Pearson Airport 2022

These post-pandemic touring issues have spawned several initiatives aimed at supporting independent musicians. This year, State Senator Brad Hoylman worked alongside the New York-based Music Worker's Alliance to establish a $200 million Seed Fund program that would support freelance musicians and artists that struggled to find sustainable work during the pandemic. This fund is eligible to musicians who lost money from canceled shows on tour.

Artist coalitions have also rallied against venue merch profit-sharing, which is a practice common in large venues, who take a large percentage of an artist or band's merch sales. At the start of this year, the UK's Featured Artists Coalition developed an initiative called the 100% Venues Directory, which lists UK venues that allows artists to take home all profits generated from merchandise sales. The FAC has more recently teamed up with The Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) and Toronto rapper Cadence Weapon to launch the #MyMerch Campaign, which focuses on merch cuts in North American venues. The campaign invites venues to pledge to not take merch cuts from their artists, as well as to register themselves in the #MyMerch venue database. Cadence Weapon, who wrote about his experience with merch cuts in The Globe And Mail, explained how 2022 empowered artists to speak out against subpar working conditions.

Cadence Weapon

"You're seeing a lot of workers really assessing what their working conditions are like in a way that they didn't have time to before. I've seen a lot of artists speaking out and being vulnerable and open about the situations that they've had," he said.

In September, Arooj Aftab, a Grammy-Award winning artist based out of Brooklyn, told her followers that she and her band lost tens of thousands of dollars on tour this year. One Twitter commenter suggested that the best way to support artists right now is to purchase their music online, or buy merch from them directly. Savile, a DJ and producer also based in New York, questioned this approach. "It's not a short answer," they said. "And I think pointing towards the fans for individual responsibility is like saying that taking a long shower is hurting the environment. It's a misdirection and individualization of a systemic problem."

Still, Sergent from Bandsintown proposes that artists build better relationships with their followers, even if that means making the choice to not go on tour. "Over time, being an artist is a marathon, it's not a sprint—it's going to be several years of work and build-up of a brand's story and fan base. If it is essentially a business strategy, then it is foundational to start building a special relationship with your fans, especially your superfans," he said.

"Some use emails, some use several platforms, it can be a Patreon, it can be many different things. But just relying on Instagram and social media, for example, is really not an option."