a brief recap of the year

The following is a brief account of some of the biggest events in music during 2022.

1. Back to the stages and cancellations

After two years of confinement, the music industry returned to the stage with a series of obstacles. The musicians faced problems in supply chains, with delays in the issuance of visas, luggage and instruments lost due to congested airlines and trying to find available venues amid lengthy residencies by some artists.

A number of musicians like Ringo Starr and His All Star BandImagine Dragons, Wet Leg, Animal Collective, The Avalanches, Rage Against the Machine, Regina Spektor, Santigold, Metronomy, Bauhaus, Anthrax y Spiritualized they were forced to cancel their tours due to a more complex environment in economic, logistical and even health terms.

For some independent musicians, financing a tour has become unsustainable and with the precarious compensation received by digital platforms, the outlook becomes bleaker.

In the year there was also a series of artists who decided to stop their tours for mental health. In 2019, a Record Union report found that 73% of independent musicians experienced some degree of depression or anxiety in relation to their work, where financial instability was the second cause of these conditions.

2. Ticketmaster and the fiascos of Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny

Ticketmaster was the center of controversy, with the highly publicized cases of Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny in the United States and Mexico. Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s sales methods came under the public eye after the failed pre-sales of tickets for the tour of The Eras Tour of 2023 of Taylor Swift and the case of resale at the Azteca Stadium for the closing of the Bad Bunny tour. The company is under investigation in the United States and the consumer protection agency in Mexico (Profeco) announced a sanction.

3. The musicians we fired

Among the characters we say goodbye to in this space are:

Also joined this week by Terry Hall from The Specials y Martin Duffy de Primal Scream.

4. Nostalgia rules the world

The waves of nostalgia were present thanks to the phenomenon of Stranger Things, which returned to Kate Bush y Metallica to the Billboard charts. Elvis Presley Biopics, Whitney HoustonWeird Al Yankovic, a bioseries of The Sex Pistols, as well as documentaries on David Bowie and King Crimson.

And another reissue of The Beatles could not be missing.

5. The memory market

The music book market also saw a year for all tastes. Since the return of Bob Dylan with his treatise on modern song and published memoirs by Jarvis Cocker of PulpKarl Bartos de KraftwerkNiki Berenyi de LushStuart Braithwaite of Mogwai and Bonus of U2.

These were some of the issues I wrote about during 2022. I’m taking a two week break. Thank you for reading.

Bonus track

20 albums to remember in 2022:

1. Maggie Rogers – Surrender

2. Weyes Blood – And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow

3. Spiritualized – Everything Was Beautiful

4. Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – Reset

5. Florence + The Machine – Dance Fever

6. SAULT – 11

7. Silvana Estrada – Withered

8. The Smile – A Light for Attracting Attention

9. Beth Orton – Weather Alive

10. Lizzo – Special

11. Lake Street Dive – Fun Machine: The Sequel

12. Valerie June – Under Cover

13. Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation – How Good It Is

14. Jack White – Fear of the Dawn

15. Belle & Sebastian – A Bit of Previous

16. Björk – Diggers

17. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

18. Taylor Swift – Midnights

19. Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (2021)

20. Margo Cilker – Pohorylle (2021)

antonio.becerril@eleconomista.mx