The Coronavirus outbreak has left many of us unable to find work… but what happened to the showbiz world?
Philadelphia County, like most of the US, has not escaped the plague of Covid-19 so easily. The last 15 months or so have seen a huge number of people contracting the virus. Even now, as we start to see the rollout of the vaccine, there are still thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths in this single state, every day.
While the economy went into freefall last year, and while many of us struggle to find new work, the life and times of the American Musician is rapidly changing. No longer can they depend on regular gigs, no longer are the weekends spent hyping their brand up, engaging with their audiences, or meeting with their competition.
The age of crowded pubs and clubs has passed us. If the industry wants to move forward, says Jay Pareil, we need to look at alternative ways to get that audience listening. The future, it seems, is as digital for the music scene as it is for the rest of the world.
Making Music During Covid
What was it like to work as a rapper during Covid-19? Ask anyone on the music scene and they will tell you the same story… That they had to close their doors, that their venues were unsafe, that artists could only keep producing music if they were lucky enough to have a home studio.
All over the country, the music scene closed its doors and artists went on a break. At first, this was a much-needed rest. After a few months, venue owners started to struggle. They were the first to shut their doors. With bars following in hot pursuit, it seems like there are going to be fewer and fewer venues for live gigs to be played in, by the time this is all over.
Those few artists who could no longer perform had to get themselves online. Thousands flocked to the international marketplace presented by the world wide web. Luckily for Jay Pareil, he was already internationally renowned when all this broke out. He was already in full swing with his career, having launched his initial debut single in December 2019.
Jay didn’t let the coronavirus pandemic stop him. Like dozens of other young artists, he spent the free time during shutdowns working on new material. By the time the dust had started to settle, Jay had managed to release a second EP, Hop Slide, which shot him to international acclaim, once again.
Now a celebrated artist, Jay maintains that the future of the music industry lies in the digital. With bands meeting through Zoom, rehearsals taking place on the internet, and digital copies of singles and albums costing much less carbon than physical ones, we can’t help but agree.
Catching up with Jay Pareil
If you want to know more about this woke young rapper, you can find his beats available on Apple Music. If you don’t have an iPhone, you can tune into his tunes on Spotify. You can even learn all about him if you drop him a follow on Twitter.
