‘They have to play,’ says the owner of the N.B. music agency, who is concerned about the future of live music.

According to the owner of a music agency and record label in Moncton, the new year could be the worst yet for live music in New Brunswick.

Carol Doucet, owner of Le Grenier musique, predicts that 2022 will be even more difficult on the music industry than the previous two years of the pandemic.

In an interview on Saturday, she stated that the combination of the pandemic’s worsening, the lack of government subsidies that helped artists get through 2020 and 2021, and venues booking fewer shows in the new year has resulted in many artists leaving the industry.

“Artists need to perform and tour in order to make a living from their music.” “We’ve lost a lot of musicians,” she admitted, adding that they’ve only been booking at 15 to 20% of their normal rate.

He stated that because her artists have not been able to tour in the last two years, they have nearly doubled the production of new music, leaving the artists to rely on streaming, sales, and radio plays as their primary source of income.

“Streaming isn’t a big deal for artists financially… “As a result, it’s critical for radio stations to play local music, and it’s not always easy to persuade them to do so,” she explained.

According to Doucet, the unpredictable nature of the pandemic means that a lot of work goes to waste, especially for her international artists.

“We have musicians scheduled to perform in Louisiana, Belgium, France, and Switzerland in March and April, but we’re not sure if this will happen,” she said.

“With all of the cancellations, it’s difficult to get new projects out there because they have to rebook the cancelled shows.”

She and the artists she works with have tried to find alternative revenue streams, such as online music camps and music lessons, but there is only so much they can do.

Capacity is reduced in entertainment venues.

The province’s new interim measures to slow the spread of the Omicron variant went into effect on Saturday.

This means that entertainment venues such as theaters and music halls must now operate at 50% capacity.

Gregg Corrigan, co-owner of Happy Craft Brewing in downtown Moncton, books live musicians on a regular basis.

Many artists have approached him directly, he says, “partially because there are fewer venues than there were.”

He’s able to maintain the necessary distance by having acts perform in the brewery section of the building, away from the seating area, and he’s adamant about continuing to offer live music for as long as he’s able.

“If we’re allowed (when restrictions tighten), we’ll continue to bring in one-man shows,” Corrigan said. “We won’t make any money off of it, but that’s okay.”