Reviewing the music during the Corona crisis with Mahoor Afshar, an expert in this field.

What did Corona do to music?

 holding concerts, producing albums, and teaching;  These were the three areas that the people of music in Iran hoped for in order to make a living before the outbreak of Corona changed their way of working and earning money.

When Corona came, the version of the concert was canceled and closed.  The incident that happened on March 3, 2018 and at the same time as the first public relations announcement of the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Education regarding the closure of all cultural and artistic activities and continues until now, the second half of Shahrivar 1400, and although the trustees of the music field tried in a half-hearted effort to fill this vacancy by holding an online concert.  but were unsuccessful for several reasons.  Teaching, both private and in schools, was also affected by the outbreak of Corona, and only album production remained, which continues.

In order to give a picture of the situation of holding concerts before the arrival of Corona, we do not have the statistics of their sales because neither the music office nor the organizing companies have yet made public these statistics.  What we are left with is the statistics of the licenses issued by the music office in the field of stage performance, which we have chosen to compare between the first six months of 2018 and the first six months of 2019. 

In response to the question why the first half of these two years have been compared to each other, it can also be said that generally, in the second half of the year, under the influence of the beginning of the months of Muharram and Safar, and then being compared to the days of Fatemiyah and later, the Fajr music festival, there is a regular routine of concerts, because  We are not in the first half of the year.

Statistics of licenses issued by the Music Office in the first half of 2018 and the first half of 2019

 According to the public relations announcement of the Music Office on October 7, 2018, in the first half of this year, 270 stage performances with 520 performances, 161 music albums, three video albums, 1,78 singles, 127 music videos and 40 books were licensed by the Music Office of the Islamic Ministry of Culture and Education.  .  Among the 270 stage performance titles, 135 were pop music titles, 52 traditional music titles, 47 classical music titles, 19 fusion music titles, and 17 regional music titles.

It was announced on October 21, 2019 that in the first six months of this year, 1,695 singles, 135 visuals or music videos, and 159 albums were released, and also due to the lack of stage performances in the first six months of the year due to the spread of Coronavirus,  The permission of 16 titles of stage performance with 30 times of performance has been issued by the music office and these performances have been broadcasted online for those interested.

Continuing the release of singles, music videos, and albums and a non-refundable fee in the absence of a concert.

A comparison of the release statistics of singles, music videos, and music albums in the first half of 2018 and 2019 shows that Corona has not had an impact on the change of numbers in this field.  On the other hand, we know that these three fields do not bring financial benefits to the music people;  Singles and music videos are released free of charge and the album can be illegally downloaded as soon as it is released.

 As a result, what remains the main source of income for music people is holding concerts, which is surprising when comparing the statistics of the first half of 2018 and 2018;  270 stage performance titles with 520 performance times in the first six months of 98 and 16 stage performance titles with 30 performance times in the first six months of 99, both online and not live. 

An incident that can be called cutting off the main source of income for music people in the era of Corona and think about the apparently still fruitless meetings that have been held many times in the music office under the title of “thinking together to prepare the necessary preparations and conditions for holding a concert”.