The music industry was one of the most hard hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Live performing was halted and it seemed uncertain whether concerts would ever take place in the traditional sense again. Despite these setbacks, a new wave of musicians who accrued their skills over lockdown are ready to try and make their names in the music industry, and see this summer as the perfect time to do so.
Jamaican born and Belfast raised artist King Fast (Pictured left) released his first Spotify single in 2019, right at the beginning of the outbreak. Since then, he has released 4 tracks and performed around the country in a number of venues and has started to receive traction on Spotify. I spoke with him about the difficulties of being a new musician in the post Covid landscape and the benefit of events like Brighton Fringe:
“Well Brighton fringe, Edenborough fringe…are open call, so you set yourself up and do your own promotion. And I think that is actually a really good avenue, because people just come along and show people what they’ve got”
“Some nights you might just get a load of random people in and get loads of new fans, or just two”
“People being locked down has made everyone more keen for it, so I think it has been kind of a good thing in a weird way, even though it’s terrible”
Artists like King Fast have adapted to the challenges, and continue to forge a path for themselves in a uniquely competitive industry.
