As the worldwide spread of coronavirus continues, issues surrounding the music industry’s subsequent financial crisis are still constantly evolving.
According to a Music Business Worldwide report, as of yesterday Amazon has officially halted all physical media to make logistical room for essential medical and household items during periods of quarantine.
This means that future trade orders from record labels and independent artists for CD’s, vinyl, or artists merchandise will be denied, as Amazon considers the products non-essential at this time. The trading pause is a temporary solution to create more warehouse bandwidth for the e-commerce giant.
Physical music sales alone accounted for $1.5B of the music industry’s revenue in 2019, according to the RIAA. Thus, the move by Amazon raises new concerns around distribution for record labels and independent artists around the globe.
In a statement regarding Coronavirus and the reallocation of products in stock, Amazon stated: “We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result, some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers… For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation.”
Where the future of physical music distribution and profit lies for the industry this year and moving forward has yet to be determined. But it’s inevitable that similar events and pauses to music industry processes will continue to take place until the Coronavirus curve begins to fall.
More coronavirus coverage: Glastonbury, Bonnaroo, Coachella and Stagecoach, Ultra Music Festival, SXSW, Lollapalooza Argentina, Something In The Water, Treefort Music Fest, Afro Nation Puerto Rico, Brussels' Listen! Festival, Record Store Day and several other major events and festivals around the world have been called off or rescheduled in light of the ongoing pandemic.
