Aerosol emission rates from playing wind instruments – Implications for COVID-19 transmission during music performance

BackgroundThe pandemic of COVID-19 led to exceeding restrictions especially in public life and music business. Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 demands for risk assessment also in wind playing situations. Previous studies focused on short-range transmission, whereas long-range transmission has not been assessed so far.Methods and findingsWe measured resulting aerosol concentrations in a hermetically closed cabin of 20 m3 in an operating theatre from 20 minutes standardized wind instrument playing (19 flute, 11 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 trumpet players). Based on the data, we calculated total aerosol emission rates showing uniform distribution for both instrument groups (flute, oboe). Aerosol emission from wind instruments playing ranged from 7 ± 327 particles/second (P/s) up to 2583 ± 236 P/s, average rate ± standard deviation. The analysis of the aerosol particle size distribution showed that about 70 − 80% of emitted particles had a size ≤ 0.4 µm and thus being alveolar. Masking the bell with a surgical mask did not reduce aerosol emission. Aerosol emission rates were higher from wind instruments playing than from speaking and breathing. Differences between instrumental groups could not be found, but high interindividual variance as expressed by uniform distribution of aerosol emission rates.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that aerosol emission depends on physiological factors and playing techniques rather than on the type of instrument, in contrast to some previous studies. Based on our results, we present risk calculations for long-range transmission of COVID-19 for three typical woodwind playing situations.

Brand-Management Theoretical Principles in Music Business

Introduction. Today there are many music artists, and each creates a large amount of musical and visual content. But the modern consumer is increasingly critical of the content consumed. The task arises to convey the artist's work to a wider audience, to create a strong loyal fanbase. This is the case when brand management is worth mentioning, which allows promoting the audience loyalty formation for a long time. Purpose and methods. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the theoretical foundations of brand management in the organization of the music business for increasing the music artists' competitiveness and their promotion effectiveness in the music market. The system approach, methods of analysis, and synthesis, in particular, analysis of the literature about brand management, its effectiveness evaluation, and promotion of music artists are used. Results. The essence and significance of brand and brand management, features of brand management in the music business are revealed. Theoretical principles of brand management in increasing the competitiveness of music artists and their promotion effectiveness are considered. The main methods of evaluating the effectiveness of brand management are described. Conclusions. The scientific novelty of the article lies in offering to consider a music artist as a brand and promote it in the market according to the principles of brand management. It also proposes to transfer the methods of estimating the product brand building and promotion efficiency to the musician’s brand. The significance of the research lies in the possible use of its results in the integration of brand management into music artists' promoting strategy in Ukraine, as well as in developing recommendations for the promoting strategy of Ukrainian show business music artists.

Playing and Fighting as an Electric Violinist

The violin is an instrument used in various musical genres. Besides preserving, elaborating, and valuating, the classical form of the instrument as well as the classical violin repertory, an electronic version of the instrument has entered the music business many decades ago. It allows the musician to produce sounds ranging from classical violin sounds to electric guitar or even electric bass sounds. Nora Kudrjawizki (‘Angelstrings’, “One Violin Orchestra”) is an electric violinist living in Berlin and using the instrument for as many different genres and occasions as possible: playing Nirvana songs or fighting with the violin bow as an improvised sword to “Pirates of the Caribbean” music as part of her performance. Her work will be presented as a case study and will be set into a bigger framework with further electric violinist statements generated from the literature. I focus on the differences in the instrumentalist–instrument relation when playing electric or acoustic. My aim is to prove that the electric violin is mostly used to play public and impress others and that there are also musically interesting aspects and individual experiences that should be valued.

How Has Digitalisation Influenced Value in the Music Market?

This paper focuses on how digitalisation has influenced actors’ value determination and value creation in the Swedish music market. It draws on the service-dominant logic (SDL) and the service ecosystem perspective to conceptualise value as co-created through the integration of resources by multiple actors in service exchange, enabled and constrained by institutions and institutional arrangements. Empirically, we draw on a qualitative study of the digitalisation of the Swedish music market that consists of fifty-two interviews with various actors. The findings suggest that digitalisation has influenced service engagement and consequently value creation and determination for various actors, and especially for consumers and producers. This paper contributes by integrating SDL and the service ecosystem perspective into music business research in a novel way to promote a deeper understanding of value, value determination, and value co-creation. This paper also contributes to SDL by suggesting that both value-in-exchange and value-in-use are important aspects of value determination and value co-creation.

The street music business: consumer responses to buskers performing on the street and on online video platforms

The street music business dates back hundreds of years and exists in many cities of the world. Although anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of listeners who donate varies widely, academic research has not examined why listeners donate to buskers. An intensive field study covering 80,471 consumers assessed the relevance and magnitude of theoretically derived drivers. A second study investigated the degree to which offline success factors predict consumer responses to buskers performing on online video platforms. Estimation results reveal several drivers, many of which differ from musicians’ commonly held beliefs. This study contributes not only to the marketing of buskers but also to marketing of other businesses that engage in fundraising in public spaces.

Digital Technologies and Music Digitisation: Challenges and Opportunities for the Nepalese Music Industry

This paper investigates the current legitimate digital music business trends and models created by the innovation of new digital technologies and examines their pertinence in the Nepalese music industry. Further, it scrutinises neighbouring music markets and juxtaposes the Nepalese music market against their current market trends. Based on eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with executives and stakeholders of different major, medium and independent Nepalese record labels, the paper examines two questions: what is preventing Nepalese recorded music from being found digitally and accessible legally; and what are the opportunities, gaps and requirements that confront the search for a commercially viable route for the optimal digital music business model to make Nepalese music digitally and legally accessible, both locally and globally?

“His Master’s Voice” and (R)evolutionary Signifyin’

Chapter 6 turns to sampling as it is usually understood: integral to Hip-Hop culture. The track in point is “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron, a track that others have sampled, or alluded to, countless times since its release in 1970. The chapter analyses this well-known track for its other, equally formative sonic dimensions. Lyrics do matter here for they are part of African and African American practices of “signifyin’.” Through her “sampling back,” namely, a form of answer rap, Sarah Jones inverts this iconic track thirty years later to launch a blistering critique of sexism in not only the Rap/Hip-Hop business but also the music business in general. The chapter considers the ways in which Jones’s signifyin’ on “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” literally and sonically, illustrates how musico-cultural borrowing and or as sampling are part of a broader repertoire of African American signifyin’ practices, as these are, in turn, understood as Black culture and, thereby, Black American politics.