According to the Bank of England the UK is facing a two year recession. And we’re not the only country, every economy in the world is going to either go into recession or be hugely affected by a worldwide recession.

Coming off the back of a global pandemic where millions lost their lives and economies tanked we have a lunatic Russian leader invading a neighbouring country and talking openly about using nuclear weapons as if all that was normal diplomacy. Both are costing hundreds of billions of pounds, dollars, yen and roubles.

It’s no wonder we’re heading for one of the longest recessions ever.

But what has that got to do with musicians? Whether you’re a global superstar selling out stadia across the world and counting your streams in the billions or someone in their bedroom using Garage Band and a Casio keyboard it’s going to have a knock-on effect, both good and bad.

The good news is that history tells us that in times of crises people turn to entertainment for relief from the pressures of the everyday.

The bad news is that people don’t have money to spend on something as frivolous as entertainment, especially when the problem is just staying alive.

But ignoring a worldwide recession won’t make it go away. Doing nothing if you’re an established or aspiring musician isn’t an option and there are no fences to sit on while the rest of the world turns itself upside down.

Obviously I’m not a music industry leader, I don’t have insights unique to me and I’m certainly not a messiah figure who will lead us out of all of this to a shining light of riches and fame. But at the same time I don’t want to just sit back and do nothing. If in my own small way I can help musicians to continue to create and release their art then I’ll be happy so I’m going to devote time and effort in that direction.

So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to expand on the ideas I had when I created the Radio section of this website and started the Clip Bait playlist on Spotify. I’m going to ask you to lend a hand if you want to but what I’m not willing to do is just accept that there’s nothing we can do.

Over the coming days, weeks and months I’ll be posting a lot about helping musicians and how we can all try to mitigate the recession. I’ll be asking for your help and I hope that you’ll join me. I believe that people need music and art in general more than they’ve ever needed it and if in some small way we can deliver then what we do has real purpose and meaning.