The current Covid-19 fears have made it impossible for musicians to support themselves through touring.  Since the rise of streaming services, which pay only a fraction of what musicians would make through the actual sales of music, passive income for musicians has become marginal, and musicians MUST play live shows in order to generate income.  The current loss of income for touring musicians, promoters, agents, managers and crew members is unprecedented, as it is affecting EVERY musician across the globe at the same time.

MusiCares is the non-profit branch of the GRAMMY association, and has a system in place for providing financial relief to musicians after an unexpected loss of income.  However, the current demand on their resources is understandably overwhelming.  We, the touring branch of the music industry call upon the streaming services, who are not being effected by this crisis, but who depend on these musicians for the profit of their companies, to take action at this time by doing the following:

1) Make SIGNIFICANT donations to MusiCares, in order to enable them to give as much aid as possible to individuals currently applying for grants for unexpected loss of income. 

2) Temporarily or permanently raise the royalty rate for ALL artists on your platform

3) Create donation portals for MusiCares on your platform for music consumers who may not be aware of how the crisis is affecting the industry

Signed,

The Touring Musicians, Crew Members, Agents, and Support Teams of the World