It will come as a surprise to no one that the Saskatchewan music industry is having a hard go of it over the past year.

Even before the pandemic, the rise in online streaming overtaking CD sales meant that live performances were becoming the only viable source of income for local artists. With public health restrictions putting a hold on gatherings and music venues, some estimate that the Saskatchewan music industry might have lost as much as 99% of its revenue from live shows. The impact on the sector is undeniable but as it stands, no actual data has been collected to gauge just how big of a hit it has been.

To try and rectify this, SaskMusic is conducting a province-wide survey measuring where the industry was in 2019 vs. 2020. Lorena Kelly, communications manager with SaskMusic, says it's high time a survey like this was done.

"We would consider 2019 to be our last normal year of music activity in the province before things shut down," explains Kelly. "Our last industry study is extremely old and so out of date that we can't even use those numbers. So, we quickly realized that we wouldn't have any way to measure whether we've fully rebounded without having those benchmark numbers to begin with."

The survey is mainly focused on the financial ramifications of the pandemic, measuring the difference between revenue and expenses over the last two years. Kelly says they want to hear back from the entire sector.

"We're hoping to capture the full breadth of the industry. From artists who might have just started gigging, right up to the biggest venues in the province and everyone in between. So publicists, sound techs, music stores, music teachers, etc."

Kelly says they're concerned by some of the trends that they are seeing in other provinces, where some festivals and businesses are having to shut down permanently. There's also the risk that more and more artists will be forced to leave the arts scene altogether.

"Many artists and technicians are being forced to turn to other jobs outside of the music industry. Our fear is that we could permanently lose those people to other sectors."

SaskMusic hopes that by gathering some concrete data from the local music industry, that they will then be able to better advocate for government support for those areas hit most hard.

"We'll be able to extrapolate how much revenue music generated for a specific region of the province before the pandemic. Then we'll have a better idea of much support they need to get back up and running."

If you are someone who made or lost any income in the music sector over the last year, you are encouraged to add your voice to the Music Matters Survey by clicking here.