Keep Live Alive is a short documentary film focusing on the uncertain climate of the live music industry in the wake of the pandemic.

Film by Julia Patey

Produced by MCT Agentur GmbH

Sound Design & Mix by Dennis Beckmann

Colour Grading by Nadia Khairat Gómez

Titles by Henning Himmelreich

Thank You

Olympiastadion Berlin Team

Velodrom Berlin Team

The Power Shop

Zum Starken August

The Shredder

Yasmine Hamdan

Geneviève Patey

Ninja

WHO WE ARE

MCT Agentur is a German concert and tour promoter based in Berlin, promoting live music from clubs to stadiums since 1984. Julia Patey is an independent Canadian filmmaker based in Berlin.

BACKSTORY

In Spring of 2022, MCT commissioned Julia to create a film that would commemorate the transformation from pandemic standstill to post-pandemic live music revival. Restrictions had relaxed and people were finally attending concerts again. The film would begin mid-pandemic, quiet and empty and end with a positive rise to the final message “WE ARE BACK”. It felt like the pandemic was over with, a mere thing of the past.

PRESENT SITUATION

By the time the film was complete, the live music industry had started to show its rather bleak condition. Big concerts from A-List artists are still selling out, but everyone else is suffering low attendance numbers. Audiences are not buying tickets like they used to. Maybe due to a lingering fear of spreading Covid in crowded spaces. Or perhaps they just don’t have the money to spend on entertainment anymore.

With record sales taking a backseat to streaming services, live performances now occupy the biggest slice of income for musicians. They cannot survive without playing shows. Without people attending their concerts, the industry will be dominated by A-List acts, forcing newcomers and smaller artists out of the business. And along with those smaller artists, teams of promoters, managers, agents and roadies will go under.

Few are willing to publicly admit the current state of affairs — we all want to believe things are fine, will get better, will go back to the way they were. But the truth is, things are not OK. The industry has drastically shifted and will not bounce back on its own. Only the support of fans and of governments will keep this industry afloat.

KEEP LIVE ALIVE

We decided in the end to change the message of our film to a plea for help. If we want to continue enjoying bands of all shapes and sizes, we all need to take some responsibility and attend their shows. And governments need to compensate the industry when their Covid safety regulations affect show capacity. The first step is to spread awareness and share our message far and wide with our film and with this letter. If this story resonates with you, share it with a fellow music lover.