One the most highly visited jazz websites on the Internet is Jazzonthetube.com, which routinely gets traffic equal to or greater than magazines like Downbeat or Jazz Times. Operated by Ken McCarthy, the site became proactive when the pandemic hit to explain to jazz fans the severe economic impact various shutdown measures were going to have on working musicians. In response to this impending devastation, McCarthy created a comprehensive resource that documents jazz musicians who are reaching their audiences via live-streaming.
Jazz on the Tube is the only site that provides a daily calendar of performances; a directory of hundreds of live-streaming jazz musicians with easy-to-access archives of their performances; and detailed profiles of the musicians including the all important information of how to pay them directly.
“The musicians have been stoic about the whole thing, but the reality is this is literally as bad or maybe even worse than the Great Depression in terms of the financial impact on them,” McCarthy says. “Performing jazz musicians only get paid when they work and there is no work anywhere.”
The free site is partially supported by voluntary subscription and since the shutdown the site has been sharing its revenue from that source with direct payments to musicians.
To explore, visit Jazzonthetube.com
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