COVID-19中的Live House：臺灣中小型音樂場館的生存結構與挑戰

Abstract

2020、2021年的COVID-19疫情，讓現場音樂產業，尤其是中小型Live House受到最直接的生存挑戰。即使在疫情不那麼嚴重的臺灣，2020年3月到6月，以及2021年5月到8月，因應防疫需要，室內活動人數限制、出入境管制以及三級警戒等措施，都使得Live House業者、音樂活動單位，以及相關音樂工作者，面臨生活及事業存續的危機。本文研究2020年疫情期間及之後，臺灣的Live House經營者，及其相關音樂工作者網絡，受疫情影響的程度及變化。研究發現，疫情衝擊曝露出本地音樂場館及工作者的生存結構特質：包括音樂場館的低發展高競爭、Live House本身的仕紳化，既彈性也不穩定的專案工作網絡，以及場館與工作者相互依存的多重彈性剝削。本文認為，中小型音樂場館是鑲嵌於城市空間的現場音樂生態系基礎，在全臺灣也已緩慢轉型，疫情後本地獨立音樂場景有新榮景，卻也有隱而未現的隱憂。

The COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 directly affected the business of 'Live Houses', namely the grassroots small and medium live music venues, and their related music workers. Even in Taiwan where the pandemic is not so severe, the epidemic prevention measures appeared in 2020 and 2021 still caused a crisis for the live music sector. Live house operators, music promoters, indie musicians and many project workers face survival challenges accordingly. This article examines the ways music workers in the live music sector impacted by the pandemic and how they struggled in 2020 and 2021. We further argue that the special survival structures of the small and medium live music venues in Taiwan have been exposed by the pandemic. The small and medium live music venues across Taiwan face a highly competitive but underdeveloped market. While the gradual 'gentrification of Live Houses' happened in the last decade was paradoxically the result of the government policy. The musical workers in the live music sector live in a highly flexible and precarious life, subjected to different ambiguous flexible exploitations. This article argues that small and medium live houses embedded in the urban space are the basis for a vibrant and sustainable live music ecology. However, it has undergone subtle changes after the pandemic.