Columnist David Green runs Ameritz, in Wilderspool Park, which produces music and helps artists get tracks on platforms like Spotify

WHAT a year 2020 was.

I came up for air on December 22 to break for Christmas. My business is based around music recordings, production and distribution.

We mainly stream music on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon. The business has thankfully been fine during the pandemic as Ameritz went entirely online more than 10 years ago.

At the time we sold downloads, now it is almost all streaming. This is typical with all record companies in the fast moving music industry.

The team have experienced the year much like everyone else, and we have been very worried about our vulnerable and elderly friends and family members.

Each lockdown has resulted in our own Wilderspool Park office becoming ‘Covid-secure’, following the very precise guidelines. Alongside that, working from home has been implemented, as the infections have become a serious concern for the community, and it has been a real team effort.

As a company we have worked hard to keep the office and recording studio safe during the pandemic. The main changes to the office – when we have all been in – have been the social distancing and sticking to the health and safety rules. We have not experienced any transmission of the virus within the building. That’s a testament to the careful planning and the behaviour of the staff.

More widely, the live music business has been completely closed down. I personally have a lot of friends in this part of the industry and I do worry about them, and their careers.

I have never met more talented people, than those on the live ‘production’ side of the industry – the promoters, artist liaison, security, box office, the list goes on .

If any of those people move to new careers it will be a huge loss to the UK music industry.

As I have said, the streaming method of accessing music is now by far the dominant way we all listen to music. We do expect a ‘banner year’ in 2021. People have been listening to more music during this extended period of being stuck in their homes.

As a result, the services and content makers will have a very good year. Most online retailers have had a bumper year too.

It’s estimated that growth online has accelerated forward around 10 years, during 2020, simply due to the lockdown and restrictions on shops. I doubt we will return to pre-pandemic levels of online activity, our habits have probably changed forever.

In our business, royalties are increasing very quickly, and are feeding back to the thousands musicians we work with from all over the globe. This is supplementing the lost ‘live’ income, which is great silver lining in a very difficult time.

Fingers crossed, and let’s hope the vaccine allows us to see live music again as soon as possible.