How it all began…

After almost two years of dealing with a fierce pandemic, covid-19 has taken the lives of more than six million people worldwide, more than 470.000.000 have been infected, and some 407.000.000 have recovered from the decease. Authorities all over the world have imposed various degrees of restrictions on their populations, some shutting entire countries down using lockdown policies, and others merely suggesting to maintain social distancing. Most countries exercised restrictions somewhere in the middle, keeping entire nations away from work, school, friends, families, hobbies, traveling, and - from experiencing arts and live shows.

Our lives were drastically changed in a matter of days, and some handled isolation better than others. Lots of businesses took a financial dive, some went bankrupt, others managed to keep it going through the pandemic. One industry taking perhaps the hardest blow was the entertainment business. Being the first industry to be shut down, and the last to be re-opened, many workers in the entertainment industry have faced major setbacks, financially as well as mentally. The industry has lost up to 30 percent of their skilled workers from the entire chain of business, including engineers, artists, producers, managements, providers, and more. Some states have provided financial support for these workers and their companies, others have completely failed to aid an industry in utter crisis.

Now, post-covid, ticket sales in the entertainment industry have fallen by more than 50% compared to 2019. People have developed new habits, and it seems many prefer their couch and home entertainment systems to live shows. Others again are skeptical to being in a crowd after two years of warnings and shut downs, and yet another group is still holding on to previously purchased tickets to shows, which have been postponed several times during the pandemic.

With a situation like this, Norwegian/American artist and singer Trine Rein (me), decided that something had to be done in order to get the audience back to the live scene.

- We simply need to encourage people to trust that they are safe in the audience of a concert hall, in a movie theatre or at a festival again.

That’s when I got the idea of asking an existing audience to help push the thought of enjoying a real live show. Out of the blue, the slogan #BackToLive dawned on me, and suddenly I had the entire movement lined up in my mind.

Trine Rein

Norwegian/American artist/singer/songwriter and founder of the #BackToLive movement

Let’s ask the audience to take pictures of themselves when visiting a live show, then to use the hashtag #BackToLive when uploading to their SoMe platforms. In turn, for the favor of sharing their enthusiasm for live shows, they are automatically opted into a free raffle making them eligible to be picked out as winners of tickets to new live shows, merch or even a meet&greet with their favorite artist!

- Suddenly I had the entire movement lined up in my mind.

It’s a win-win - the audience helps the entertainment industry by marketing existing live shows, and in turn, the entertainment industry can pick their winners to market new, upcoming live shows. It’s a worldwide movement, and people are free to geo-define their location by adding their own country or home town after the hashtag #BackToLive.

It all starts in Norway. Then it spreads to the rest of the world for all to enjoy a fun night out with the arts. Let’s get #BackToLive!

With Love,
Trine Rein
Founder of the #BackToLive movement