One of the benefits of Covid, and there have not been that many, are the free concerts you get online now.  Almost every DJ produces some free concerts for YouTube, some of them lavishly shot in deserts and on mountain tops, etc.  Paul van Dyk, who produces his own songs in addition to being a DJ, used to cost quite a bit of money to see in Johannesburg, when he came for massive raves (ala Camel Pyramid of Light) is live most Sunday’s with what he calls his “Sunday Sessions” and I actually enjoy these tremendously.  I generally go onto YouTube, play a trance or techno-type DJ set on one screen and then get on with my work.  When I am working I don’t like to hear music that has lyrics because that distracts me, but if the music has no lyrics, it is very easy to work to is.  Has any of you seen any of these live sets by musicians or DJ’s you like?  

The latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations – ABC – have indicated how few newspapers are being sold.  For example, Pretoria News only sells 1,900 copies a day, 40% of the readership of The Star newspaper is because it is given away for free and even then there are still only 22,000 sales a day compared to 200,000 one or two decades ago. 

It is a question as to how much longer some of these newspapers could continue – down 74% in circulation alone in 4 years, how much longer could The Star be sold profitably?  The Pretoria News is down 87% in 4 years to its 1,900 copies – how much longer does one justify publishing the Pretoria News?  Even the weekend newspapers are down dramatically – the Sunday Times is selling 44% less copies now than it was one year ago.  There is no basis for example for Cape Town to have two newspapers, both owned by the same company, the Cape Argus and the Cape Times and both of them sell less than 10,000 copies a day.