Like many others, I was devastated when quarantine for COVID-19 postponed and cancelled many live performances. Many performing arts professionals are at a crossroads for performing live: will we embrace virtual events and permanently shift what it means to be a modern creative? Or will we “wait it out” until it’s safe to have large gatherings again? Additionally, what does this mean for people looking to learn a new musical instrument because they see themselves being on stage one day?

While the answers to these questions still seem uncertain, I wanted to dive into some numbers around how the online music community has grown during quarantine. Using publicly available data on Twitch, a streaming platform, and Google Trends data, here’s a closer look: