How has your company been impacted by concerns over the coronavirus--or the virus itself if a worker or client has been stricken--in terms of business, your staff, client relationships?
With studios in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, LA, London, and Manila we are all totally affected by COVID-19 from a business standpoint - luckily no one from our company has been sick, though we all know people who are. When this started to happen in China at the end of January, we had no idea how badly this was going to affect the rest of the world and business in each city. Having to cancel musicians who perform live each day at the Tokyo hotels where we provide live entertainment has been the most painful thing to manage as there are livelihoods at stake. There was a similar situation back in 2011 after the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami, but this time it’s much worse. It did prepare us for what we are experiencing now, both in Tokyo and in our other offices. China is beginning to come out of it’s stricter Stay-in-Place orders and business there as a whole is ramping up - we see this as a sign of cautious hope for the rest of the world.
The well-being, health and safety of people is clearly top priority. What measures have you taken to protect your staff and collaborators during this challenging time?
As a company, we are used to working remotely, we thrive on it, it’s part of our DNA and the Syn System. We have daily video calls with each team around the world to share current projects, updates, insights and issues -- we will even host our first ZOOM happy hour this evening and I’m asking everyone at Syn to share three good things that happened to them this week to keep things positive, upbeat and fun. Similarly, we have clients around the world who are accustomed to collaborating with Syn long distance. In that sense, we have not had to adapt our day-to-day; however we have to consider approaches that are responsible - no recordings of full orchestras, obviously - and creative for the time and project context. Approaches to music are vast and diverse, and we and our artist network have access to studios where we can record and produce while practicing social distancing. For many, it’s how they work most of the time.
How have you adapted your behavior, practices, policies, approaches, ways of thinking and doing business in response to the pandemic?
In addition to altering creative approaches to adapt to the current situation, our business travel has all but ceased. And in Japan, where face-to-face meetings are ingrained in the culture as a matter of respectful business practices, people are becoming accustomed to video conferencing as a reasonable substitute. We have managed small recording sessions with a very scaled down team’ Other projects are accomplished by individuals connected remotely. Some upcoming projects, particularly those attached to live events, have been pushed. However, we are engaging with clients on long-range plans, so that we can build, together, a plan that is both flexible and allows us all to produce content moving forward.
Were you in the midst of a particular project when the coronavirus outbreak hit and how did you manage to deal with that situation?
Yes - we had a project that involved recording a group of singers to sound like they were in a massive soccer stadium. Recording in the studio felt risky and we agreed with our client that we should limit the number of singers to no more than 10. Our solution was to book an outdoor auditorium in a Tokyo park and we recorded with a mobile set-up. There was enough space to position the singers to stand within a safe distance from each other and the results were fantastic, probably better than we could have achieved in the studio. The acoustics and the atmosphere was far more authentic.
What advice, if any, would you offer to your counterparts at other companies/agencies, your clients and collaborators?
Video conferencing is a wonderful way to stay connected; it also takes up more time than emailing and phone calls. It’s important to make time to be creative - whether that’s coming up with a campaign’s concept, writing a music track, or developing big picture strategies. It’s easy to succumb to working around the clock, especially if you have offices in many different time zones. It’s important to know when to pause, regenerate, contemplate and create.
It’s said that strength emerges from adversity. Do you see any silver lining or positive dynamic emerging for our industry/marketplace from this global health crisis?
It is heartening to see how people are adapting and I think there will be significant cultural and business practice changes moving forward. It’s definitely going to change the way people think about working remotely and it may result in fewer people taking flights around the world to get things done. That would have a positive impact on business expenses and, more importantly, on the environment.
It’s been amazing to witness how the music community has turned to social media platforms to inspire people around the world through song. These livestream performances feel intimate and that is a salve for anyone who feels isolated. At Syn, we’ve put together playlists that we hope give a little boost of joy and entertainment (find them on Spotify under synmusic.world); and are working on ideas with our artists to connect with people at a time when they need it most.
Have you deployed your company’s creative and communication skills to address the pandemic (PSAs, educational videos, other initiatives)? Please tell us about these efforts.
We have a longstanding relationship with CNN and recently provided music for a campaign recognizing the tireless effort by people on the front-line of this crisis. They are very moving pieces and we are honored to have contributed to the tribute.