From Live to Digital and Vice Versa – Alternative Rock Music Scene at the Balkans during the Pandemic Period of Covid-19

This research focuses on a theme that is experienced worldwide, that is, the effects, consequences and challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The two important aims of this research are to analyze and understand the challenges provoked by the pandemic on artistic activities, both at the level of consumption spaces and in terms of music-making processes. This is connected to analyses of music scenes and the alternatives that have developed to face the challenges imposed, with special attention to the role played by digital media as the only option in that particular period. The central methodological approach of this research is qualitative and draws on the methods of text and network analyses, comparative method, observation, digital ethnography and data collection, including interviews/conversations with musicians, journalists, managers and audience. The research findings show that even with the increased use of the Internet (in pre-pandemic and during the pandemic) where people are immobilized, they relate more to the collective musical experience in the physical sphere - clubs, concert halls, open concert spaces. The concert venues created connections and a sense of belonging to a particular community or urban environment.