As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, food and entertainment venues which depend on people gathering in a physical location have been struggling to make ends meet. On Feb. 26th, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe requested that organizers of large public sporting and cultural events across the nation consider postponing or canceling, and more recently, on March 30th, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike specifically asked people to avoid live houses and nightclubs.

We've already seen efforts by music venues, theaters and other institutions to ensure their survival as well as the continuation of cultural activity. For example, groups such as Save Our Space, which launched on March 27th, are gathering signatures to petition the Japanese government to financially compensate music venues for their loss of income.

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Music Unity 2020

Now, legendary night club Akihabara MOGRA, known for electronic music as well as anime songs, idol songs, game music and other Akihabara music genres, is spearheading a project which brings together not only nightclubs and music venues across Japan, but also other industries now struggling in the pandemic, with a new live non-stop streaming festival called Music Unity 2020.

The festival, which the organizers are planning to hold regularly, is having its kickoff tomorrow, Saturday, April 4th at 3 PM (JST) and continuing until 1 AM on Sunday, April 5th (JST), and has an amazing lineup of DJs, musicians and performers planned.

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According to the festival's official page, "Akihabara MOGRA have utilized our knowledge of streaming, event space management, DJ culture, food industry management, etc., as well as our wide network of capable people, to come up with new ideas for going forward. We have decided to start an experimental streaming event that will involve not just the entertainment world, but a plethora of other industries who are also facing hard times."

MOGRA will use its Twitch channel, which currently reaches approximately 30,000 active users worldwide, to host non-stop streaming performances of DJs, artists and other live performers selected by each individual venue. According to the website, "streaming will be done from clubs and live music venues closed to the public with no audience in attendance, or from the homes and studios of the individual artists."

In addition to streaming DJs, artist and performers, MOGRA is also doing the following:

• Giving back to the community: "Using MOGRA's existing PayPal donation system, we are resolved to give 60% of all revenue generated during each performance to the venue and artist featured."
• Giving back to the community and donating to those in need: "Additionally, we are working with AURO Chocolate to offer a "Music Unity 2020 Special Set" via a specially created sales page. 30% of all proceeds made from this page, during the first three days after we begin streaming, will be distributed equally among each venue, and the remaining 30% will be donated to medical and educational institutions in need."

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Festival Information

• Start date: April 4, 2020 - between 3:00 pm and 1:00 am JST
• Streaming: Akihabara MOGRA's Twitch channel

Participating artists

• DÉ DÉ MOUSE
• DJ WILDPARY
• DJ Zu from i☆Ris
• D-YAMA
• has
• kz livetune
• Mura
• R-9
• TAKUYA the bringer
• TeddyLoid
• Tomggg
• Musicarus
• yuzen
• BOryo crew feat. MC Airi Kirishima
• Edo Rena
• Kiritani Komugi
• Leon

Participating nightclubs and live music venues (A to Z)

• Hokkaido
  • SoundLab mole
• Tokyo
  • ageHa x UTAGE SERIES
  • club Asia
  • LOUNGE NEO
  • MOGRA
  • Akihabara Entas
  • sabako
• Kanagawa
  • Tsuki Akari Yume Terasu
• Fukuoka
  • selecta

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• Supporters
  • Pioneer DJ, AURO CHOCOLATE, MusicHouseFRIENDS, Stream Tech Research Inc.
• Organizers
  • Mogra Inc., Akihabara MOGRA

For more information, see the event page on Akihabra MOGRA's website here.