Conscious of the financial carnage that Covid precautions and event cancellations had caused throughout the local music industry in 2020/21, and with continued uncertainties ahead, publishers of the annual NZ Music Services Directory decided not to print a 2022 edition.

Instead, they took the opportunity to develop a brand new online platform for the valuable (and venerable) directory, and the very fresh new NZMSD website has now been unveiled at www.musicnz.co.nz.

“The next NZ Music Services Directory printed will be the 30^th edition, so it was certainly disappointing to break that three-decade continuity at the last hurdle, but we received plenty of encouragement from the listed businesses etc. when we explained the decision,” says Southern Exposure’s Richard Thorne.

“A core function of NZMSD is helping promote the region-based organisations and smaller service providers that makeup so much of our music industry, and by and large it’s those businesses that have been hardest hit by Covid restrictions and the loss of live gigs. Stepping up NZMSD online was one tangible way in which we could show support, and hopefully help speed their recovery.”

The new NZMSD website can be found at www.musicnz.co.nz and new listings – across the 30 categories it includes – are welcomed. A 2023 print issue is definitely planned.