Instead of sweet music, musicians are hearing a death knell in the wake of the pandemic.
According to a study by Help Musicians, one-fifth of musicians have considered a career change because they’re unable to make ends meet financially through music, among other factors. Other artists have done quite well on platforms like Spotify.
Help Musicians interviewed nearly 1,000 musicians to gather insight and data on how the pandemic continues to affect working musicians. One-third of the surveyed musicians noted that they were still earning nothing after the pandemic. Nine in 10 musicians are earning less than £1,000 (about $1,338) per month.
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“Whilst much of the economy is gradually getting back to normal, it will be a long time before musicians expect to earn their pre-pandemic income levels, as we predicted from the start of the pandemic,” said James Ainscough, chief executive at Help Musicians in a statement. “For the past 18 months, we have been supporting nearly 20,000 musicians with direct financial aid to help them pay their bills and stay afloat.”
It seems there has not been any improvement on these statistics since the pandemic began. In fact, the numbers fall in line with a survey conducted by Encore Musicians in 2020.
Help Musicians continues to provide financial support to musicians who struggle during the pandemic, but they also cite mental health as one of the issues preventing them from working.
“As the industry starts to recover we are shifting our emphasis towards helping musicians rebuild with a wide package of support from advice on diversifying income streams, mentoring to rebuild connections, mental health support and much more,” Ainscough added.
