The cover-star of this month's Music Week is a star very much in the ascendancy but even with his level of breakthrough fame Kiwanuka worries about the costs of keeping the wheels on his career.
For while the summer saw him as festival regular, appearing at Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz Festival, Open’er in Poland and Metronome in Prague, it seems that behind the scenes even Kiwanuka works hard to make the numbers stack up.
“I just finished festival season and I could feel the hole it made in my pocket,” he told Music Week.
“For artists that make music that has a human touch to it, you need to tour to connect with people. That’s something you can’t replicate, something where you can create a synergy and a fan for life, and on top of that, you can pay back the fans that are streaming, listening and spreading your music to people.
“If it gets too pricey, you can’t do that. I worry that the quality of artists we produce may diminish because they don’t learn the grassroots, what it is to play and connect with your audience.”
Kiwanuka’s comments follow the results of a survey by rehearsal and recording network Pirate which laid out the stark figures facing any artist or band brave enough to head out on the road.
The survey found that 88% of touring musicians reported rising costs and that 72% of these artists are not making any profit from their tours. 48% break even, and 24% go so far as to make a loss.
Similarly bleak numbers can be found in comments by David Martin, chief executive officer of the Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), who speaks of a “cost-of-touring crisis”.
Speaking to the Guardian, Martin says that: “Pretty much every cost attached to touring – van hire, crew, travel, accommodation, food and drink – has gone up, while fees and audiences often have not. [Playing] live is becoming financially unsustainable for many artists.
“Artists are seeing live as a loss leader now. That’s if they can even afford to make it work in the first place.”
