About 98% of musicians are worried about how the cost of living crisis will affect their career, new research shows. The study, by charity Help Musicians, reveals that half of the 525 UK artists surveyed are “extremely” or “very” concerned they’ll be forced to leave the industry.
As living costs soar, 91% say they are unable to afford music equipment and 90% of UK musicians are worried about affording food with their current income. Meanwhile, the hike in energy and fuel costs is making travelling to gigs and heating rehearsal spaces difficult for many.
The issue of rising costs has compounded with the ongoing effects of Brexit and the pandemic, according to Help Musicians CEO James Ainscough.
“Musicians came into 2022 with quite an uphill battle,” he says. “As they rebuild their careers, what they’re finding is not only rampant inflation driving up the cost of working, but also the whole other set of factors that have stacked against them: they can still get ill with Covid and have to cancel shows, audiences haven’t all returned to pre-pandemic levels, there are touring challenges thanks to the Brexit deal, which makes it harder to build your career with audiences outside the UK. All these things together create a really brutal environment.”
The research shows that 60% of musicians say they are earning less than they were a year ago, while eight in 10 have reported earning less than before the pandemic.
“It’s a set of circumstances I don’t think musicians have ever seen before,” Ainscough says.
The new financial pressures are affecting musicians across the world. Last month, Animal Collective cancelled their UK and Europe tour dates due to increased costs. “From inflation, to currency devaluation, to bloated shipping and transportation costs … we simply could not make a budget for this tour that did not lose money even if everything went as well as it could,” the band wrote in a statement.
Animal Collective is just one in a series of bands and musicians cancelling upcoming tours for this reason. Metronomy also cited costs when cancelling their US dates; earlier this year, Mercury prize winner Little Simz said it made no sense financially for her to tour the US.
Independent venues and fans are also experiencing barriers due to rising costs. Faced with growing bills, the country’s smaller institutions are having to downscale operations and contemplate redundancies, while rising ticket prices to account for losses mean that listeners are getting “priced out” of live music.
The implications for the economy and culture more generally could be pronounced, says Ainscough: “Music is a highly successful industry in the UK. Pre-pandemic, it was worth well over £5bn a year to our economy. As an industrial sector, as something that represents Britain, we need to make sure that we don’t see it wither from the grassroots up.”
He adds: “We need music: it lifts our souls, it brings people together. It’s in everybody’s interests to make sure that we don’t have a whole bunch of highly talented musicians leave the profession over the next six to 12 months. The impact could last years and years.”
Help Musicians’ data shows that derailed careers and financial stresses are also having a knock-on impact on wellbeing. Of those surveyed, 68% say their mental health is worse than before the pandemic and Help Musicians has seen a 34% increase in calls to its support services this year.
In response to the findings, the charity has pledged to invest £8m into services that will support musicians this year, including 24/7 mental health support, mentoring, funding for touring and debt management services.
Ainscough hopes that these efforts, along with sector-specific support from the government and increased public uptake in live music will make a difference. “We can not only save the music scene but leave it in great health ready for 2023 and beyond.”
