Pre-Covid

The Covid19 pandemic has thrown the world into disarray. In this video we will explore the impact on the Music sector. PRS estimates that ‘before the impact of coronavirus, the music industry contributed £5.2 billion a year to the UK economy in Gross Value Added (GVA) and sustained more than 190,000 jobs.’

Climate Pre-Covid

The music sector was on a positive path growth prior to the arrival of Covid19. Economies worldwide have benefitted from income created by musicians and all those employed within the industry. There is an ecosystem that is built around live performance.

Greg Parmley, chair, UK Live Music Group :

‘Live music powers a huge ecosystem of managers, artists, agents, technicians and suppliers, who have no income when there is no live music. The effects of this crisis are faced by the entire music industry – labels, publishers, composers and more don’t function without live performance.’ 

The office for National Statistics figures indicate that just over 30% of the creative industries workforce is self-employed, compared to the UK average of 15% in other sectors. We will investigate the financial implications and pressures that have been felt as a result of the pandemic on the self employed.

A quick look at the gender state of the Music industry:

According to Forbes in 2019: “Across the three creative roles highlighted in the study, women make up 21.7 percent of artists, 12.3 percent of songwriters and 2.1 percent of producers. Only four out of 871 producers were women of color. Out of 400 songs and 871 producers, only 2 percent were female …. The gender ratio of male producers to female music producers is 47 to 1”.

Climate Covid

Musician Nicky Spence sums up the arrival of the Covid pandemic in a few words :

“Enter stage left, COVID-19, and the performance landscape suddenly felt arid in terms of opportunity. We were bruised from lost engagements. Hours devoted to learning works and planning seasons disappeared into a general malaise of feeling unsupported and undervalued on both a governmental and societal level. The horizon looked barren, which is hard if you’re a hustler”.

A halt to mass gatherings declared by governments around the world has meant that musicians found that there were immediate implications to their income streams. According to the Arts newspaper The Stage “one in five musicians fear they will have to abandon their career due to the financial impact of Covid-19, according to new research from the Musicians’ Union”. Income from live performance is lost whilst a ban on large group gathering continues. This cuts the total revenue of the music sector in half.

The ramifications of Co-vid are felt in the industry in different revenue streams:

    –      Digital sales have fallen around 11% which aligns with the fall in discretionary spending amongst the public.

– Approximately a quarter of media buyers and brands have paused advertising for the first half of 2020 and a further 46% have reduced spending (as per a survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau).

Many music unions have voiced concern to the government :

-The Music Venue Trust estimates that 93% of the grassroots venue network faces permanent closure, with 86% of venues reporting that their core threat stems from an inability to meet commercial rent demands.

-National Arenas Association projects that the 23 UK arenas it represents will lose almost £235 million worth of ticket sales over a six-month period.

-Association of British Orchestras also warns that “the UK’s orchestras are facing an existential crisis”

-The Association of Independent Festivals says that 92% of its members face permanent collapse and 98.5% are not covered by cancellation insurance, despite having already incurred an average sunk cost of £375,000 per event

Covid

The Arts as a broader sector has been disproportionately affected financially. There are huge concerns as to whether live venues will be able to weather the pandemic. Its effects are likely to be felt for years to come. With the loss of venues for those that are starting out, enabling them to build a fanbase, musicians will be forced to look for different ways to get their work to an audience. Through the pandemic there has been a rise in online streaming of concerts. Many musicians have played from their homes in an attempt to remain connected with their fanbase. Album launches have been postponed where musicians cannot tour to promote a new record. But what will become of workers in the industry who are behind the scenes of concert productions such as electricians, photographers, choreographers, lighting designers to name a few? None of these people play a role in home streamed concerts.

According to PRS in their article: ‘Industry warns of COVID-19’s catastrophic impact on music business’ the UK Live Music Group have warned that thousands of jobs will be lost and the music industry will suffer £900 million in losses without urgent Government action.

– More than £900 million wiped from the expected £1.1 billion of live music to UK’s economy

– Thousands of job losses forcing the permanent closure of hundreds of businesses

– More than 550 grassroots music venues (82 percent of the total) are at immediate risk of closure

– A period of up to three or four years is expected before the live music sector will recover to 2019 levels

Mental Health

In the wake of the pandemic there has been a huge increase in mental health issues and calls to charities that provide support. It is no surprise that in the Music industry which has largely ground to a halt – many are feeling adverse effects. BAPAM, the British Association of Performing Arts Medicine has been providing sector specific support for musicians with free online training sessions.

A study conducted by Record Union in 2019 reported that 73% of independent musicians have experienced stress, anxiety or depression “in relation to their music creation.” That was before COVID-19.

The LA times highlighted the current state of musicians through reports from doctors :

Dr Lee Norton, Trauma Therapist: “About 80% of my clients are in the music industry in some way  – Now, most of them are facing an economic crisis… which can resurrect feelings of dependency and powerlessness, and create existential anxiety and identity confusion. It’s daunting especially for those with high-risk factors and less resiliency.”

Dr. Courtney Grimes, psychotherapist: “During this pandemic, I’m seeing anxiety go through the roof,” says Grimes. “Tours are getting canceled, sessions are being canceled. Musicians are terrified that they’re going to lose their fan base because they can’t do shows, they can’t do meet-and-greets. They can’t be around anyone.”

Dr. Ezra Feinberg, clinical Psychologist and musician: has been seeing a lot of his artist clients “getting very close to the edge financially.” “It’s not even really about, ‘How do I keep going with this’ as much as it is, ‘How do I figure out a way to continue to live, to live in my apartment, to put food on the table?’” says Feinberg. “And all of that has been upended for certain folks.”

Mental Health – Case Study

Amy Littlewood is a professional freelance violinist who shared her experience in an article for The Huffington Post:

‘The effects on mental health are significant and profound: both anxiety and stress levels have risen as many in arts and culture continue to face huge, even complete loss of income, while facing a very uncertain future as an entire industry. When will we return? What will the future for our careers look like? How long will the devastation last?

We’re therefore dealing with the unknown – and fear of the unknown can be a major trigger of anxiety and stress.

The government’s injection of £1.57billion to protect the cultural, arts and heritage institutions is a much-needed boost for us all in the sector, but concerns remain as to how far this will go – and of course it won’t extend to individuals such as freelancers.

I have taken control of what I can, but this doesn’t take me far. I have had to accept my vulnerable position. Do I feel lost? Yes. Do I feel worried? Yes. Do I know how I will cope? Not really. To suddenly find myself questioning my route forwards, taking me away from work that was well-developed and reliable is like a rug suddenly being pulled out from underneath me. I can’t draw upon experience or knowledge to lead me forwards on this one. We’re all stepping forwards into unknown and scary territory.’

Gender

Women were more likely than men to have experienced depression during the pandemic, with 23.3% reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms, compared with one in eight before the coronavirus outbreak. Women do the lions share of domestic care and child rearing  – undertaking 75% of unpaid caring responsibilities.

In the music sector, time and focus is required to maintain a level of skill and remain match fit which includes composing and continuing output. It is therefore likely that women musicians might feel the brunt of the pandemic more severely. This is a sector that has already been studied for it’s gender bias.  Women in Music monitors the experiences of women in the industry and reports that (pre-covid) 84% of female workers felt they had been treated differently due to their gender. The 2019 report conducted with Berklee College of Music can be found here: https://college.berklee.edu/news/berklee-now/berklee-college-music-and-women-music-release-results-new-study-women-us-music

Forbes: “What the experiences of women reveal is that the biggest barrier they face is the way the music industry thinks about women,” Dr. Smith said in a press release. “The perception of women is highly stereotypical, sexualized, and without skill. Until those core beliefs are altered, women will continue to face a roadblock as they navigate their careers.”

Table: https://www.womeninmusic.org/stats.html#

Finance

 It has been well reported that many freelancers have fallen through the gaps of government schemes in terms of financial support. This has increased the burden of the pandemic and has had severe implications for mental health and stability of people working within the music sector. Many live events such as festivals occur in the summer and provide the bulk of income for musicians and all workers involved in the live event industry. The loss of income in the summer months will have effect across the year to come.

UK Music explains the financial implications of many in the sector:

Horace Trubridge from the Musicians’ Union is quoted in a parliamentary report:

“the existing schemes do not recognise the portfolio nature of many careers in the music industry”…those who teach for local authorities or music education hubs on zero-hours contracts…They make up their income over the course of the year by playing some live gigs or creating some shows or whatever, but that does not amount to 50% of their overall income. Because they are on the zero-hours contracts for their PAYE work, their salaried work, they cannot be furloughed, and because they earn less than 50% of their overall income from their gigs, they cannot qualify for the SEISS either.”

UK Music reported to parliament that:

 “The Netherlands and Switzerland have respectively announced £261 million and £227 million funds targeting support to their cultural sectors. Germany has led the way with a generous support package worth €50 billion, that covers artists and small businesses.”

Where many have fallen between the gaps of government financial support it has been heartening to see the industry-wide responses across the Arts sector. We have seen benevolent funds and grants established that are being funded by companies and individuals who are able to donate. This has provided a small emergency fund that musicians are able to access.

Help Musicians, the Incorporated Society of Musicians, The Ivors Academy, the Music Managers Forum, the Music Producers Guild, the Musicians’ Union, and UK Music and other benefactors have joined forces to create Corona Musicians which provides resources and sector specific guidance. They have also started a Hardship fund which has been much in demand.

‘Phase 2 of our Hardship Funding has distributed close to £2.5m in monthly financial support to over 35,000 musicians. We know the need continues and we are working behind the scenes to consider the breadth of support musicians may require over the coming months. We will provide an update as soon as we can.’ (Help Musicians)

Some larger industry bodies have also rallied around its community with several funding efforts on an international level. These include significant donations from Universal Music Group (UMG), Live Nation Entertainment, as well as streaming giants such as Spotify, Amazon Music, TIDAL, YouTube Music and countless others.

Case Study – Australia

 In Australia the launch of ‘I Lost My Gig’, a website tracking the Australian music industry’s financial losses from the coronavirus and bushfires, reported $50million in lost income on March 16 2020. Since then, the number has skyrocketed to $200 million, with an estimate of over 400,000 impacted workers and 220,000 cancelled events.

NME:

The smaller artists and record labels have suffered the most – the ones that live paycheque to paycheque.

Ash Grunwald: “Not having much work is one thing, but to have no offers of assistance from the government feels pretty unfair, considering how generous the music industry is when natural disasters strike and funds need to be raised. The aftershock will last for years – the worst of it may last for up to six months”.

Jo Syme – founder of Hotel Motel Records, co-founder of Pieater Records, drummer for Big Scary:  “The artists I work with vary in how much they earn from royalties, but no matter how established they are, their live income is their most direct and substantial revenue stream… Show cancellations have disrupted various things depending on the artist. This can range from a bit of extra income to pay their album mix engineer; an overseas tour with the hope of securing an international label for an upcoming album release; or a domestic tour with a projected income of around $100,000, which would have been the culmination of a 12-month album campaign, and their livelihood for the following 12 months” https://www.nme.com/en_au/features/australian-artists-speak-on-the-coronavirus-devastating-financial-impact-2629330

Case Study: Gordi

Australian Musician, Gordi, highlights the structure of the music industry and the knock on effects that the pandemic has had not only on performers but those that they work with. She detailed her experience for NME.

Gordi:

“The music industry has been one of the hardest hit in this crisis. For artists, the compounding factors are: the paradigm that music is a ‘non-essential’ industry when it comes to government support; the main revenue stream for artists is touring – which is non-existent for the foreseeable future; and that there’s a common misconception that artists are rolling in cash. A fair few of us are still living tour to tour or with our parents. I was sitting anxiously in an Airbnb in London waiting to be told what to do – we had to cancel press and various commitments when I was in the midst of an album rollout. I spent a collective six hours on hold to airlines in 48 hours to try and get on the next plane home. It was a pretty traumatising experience. It cost me a few thousand dollars in plans being changed and cancelled.

I won’t be able to pay my band or tour manager, and my manager will have reduced commissions. Every musician is a small business owner and therefore the trickle-down effect hits hardest on the people we employ and contract.

The crisis will last as long as all those people feel the economic strain and are forced to make career choices based on their ability to maintain a roof over their heads and put food on the table. “

Parting Shot

The pandemic has had a crippling effect on many but there are glimmers of hope that may benefit women in particular. The industry is adaptive and there has been excellent attendance of online streaming events from musicians’ homes. Women might have more possibility to reach and build their own careers whilst carrying out caring responsibilities and will find that the sector allows for more flexibility going forward.

According to the World Economic Forum:

“Fortnite hosted a live rap concert that attracted almost 30 million live viewers, underlining the potential for cross-industry partnerships to engage users and promote artists in a new way. It is likely that rights owners and distributors will continue to adopt similar approaches going forward”.

A positive parting shot:

Josh Burgess – guitarist of Yumi Zouma (NME)

“A lot of people are anxious and worried, and they need art and entertainment now, more than ever. We have a duty to continue to add to the fabric of culture regardless of how the financials will work out. The thing I am certain of is this: the only way forward is together. The sun will shine tomorrow, and as long as we take a collective approach to what comes next, we can get through this.”

Further Reading

This is how COVID-19 is affecting the music industry:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/this-is-how-covid-19-is-affecting-the-music-industry/

COVID-19: Music is the answer for many, but what’s the impact on the Music Industry

 https://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/crisis-and-resilience/covid-19/covid-19-impact-on-the-music-industry.html

GLA PAY IT FORWARD LONDON:

https://www.coronamusicians.info/

Industry warns of COVID-19’s catastrophic impact on music business:

https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/news/industry-warns-of-covid19s-catastrophic-impact-on-music-business/

A message from Musicians’ Union General Secretary Horace Trubridge:

https://www.facebook.com/122349184462534/posts/3049028431794580/