A better way for Government to support musicians.
The Gig Economy and the Precarity of the Musician.
One of the great myths of the music industry is the notion of a sustainable arts practice. Of course, there are independent musicians who manage to earn a living in Australia (ABS suggests $6000). However, these individuals are the exception rather than the rule. The education sector, peak bodies and all levels of government have propagated the perhaps fictional notion of sustainable artists. When the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020, artists and musicians were one of the groups hardest hit, as was, for that matter, the entire extended music industry. The myth, at this point in time, was well and truly exposed by the reality of the quantum of lost work.
In a national survey by I Lost My Gig of over 3,000 professionals, 32,000 gigs and events were found to have been cancelled, equating to nearly $94M of lost income since July 1st this year. Of this lost revenue, survey results showed that 99% had no income protection or event cancellation insurance. (See “https://ilostmygig.net.au/”).
The deliberate design of JobKeeper by the Morison Government to exclude almost all practising artists and musicians entrenched the precarity of musicians and artists, with many leaving the sector.
As the Music Industry rebuilds in the shadow of the COVID era, it is vital that artists and musicians can earn a living. It is central that the music industry and governments address this contradiction as artists are the foundation of the Australian music industry that is built upon it.
The solutions to the problems of musician career and economic sustainability are not simple. An understanding of the contradictions, economic tensions between the stakeholders and the economic constraint of law is central to addressing and designing policy solutions.
It is often said that the Music Industry is the original gig economy. One of the great challenges is for a musician to cross over from being a successful amateur emerging musician to becoming a professional musician with a sustainable and hopefully secure career. This pathway is currently fraught with risk due to the many precarities of being a musician in Australia.
I believe bespoke, targeted Government initiatives could assist in easing these difficulties in career pathways.
Support for developing professional musicians.
The challenges faced by performance-based (gigging) musicians and non-gigging musicians who produce work, such as composers, producers and studio musicians, are different as the characteristics and makeup of their practice are different. As such, assistance from Government should tailor its assistance accordingly.
A Proposal for the Support for performance based developing professional musicians.
The following performance-based developing professional musician is proposed:
The Federal Government should consider co-funding an employment insurance scheme for practising musicians who perform
more than 100 days a year and
earn greater than a weekly income of $750 as musicians (averaged over a 12 week period).
The insurance could be drawn upon when a musician experiences a period when working as a performer is absent for a number of weeks. Such a system would assist in securing the careers of many professional musicians, most of whom experience periods where work is scares. Such a system could be modelled on the French system Régime salarié intermittent à employeurs multiples (system for intermittently salaried workers with multiple employers), taking into account its achievements, strengths and weaknesses.
The advantage of such a system is that it kicks in when a musician is most vulnerable. A practising musician who gigs on the weekend but holds down a day job can tailor and control their musical practice to their economic situation. They can pick and choose their gigs on their merits without entirely compromising their income. The problem currently comes when they turn professional and attempt to entirely exist on earnings from playing music. If they hit a dry run of gigs or lose money on a tour because a festival cancels or a venue unexpectedly closes, they can endure crippling debt with no prospect of secure future employment to service it. Such a system of employment insurance for eligible musicians outlined above would help mitigate the economic risks of turning professional. By underpinning the development of emerging musicians, the Government would be creating real, sustainable pathways for active, committed musicians to confidently peruse.
A Proposal for supporting non-performance-based emerging professional musicians such as composers, producers, and studio musicians.
The Federal and State Governments should consider establishing a number of fully funded multi-year creative fellowships dedicated to musicians. A number of about 100-200 would make a significant impact and also help many artists whose careers were derailed by the pandemic. Such a proposal should be open to all music genres, not just those educated in the university sector, such as classical musicians. Industry peers representing various genres should do the awarding of these fellowships. It is also important that a travel component be included in the stipend so these musicians can network and have the opportunity to perform and collaborate internationally. A similar proposal for the wider arts sector is presented in ‘Creativity in Crisis: Rebooting Australia’s Arts and Entertainment Sector’ (Eltham and Pennington, 2021, https://futurework.org.au/report/creativity-in-crisis-rebooting-australias-arts-and-entertainment-sector-after-covid/).
However, this proposal means there are gatekeepers which can create problems in itself. Clear guidelines would need to be established to ensure that these creative fellowships were not dominated by particular sectors or elites, such as university-trained musicians with experience in writing grants, instead of working musicians who have come up through a practice of gigging in small venues. Nevertheless, such a scheme would assist musicians who are project-based rather than those who regularly gig.
Both proposals have strengths and weaknesses. They could be both considered for implementation or one chosen over the other. Importantly, both proposals should be designed with tailored guidelines to complement each other by targeting the differing practices of musicians.
There is no single solution to the precarity of artists and musicians. The nature of both their cultural and economic contribution to Australian society means that government policy development and implementation to address fair career remuneration and sustainability requires a bespoke multifaceted and prioritised approach specific to the Live Music Sector.
Jon Perring
This article was originally part of a submission to the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts into The challenges and opportunities within the Australian live music industry written by Jon Perring on the 12th of April 2024.