It has been predicted that 26,000 permanent roles in live music will be lost by Christmas, along with 140,000 FTE roles, including self-employed and freelance workers. The live music industry is said to have lost 81% of its income since most live shows have been detrimentally impacted by the government restrictions, this is four times the national UK average. It is surprising to see how much the music industry is slipping through the cracks, considering in 2019, the live music industry contributed £4.5 billion to the UK economy.

170,000 jobs in UK live music industry to be lost before end of 2020, study finds. pic.twitter.com/UhMg54Krmv

— Listen Radios (@RadiosListen) October 21, 2020

There is a callout for a potential tailor-made support package for the music industry. Musicians and crew members want a ‘Seat Out To Help Out’ scheme, a version of the government’s ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme which aimed at helping restaurants survive the pandemic. The ‘Seat Out To Help Out’ scheme would help put on socially-distanced gigs with some kind of sector specific financial help for the self-employed workforce.

“We were one of the first sectors to close and we will be one of the last to reopen,” said Phil Bowdery, Chair, Concert Promoters Association. “We are currently caught in a catch-22 where we are unable to operate due to Government restrictions but are excluded from the Extended Job Support Scheme as the furlough comes to an end. If businesses can’t access that support soon then the majority of our specialist, highly trained workforce will be gone.”

This research has been done by LIVE, an organisation which represents the live music industry. LIVE members include the Entertainment Agents’ Association, the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM), the Association of Festival Organisers (AFO), the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), the Concert Promoters Association (CPA), the Music Managers Forum (MMF), the National Arenas Association (NAA), the Production Services Association (PSA) and the Music Venue Trust (MVT).

You can support the people who work in the live music industry by donating to Stagehand here, you can also sign this petition that is demanding the government to do more for every member of the live music industry.

Encore surveyed 560 musicians in the study to get a glimpse of the pandemic’s financial impact. They found musicians have lost an average of £11,300 in earnings since March as a consequence of cancelled bookings, made as part of the UK’s lockdown measures. This looks to continue, with 87% fewer gigs booked for August-December 2020 than the same period last year. A staggering 40% of respondents had no gigs booked for the remainder of the year.

With a majority of musicians considering leaving the profession and 40% having applied for non-music jobs since March, this exodus of musicians from the industry threatens wider disruption to the UK economy as a whole. According to a 2019 report published by industry representative and lobby group ‘UK Music’, the UK music industry contributes £5.2 billion to the UK economy and employs nearly 200,000 people.

Breaking down the statistics further, women have been worst affected, with 34% fewer gigs booked for the rest of 2020 than men. Women expect to earn 45% less than men in gig fees for the rest of 2020. Encore also found pop musicians suffered the most and lost an average of £19,900 in earnings as a result of cancellations since March.

Despite the government providing some financial support for workers hit by the pandemic, many musicians have slipped through the net, with 41% of Encore’s survey respondents failing to qualify for any government support.

Speaking about the results of the study, Encore CEO James McAulay said: “We’re acutely aware of the damage the pandemic has done to our musicians’ livelihoods, but I was still shocked to see just how few bookings most musicians have left in the diary for 2020.

“This problem is being felt across the industry – from signed veterans to young musicians at the beginning of their careers. The government must act now to make sure our musicians aren’t left behind.”