Portfolio Careers in the Music Industry: Where does live music sit?

Last week I  posted about the importance of the portfolio musician, how live music fits into this jigsaw, and what can be done to assist the development of these skills. There is some excellent research been undertaken in the States by the Future Music Coalition. Here is a case study of a well established self-employed musician. The research breaks down not only how they make a living, but also what the important contributors to self employment are. The research concludes:

• Touring is an important revenue stream. For this artist, and many like him, income earned from live performance – either for his solo work or as a hired sideman – is his financial linchpin. Indeed, if he stopped playing shows, his income would plummet.
• But this artist also exemplifies the long-term value of compositions. In his case, his songwriting contributions to Main Band #1 not only led to publisher advances and publishing Touring is an important revenue stream. For this artist, and many like him, income earned from live performance – either for his solo work or as a hired sideman – is his financial linchpin. Indeed, if he stopped playing shows, his income would plummet.

although the research is based on the years 2007-11, it would be interesting to ascertain how things have changed in the last 20 years. One this is for sure, it is in the music industries interests to ensure musicians have plenty of opportunities to perform!

Another project by the Future Artist Coalition looks at the means that musicians make a living from music more longitudinally The paper concludes the following.

• Musicians are relying on revenue from a variety of streams.
• The overall revenue pie is smaller for each artist, but more artists have access to revenue.
• For performers, money from touring or playing live shows is the biggest portion of their revenue pie.
• Songwriters and composers are seeing diminished revenue from their compositions from record sales.
• Location doesn’t mean as much as it used to

These are questions that are important within the UK too. Indeed it would be interesting to compare the UK to America.

 

Click to access ARScasestudyA.pdf

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Excellent post here on Torrent Freak – although it does not really deal with live music. I wrote a paper a while back on how the introduction of Grand Rights can potentially impact Tribute bands to do the business. It is now published in Contemporary Theatre Review, but a working blog of some of the ideas can be found here.

I Wonder Why People Keep Getting Killed at Concerts…

Is there a bigger problem here, or is there always this level of catastrophe at concerts?  Here’s a rundown of some depressing concert injuries and fatalities, all of which have happened in the past few months.

 

See here for the rest of the post