It’s not called the gig economy by accident. Musicians are among those hardest hit by the cultural shutdown, and with the government currently offering only universal credit for the self-employed, millions throughout the sector are facing huge financial hardship.

“Roughly 90% of our members are affected,” said Horace Trubridge, general secretary of the Musicians’ Union. “This will force musicians out of the profession. Our members also do a lot of event work – weddings and conferences – that has also fallen off a cliff, coupled with the fact that most of our members subsidise their income from live performance by teaching and studio recording work which of course they can’t do now either.”

The idea that universal credit is going to keep these people’s heads above water is a nonsense, says Trubridge. The Association of British Orchestras’ director Mark Pemberton is among those joining the MU in calling on the government to act to save Britain’s cultural industry.

British orchestras are very reliant on earned income – more than orchestras anywhere else in the world. On continental Europe, some 80% of an orchestra’s income comes from public subsidy, so even in the absence of live concerts, government grants should help to keep these ensembles alive. In the US, where funding is driven by philanthropy and tax breaks, musical groups should also be able to weather this storm – so long as the donors keep donating. But in the UK, the mixed-economy funding model means that orchestras are highly reliant on earned income.

“The average level of public funding across my sector is about 30%,” explains Pemberton. “But a lot of ABO members get none at all. They have to duck and dive to earn a living. There are an awful lot of those orchestras for whom touring is their lifeblood. They need international touring alongside UK concerts. If that income is totally shut off they are in a very dangerous position.”

Kitty Whately as Sesto and Susannah Hurrell as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare, part of English Touring Opera’s 2020 cancelled spring tour. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

“It breaks my heart to say it but I think a lot of musicians are going to be forced out of the profession if the government doesn’t step in and support them properly,” says Trubridge. “This is a £5.2bn business for the UK economy and the government seems to have just turned its back on the freelance workers within it who create all the wonderful product.”

Most organisations are doing their best to pay fees for bookings made up to 28 days ahead, and some are going beyond that, if they can afford it. English Touring Opera, when it cancelled 52 dates on their spring/summer tour, committed to paying all 67 freelancers involved in their productions their fees for the full tour. Most summer festivals – few of which receive public subsidy – are simply unable to make such a gesture and are asking those who have bought tickets to donate their value in full or in part to help pay the cancelled artists and seasonal staff. Some, such as Garsington, have pledged to pay 20% of their contracted artists’ fees, and are fundraising for more.

Twenty-three gigs so far have been cancelled. Only one of those has offered to pay me

Leeds Lieder festival was due to take place in mid April and had already invested heavily in publicity, commissions and other costs. The festival has committed to paying all its artists 50% of their fees, and has a small buffer in the shape of some Arts Council funding and financial assistance from Leeds city council, but in the main is relying on ticket holders donating the cost of their tickets and/or gifting via an online funding page.

“The first signs are that people are being very generous and are donating their ticket costs, which will allow us to pay our artists as promised, but we will make a big loss this year,” says director Joseph Middleton. Middleton is also a pianist who performs throughout the UK and internationally. “I’m directing the festival with two hats on and am acutely aware of both sides,” he says.

“As an artist I’ve had all of my income wiped overnight for the next three months. Twenty-three gigs so far have been cancelled. Only one of those has offered to pay me. I’ve gone from earning pretty well to earning nothing.” He, like all his fellow self-employed musicians, has to fund the costs of his travel and accommodation and also pay an agent from their concert fee.

“None of us earn much money. You will be seeing people going bankrupt,” says soprano Elizabeth Watts, who was just one night into her role as the Countess in English National Opera’s new production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro before it was cancelled. “As soon as the announcement was made, ENO told us that we were going to be paid to the end of the scheduled run, which has been the hugest relief for us, but so many people don’t have that,” she says.

Nor is it just the creatives who are facing the bleakest of times. Earlier this week, leading classical agency Hazard Chase announced its bankruptcy. Agents – who take a cut (usually 10 or 15%) of their clients’ fees, have also suddenly seen their incomes switched off.

“This is a monumental crisis,” says Trubridge. “I’m getting sick of hearing how businesses are going to be supported so that they can pay their staff during this closure period and yet nothing is being said about all these freelancers who have got no money now.”

“I know there isn’t a magic money tree,” says Middleton, but, “you can have a full-time job and be at home and be paid 80%, yet a self-employed person is only entitled to £94 a week, and that’s only if you don’t have savings. It’s crippling.”

The arts are a huge contributor to the economy – and to our emotional wellbeing. “If you want people to keep producing art at the highest level, people are going to need financial support. We don’t want only rich people to be able to be artists in years to come,” says Watts.









