Scale of need
Musicians and people who work in music face many challenges or barriers to overcome. A few headlines to illustrate the scale of need:
- A musician’s average annual income from music in 2023 was £20,700. 23% of musicians told us that they cannot support themselves or their families from being a musician.
- Under half (40%) of musicians earn all their income from music. Of those making 100% of their income from music, the average annual income is around £30,000. Therefore, over half (53%) of musicians need to sustain their career by sourcing other forms of income outside of music and have diverse, portfolio careers.
- Our research, Can Music Make You Sick? found that 1 in 3 people were likely to suffer from poor mental health. This research led to the founding of Music Minds Matter to ensure that everyone working in music had somewhere to turn, night and day.
- The 2023 Musicians’ Census also found that almost a third (30%) of all musicians reported experiencing negative mental wellbeing. This group were twice as likely to say it was unlikely that they would be working in music in one to five years.
Each year we receive more requests for our support than we are able to fund – we are determined to grow our impact to ensure those that work in music can continue to work in a sector that brings so much joy to us all.
Our Values
At Help Musicians, we…
Embrace change; recognising that change leads to opportunity and the potential to explore enhanced solutions for those we’re here to support.
Are curious; appreciating that insight, understanding and empathy enables us to deliver our best work.
Value difference: knowing that diversity of thought, team and experience makes our charities stronger.
Come together; united through our appetite for music we’re committed to working collectively, doing the very best to support those who create the music we love.
Jessie’s Story – supported by Help Musicians & Music Minds Matter
After discovering a passion for music at an early age, Jessie’s* (name protected) talent and determination came to fruition as he signed to a well-known label, gathering fans through prime radio plays and a booked-out tour with his band. However, when Covid hit, his career halted almost overnight. Jessie did what he could to survive and began labouring on construction sites to make ends meet for his family, but he was in a dark place. This was when he reached out to Help Musicians.
“The support just completely opened me up emotionally and psychologically. Knowing that people were out there wanting me to make music and get my act together was a huge boost.”
The charity was able to support Jessie in numerous ways, from help with his physical health, creative direction and mental health support during an unsteady period through our sister charity, Music Minds Matter, which gradually got his career back on track.
Help Musicians supported Jessie to access a career coach, encouraging him to begin writing music again and gradually he restarted a creative idea composing music for computer games that he’d previously been building a portfolio for. However, an unfortunate consequence of the construction work was damage to both of his elbows which persisted while he created music. Help Musicians was once again able to support Jessie to access a specialist physiotherapist to resolve the issue and get his career back on track.
Thanks to his perseverance and with the support of the charity, Jessie is thankfully now in a much better place mentally and with his career.
“I feel really positive and Help Musicians has been instrumental in helping me with that.”