A survey of UK musicians conducted by booking platform ‘Encore Musicians’ has found that 64% are considering quitting the music profession in response to financial strains caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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.”