The Musicians’ Union have continued efforts to raise awareness and lobby the government to give proper financial support to musicians who are struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic. Writing on their Instagram feed, they state that ’it is simply unacceptable to continue to deny musicians the support they need to survive the next few months of lockdown.’ The campaign, which began trending in December 2020, has returned with renewed energy with the announcement of the UK’s third national lockdown and the consequences this will have for Britain’s 5 billion pound music industry.
The union are calling on the government to ‘Invest in Musicians,’ so that they can ‘continue to make music during the pandemic and bounce back as the industry gets on its feet.’ They point to some very worrying statistics which state that, according their polls taken in 2020 to asses the impact of Covid-19 on the industry, 38% of musicians ‘fall through gaps in Government support,’ 34% of musicians are ‘considering leaving the industry,’ and a whopping 88% of musicians think the government has not done enough to help them. The MU are attempting to rectify the situation by lobbying the government on a series of points; to ‘ensure the Self Employment Income Support Scheme continues to run alongside the furlough scheme,’ to boost the Self Employment Scheme to match ‘the same level of support as furlough,’ ‘waive the January 2021 tax bill,’ for those who haven’t received support, create a ‘Seat Out to Help Out Scheme,’ increase funding for artistic projects through ‘Arts Councils, Creative Scotland and PRS Foundation,’ and also provide ‘individual investment in musicians and other freelancers in England through the Cultural Recovery Fund.’
To help build pressure and raise awareness to their cause, the MU are encouraging their members to share their stories of how they have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and then posting these on their instagram feed. The stories posted highlight the professionals working in all fields of the music industry, including the often forgotten musical links to healthcare as well as musicians developing portfolio careers and performers. Regardless of their role in the industry and how much of the £5 billion contribution the industry makes annually to the UK economy, there is no doubt that every single person in music has been adversely affected by this pandemic and they have not seen the support they deserve from the government.
While financial support is of course helpful, many musicians may be happy to temporarily look for other work to get them by during the pandemic, or have enough savings to rely on. However, what is most distressing for many musicians is the seemingly complete lack of compassion, empathy or even understanding which the government has offered to the industry consistently. While Rishi Sunak was bending over backwards to salvage the hospitality industry, which has allowed to reopen briefly in September, the music industry was told to stay shut despite months of poorly thought out support packages and misguided efforts to organise financially unviable socially distanced arena gigs operation at half capacity.
