30% of UK musicians report poor mental wellbeing

The Musicians' Union, together with the Help Musicians charity, has put together a census of nearly 6,000 professional musicians in the UK, with the report finding that 30% of those surveyed reported poor mental health.

Another 11% reported feeling neither positive nor negative with regards to their mental health.

Read this next: New book explores the mental toll of touring on people in the music industry

The census found that musicians in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland reported lower wellbeing than those residing in England, although the region with the worst mental health for musicians was the north-east of England, where 38% of musicians reported bad mental health.

Of all genres, dance music was found to be the most affected: 35% of respondents reported poor mental health.

Read this next: How The Cost Of Living Crisis Is Impacting DJs And Producers

The Musicians Union and Help Musicians census also discovered that musicians from marginalised communities were disproportionately impacted by poor mental health, with 49% of musicians with disabilities and 43% of LGBTQ+ musicians reporting poor mental health, with almost two thirds of trans musicians (63%) reported having poor mental health.

These findings come from the same census which revealed that nearly half of working musicians earn less than £14,000 from their profession, despite the fact that 70% of respondents noting that they have a university degree or higher accreditation. As a result, more than half of those surveyed disclosed that they have to work multiple jobs to make sure they can provide for themselves.

Sarah Woods, chief executive of Help Musicians, said that "insights from the Musicians' Census show the need to build positive mental wellbeing for all who work in music but especially with the future generation so we can prevent crises before they happen."

Read this next: Almost half of working musicians in the UK earn less than £14K a year

General secretary Naomi Pohl agreed, asserting that "as an industry we need to tackle the root causes of poor mental wellbeing."

"The Musicians' Census has clearly identified contributing factors such as low pay, career barriers and witnessing or experiencing discrimination. It is particularly concerning that LGBTQ+ and disabled musicians experience some of the highest rates of low mental wellbeing and the industry needs to work harder and faster to remove the barriers these communities of musicians face. These are all issues that are within the music industry's power to change."

Read the full report from the first ever Musicians' Census here

Tibor Heskett is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter