The outlook for gigging musicians is very grim indeed just now .
While pubs have re-opened to a limited extent it doesnt include live gigs and the opening only applies to pubs that serve food , indeed food must be ordered before any drinks are served and customers are limited to under 2 hours eating/drinking time before there shown the door .
The musicians who play in wedding/show bands and pay their taxes qualify for a 350 euro a week covid payment and a one off grant of a couple of thousand euros , the ones who persisted on the rocky road of playing their own tunes have to scrape by with social welfare payments and no timeframe for gigs to come back . Aside from what covid has done ,the money a musician can earn has steadily declined over the last 30-40 years . Typically in the mid 80's a band member could expect to earn maybe 100 old pounds per night , in recent years most are lucky to get 100 euros , many accept even less . No other segment of employment has taken a similar pay cut to musicians , Ive been trying to raise awareness of this situation with my local elected representatives.
We've also had the likes of Youtube kill any earning power musicians once had from royalties , even the big players dont make much from album sales anymore , its gigs and merchandising where they earn their daily bread and now thats gone too . Many of the guys I know are getting to old now for gigs and there ending up in poverty despite having given the best years of their life to music. Very little doubt that when gigs do come back greedy pub and club owners will use covid to try and further reduce what musicians get paid . Some are busking on Facebook live for free during the covid , and while they might gain something from the exposure it wont put food on the table . Some predict it could be a year before we see gigs again
Im interested to hear of any ideas, incentives or schemes put in place to help musicians ride out this storm .
While pubs have re-opened to a limited extent it doesnt include live gigs and the opening only applies to pubs that serve food , indeed food must be ordered before any drinks are served and customers are limited to under 2 hours eating/drinking time before there shown the door .
The musicians who play in wedding/show bands and pay their taxes qualify for a 350 euro a week covid payment and a one off grant of a couple of thousand euros , the ones who persisted on the rocky road of playing their own tunes have to scrape by with social welfare payments and no timeframe for gigs to come back . Aside from what covid has done ,the money a musician can earn has steadily declined over the last 30-40 years . Typically in the mid 80's a band member could expect to earn maybe 100 old pounds per night , in recent years most are lucky to get 100 euros , many accept even less . No other segment of employment has taken a similar pay cut to musicians , Ive been trying to raise awareness of this situation with my local elected representatives.
We've also had the likes of Youtube kill any earning power musicians once had from royalties , even the big players dont make much from album sales anymore , its gigs and merchandising where they earn their daily bread and now thats gone too . Many of the guys I know are getting to old now for gigs and there ending up in poverty despite having given the best years of their life to music. Very little doubt that when gigs do come back greedy pub and club owners will use covid to try and further reduce what musicians get paid . Some are busking on Facebook live for free during the covid , and while they might gain something from the exposure it wont put food on the table . Some predict it could be a year before we see gigs again
Im interested to hear of any ideas, incentives or schemes put in place to help musicians ride out this storm .
