Are musicians earning enough? A new survey intends to find out

The debate about live income for musicians has been a long-time hot potato.

But the Australian Music Industry Network (AMIN) plans to change that.

They’ve just launched The Live Remuneration Survey to be distributed to over 100,000 live music performers.

The survey aims to understand the dynamics of performer income, the conditions under which artists are paid and whether additional costs such as travel, parking, accommodation or rehearsals are taken into account.

It will also look at what percentage of artists have superannuation, income protection insurance or public liability insurance.

This survey will collect data on the artist’s experience, including current average rates of pay for bands and individuals, annual income derived from live performance, the ratio of live performance income to other income for artists, agreement types between artists, venues and bookers and contributing factors to these agreements, and more.

Past research finds that musicians might derive their greatest pleasure from treading the boards but gigs generally only make up 35% of their total income, with 70% having to supplement their income with work from outside music.

Music Victoria’s Melbourne Live Music Census 2017 Report discovered that in the state of Victoria, live music performance returns $3 in benefits for every $1 invested.

The national Australian music industry is working together with AMIN on collecting this essential data.

Participating organisations include APRA AMCOS, MEAA, Music Australia, Sounds Australia, Association of Artist Managers, Association of Australian Independent Record Labels, AMRAP, MusicNSW, Music Victoria, Music NT, Music SA, WAM, QMusic, Music Tasmania and MusicACT.