Average U.S. Musician Doesn't Make a Livable Wage

Average U.S. Musician Lives in Poverty, Study Finds

Even with streaming revenue reportedly on the rise, the average American musician makes less than $22,000 a year from their art.

A survey of 1,227 U.S-based musicians found the average musician earned about $35,000 in 2017, but only $21,300 of that came from sources related to music. 

Most of the music-related earnings came from live performances. The next largest portion of that income came from music lessons or performances in religious services. 

The study, which was conducted by the Music Industry Research Association (MIRA) with MusiCares and Princeton University Survey Research Center, found that most musicians had to pull income from three or more sources. 

Most of the musicians surveyed, 61 percent, told MIRA that their music income was not enough to meet their cost of living. 

More than one in 10 musicians surveyed reported struggling with suicidal thoughts. That figure is multiple times higher than the same rate in the general population (3.5 percent).

Just better than one third of musicians are women, 34.2 percent. Seventy-two percent of female musicians report having faced gender discrimination. Two-thirds of that portion have experienced sexual harassment — also much higher than the rate of the general population.


Photo: Getty Images


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