60% of UK musicians worked for free in 2012

According to a research commissioned by the Musicians’ Union, 60% of UK musicians have worked for free during 2012; moreover, more than 50% of professional musicians get paid less than £20,000 per year.
"Earnings for musicians are low. Income levels compare unfavourably to other professionals who’ve invested
similar amounts of time and money into education and training" we can read in the report's introduction. "Over half (56%) of the musicians surveyed earn less than £20k and 60% of musicians report working for free in the past 12 months".

Moreover, only 35% of the musicians pay into a pension scheme. "One in five employees (22%) and one in three self-employed workers (29%) in the wider labour market have no independent pension provision" says the introduction. "This rises to 65% for musicians".

The comments of MU on the collected data are harsh, envisioning a hard future for music in the UK. "The major question the findings of this research pose is: for how long can the UK maintain a pool of world beating musicians and attract new talent from all backgrounds given the earnings potential of the average musician and the spiralling costs associated with education, training and sustaining a musician’s career?".

Read the whole report (pdf file) here.