One-third of professional British musicians are considering leaving their careers amid the coronavirus epidemic.

A survey of 2,000 members of the musicians’ union found that 34% were “considering leaving the industry altogether” because of the financial problems they were facing during the epidemic, as performance opportunities were drastically reduced.

About half of the people have already found work outside of their industry and 70% are unable to do more than a quarter of their normal work. Seventy-five percent of musicians covered by Furlu and the Self-Employment Assistance project say they will run into financial problems when the projects are due to end in October.

“Musicians are working in supermarkets, going back to the things they trained early in their lives as delivery drivers,” Horace Trubridge, general secretary of the union, told the Guardian. “It’s nothing but music – that’s the problem.

“We have not worked for several months in the autumn and winter and have not received any financial support from the government except for public .n – which is an alarming 5. 5.2 billion for the industry.”

The survey was followed last month by musician booking service Encore, who found that 644% of the 560 musicians surveyed were considering leaving the profession. 41% reported no bookings for the rest of the year.

Concert venues have been allowed to reopen with social distance, but few concerts have been held since early 2020. Wedding music, conferences and other live events, where professional music artists often make up a portion of their income, come down in numbers. There is an amount of education.

One-third of the members of the musicians’ union are not eligible for financial relief projects for a variety of reasons, including the establishment of a limited organization; Their earnings are split between self-employment and non-self-employed tax income, so they both do not keep quality for the scheme; Or earning more than £ 50,000 a quarter for self-employed earners. “Which, if you live in central London, as a breadwinner with family, doesn’t mean so much,” Trubridge says.

During the crisis the UK government supported industry and culture with a 7 1.57 billion package that was being distributed to industrial establishments such as museums and venues, but not to individuals. Trubridge says the fund “did nothing for the workforce … you need a creator to create new art. But you need highly skilled and talented musicians to deliver that creativity and these people are out of the equation. These are the world-leading musicians who make their living.” There is no lifeline for those who have done exactly what they do.We also lack understanding of the profession in the digital, culture, media and sports departments and no understanding in the treasury.

A DCMS spokesman told the Guardian: “We are working on a level playing field to support our world-class performing arts sector in challenging times. Our unprecedented £ 1.57bn culture recovery fund spends 200 200 million in emergency public funds to stabilize organizations, secure jobs and ensure the work flows to freelancers. We have already provided emergency funding to support 135 grassroots music venues and are processing applications for more than 800 800 million in grant funding. We are working closely with the sector to ensure that these funds are disbursed quickly and efficiently. ”

The musicians’ union is proposing a “2-for-1” project similar to the government’s food and drink to help the scheme, so that the government can cover the cost of a second seat at a concert – effectively allowing those seats to be removed or blocked to ensure social distance. As the United Kingdom expects tougher measures to control the virus, Trubridge said: “It all looks final again. We would like to have a date where we can go to the five stages of the roadmap, where internal music can happen without social distance, but it seems far from the current state of the epidemic. “

Musicians including Nick Cave, Laura Marling, Bishop and Slefford Mods turned to ticketed live streams to make money during the epidemic, but Trubridge warned that as other stars perform online for free, “it’s very difficult to compete with working musicians.”