Do Most People Believe Musicians Do Not Deserve to Make a Living?

I believe the answer is yes and it is time this changed.

In 2023, Netflix released Working, a four-part documentary led by Barack Obama that explores the realities of different types of workers in the United States. In the show, Obama profiles minimum wage earners, middle managers, and CEOs to better understand their day-to-day lives. It is a compelling watch. I recommend it. It also is guilty of promulgating a damaging trope, evidenced in the story of Pittsburgh-based tech worker Luke. Luke works at Aurora Technologies, a self-driving car start-up, but his passion is music. Much of his time on screen is dedicated to explaining his love of music and its impact on his life. Obama, who visits some of those he profiles, joins Luke in his basement and listens to one of his songs.  

Luke and Obama from Working caption...

In one scene, Luke is eating dinner with his family who insist that he must ‘grow up’ and get a real job because music doesn’t pay and is not to be taken seriously as a career. This is contrasted with, and reinforced by, a short interview with his brother who runs a local automotive business and has a wife and kids. Luke is single and lives at home (although at the end of the documentary he purchased a home). His brother refers to him (and I paraphrase), as a free spirit. Obama, sitting in the basement talking to Luke, takes the side of his family and offers him similar advice. He reiterates that while music may be a worthwhile hobby, it is not a viable career. He must focus on his real job. 

I am not discounting the difficulty of earning a living from music. It is highly competitive with far too many mouths to feed, which is evidenced by over 80% of artists on Spotify having less than 50 monthly listeners. It is competitive and unforgiving at times. But there are other competitive industries that we encourage, such as sports or web development. This goes deeper than that.  Maybe, just maybe, one of the reasons music continues to be reduced to a hobby, or not serious, is because most of us - yes, us - believe that musicians do not deserve to make a living. They should be happy playing music. There are real jobs out there that must be filled. 

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Producing music may not be key work, like teachers, nurses, or delivery drivers, but music - in and of itself - is key to most of our lives. There are few weddings or funerals without music. Religious ceremonies are filled with music. Sporting matches, parades and political rallies are enhanced with music. Silent movies feature music. Our shopping malls, television shows, and hotel lobbies are soundtracked. Whether it is in the foreground or background, it is there.

But in many of these situations, music is either seen as ubiquitous - it is there anyways so we don’t need to worry about it - or undervalued. For those who pay to listen to music via a streaming service, the monthly cost has not been adjusted for inflation. $9.99 in 2001 is now $17.30. The process that gets music to us - from experimenting with instruments in a classroom to the manufacturing of said instruments - is often hidden from public view. Few are privy to marching band rehearsals before the band takes to the stage or stadium, or parade ground. 

This separates music as a utility - it being there in the moment as something to be used, engaged with and enjoyed - and music as an economy with raw materials, multiple businesses involved and a complex supply chain. Obama, sitting in Luke’s basement is privy to the utility of music. Yet, what is around him is a vast economy that he fails to recognize. All the synthesizers in Luke’s basement were designed, built and manufactured. Luke’s skills had to be developed, nurtured and expanded. He records with other artists. Performs live in venues that sell other goods and services. And so on.   

This isn’t about one family or one President’s opinion. This is about how music is not seen - at its very core - as an economic good that should be paid for.  In many countries, despite ratifying treaties to protect literary and artistic works, copyright is not respected or administered. Piracy is state policy in many countries and not all of them are authoritarian. There is no music policy to develop protocols within any UN agency or development finance institution. In countries that suffer from austerity politics, music and culture are first to be cut, often with the deepest reductions. As a result, in a documentary called Working, music isn’t working. 

I refer to this as the ignorance of ubiquity. It is the same way we treat climate change, or core civic infrastructure that we all need to live. Until something is broken, or it disappears, its ubiquity hides its fragility and the fact that it isn’t, in any way, ubiquitous. 

I feel for Luke. Maybe his music didn’t find an audience, or he simply wasn’t good enough. I’m thrilled that music brings him joy, as it does to millions every day. But when his pursuit of music as a career is beaten back because it isn’t a real job, I get why he doesn’t see it as a viable option. There are millions of folks like Luke around the world.

So, do we believe that music - as an economy - deserves to exist everywhere? Until we all unanimously say yes - and this means all governments, all family members and all Presidents - we will see this trope carry on unchallenged.