Survey evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on Australian musicians and implications for policy

ABSTRACT

This study provides survey evidence concerning how COVID-19 has impacted Australian musicians. Between June and July 2020, we surveyed 203 musicians about the effects of the pandemic on their employment and income. Using a Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) model, we investigate sentiment concerning future employment and income opportunities. We find evidence that this sentiment correlates most strongly with general sentiment about industry demand returning post COVID-19. We find no evidence that short-term income support makes a difference to sentiment about future opportunities. Similarly, we find no evidence that pivoting towards online media strategies has improved such sentiment. In addition to recent supply-side policies, our results suggest demand-side policies can play an important role in the medium to long term by ensuring musicians do not leave the industry.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• musicians
• survey evidence

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the assistance of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). We are also grateful for the comments of the editor and two anonymous reviewers. Any errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Oxford Stringency Index (Hale et al. 2021) collects information on policy responses that governments have taken to respond to the pandemic. As of January 2021, the stringency level (higher values mean greater restrictions) for Australia stood at 52.31. Well below the likes of the US (71.76), Canada (75.46) and the UK (81.48).

2. The survey was administered using Qualtrics. Ethics approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Macquarie University (Project ID 6764). Three randomly-allocated cash prizes were offered for participants who opted into the prize draw.

3. Full details of the Australia Council for the Arts COVID-19 response can be found here: https://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/programs-and-resources/australia-council-response/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Crosby

Dr Paul Crosby is a Lecturer in Economics at the Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University. He is an applied microeconomist with research interests in the economics of digitisation, entertainment, social media, culture, sport, and consumer choice.

Jordi McKenzie

Jordi McKenzie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics. Prior to joining Macquarie University in 2014, he was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics at the University of Sydney. His main research interests are in industrial organisation, cultural economics, and sports economics.