Music Industry Investigation Report

For The Creative Independent, I partnered with musician René Kladzyk to survey musicians and industry professionals to get their take on the current state of the music industry, and aggregate their ideas for how to constructively build what's next. With input from nearly 300 music community members, we then partnered to produce a vast report detailing challenges and opportunities for the industry, in which we condensed the survey's findings down to 10 key findings.

I led the development of this project, producing the survey and report, and providing strategic/creative direction for its visual design and rollout.

Read an excerpt describing the project, written by me for the Kickstarter blog:

The Creative Independent aspires to offer emerging artists resources that can help them make sense of the dizzying creative industries in which they operate. That’s why we launched a report on how visual artists are supporting themselves back in 2018, and it’s why today, we’re releasing a new report surveying the challenges that must be overcome to build a better future music industry.

 To create our Music Industry Investigation Report, we partnered with Kickstarter Creator-in-Residence René Kladzyk. As a musician herself, and as the creator of the Future Music Industry list, René has unique insight into what it means to live and work in the music industry. Through a collaboration with René, we surveyed nearly 300 musicians and industry professionals to gather their insights, and then distilled the collected data into 10 key takeaways. While we know that the insights of 300 people can’t create a scientifically accurate representation of the entire industry, we do believe the collected responses offer a telling snapshot of what musicians are facing in the industry today, and where we can focus our efforts as we work towards a better future.

So, what does the report say, at a glance? Some of the conclusions might seem fairly obvious: the fact that by and large, musicians simply cannot support themselves through their music alone; the truth that the music industry is far more accessible to those with financial privilege; the upsetting lack of gender and racial diversity in industry leadership positions. Other findings are perhaps less obvious: that musicians’ friends and social circles tend to be the most helpful as they work to gain traction, and that less than half of industry professionals said their organization had a protocol in place for sexual harassment.

Read the entire blog post → 

See the Music Industry Investigation Report →

Read a companion piece to the report, written by René and edited by me →