Music Business Commons^™

A Musician’S Livelihood: Bringing Together Educators And Leaders To Examine Perceived Barriers To Profitability Through Musicians’ Lens, Wyvonne M. Hawkins, David Cross

Publications

Building, maintaining, or scaling a sustainable music ecosystem business can be challenging due to a lack of resources to improve business operations, a lack of consistent goals, or know-how to capture and enhance customer value in an oversaturated and competitive music industry. According to Amy Wang, most musicians in the United States make $25,000 a year or less, and Next Big Sound follows up by stating that approximately 91 percent of artists go undiscovered. This study interviewed twelve independent musicians and used four common themes of the business of music, access to resources, digital technology, and performing rights organizations to …