Musician emotional wellbeing during the pandemic: assessing the impact of external factors, positive life outlook and socio-demographics

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the shuttering of music venues and in-person music collaboration around the world. While many musicians have spoken out about the negative financial and emotional consequences, there remains a lack of research on how the pandemic lockdown impacted musician emotional wellbeing. This study contributes to this conversation by assessing how external, internal and socio-demographic factors impacted the emotional wellbeing of musicians in the US. Given that the pandemic exacerbated inequalities, we also look at the wellbeing of historically marginalised groups among musicians. Data were collected through an online survey to musicians from 18 May to 6 June 2020. Our final sample includes the responses of 251 self-identified musicians. Our findings demonstrate that external factors like the cancellation of performances and rehearsals, lack of access to teachers and students, changes to child and elder care and work routines, and revenue loss had a negative impact on the emotional wellbeing of musicians, while positive life outlook increased emotional wellbeing. Women and non-binary individuals, older adults, and those with disabilities reported lower emotional wellbeing. These findings point to the importance of community in sustaining musician wellbeing. We discuss the practical implications of these findings and make suggestions for future research.