Influence Of Music Industry On Mental Health Problems

Music can have such a powerful effect on one’s mental state. It is known to arouse strong emotions and can be one of the most pleasurable human experiences, and one in which we invest a considerable amount of time and money (Pereira, Teixeira, Figueiredo, Xavier, Castro, 2011). In fact, music is used in therapy as it can help improve mental health by reducing certain symptoms of depression and by making people feel more in control. It can reduce stress, help us get better sleep and improve our mood (Rawls, 2015). However, working in the music industry is a completely different story, it can be a not so positive experience and have a detrimental impact towards one’s mental health. Although the love for music is clearly a strength for a musician, the connection between performance, identity and the need for self-belief can leave musicians vulnerable. The study ‘Can music make you sick?’ (Gross and Musgrave, 2016) revealed that those working in music may be up to three times more likely to experience depression, compared to the general public. This essay will focus on why musicians are more likely to have mental health issues despite music being said to have a positive impact on mental health using the study ‘Can music make you sick?’ as the main source of research.

There are many factors making musicians more vulnerable to suffering from mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. To start off, musicians are highly exposed to the media, receiving constant criticism from fans, journalists and are subject to a vast amount of gossip. This does obviously not affect just musicians, as roughly four-in-ten Americans have personally experienced online harassment (Duggan, 2017). However, many artists have the professional responsibility to keep going and are under pressure to keep their fans constantly entertained. Artist William Doyle says, “It’s a huge amount of pressure to put on yourself, beyond the job of just being an artist. That feeling of needing validation was intoxicating. I had to get off it for a while because of the panic and anxiety I was feeling. There are a lot of things in the industry that can burn you out, and social media was definitely one them for me.” (Murray, 2017). Many respondents in the ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ survey said that they felt vulnerable to the criticism of others. Moreover, some artists feel the pressure to portray a strong image and seeking for help may be seen as a weakness for some people.

Musicians also spend many hours alone which is can be a consequence from the high criticism they are subject to, not only from the public but also from themselves. Many artists strive to be deliver perfect performances and this demands hours and hours of non-stop rehearsal. Moreover, the time spent away recording and touring makes it hard for musicians to find a balance between work and relationships. It is not a surprise that depression, loneliness and relationship difficulties are common issues suffered by working musicians. “The classic image of a touring musician would seem counterintuitive to all we know about well-being,” says Isabella Goldie of the Mental Health Foundation. Many people have an idealised vision of what a tour may be like, but many artists find themselves traveling for long hours in trucks, in solitary hotel rooms and with the pressure and anxiety performing holds.“Ninety-nine per cent of touring is the airports, the hotels, sitting in a metal tube for up to 16 hours at a time,” says Grammy-nominated producer Mat Zo (real name Matan Zohar). “It’s easy to let your mind and body slip into decay, even for a person with a healthy emotional state. For those with anxiety, hotel rooms are like prison cells.” Many musicians suffer whilst going on tour, even those who have made it to the top and therefore would have all the tools to make touring as bearable as possible. Singer and songwriter Adele revealed that she felt quite a lot on her own whilst on tour (Bletchly, 2015). The performing world includes so many contrasting highs and lows, which can further contribute to mental health problems and a phenomenon that has been termed “post-performance depression’’, or PPD. As an artist, one minute you hear fans screaming on stage and the next one you’re back alone in your hotel room. Mental health professional John C Buckner writes: “When the body experiences major shifts in mood, it is flooded with several different neurotransmitters, resulting in a biochemical release that leads to a feeling of ecstasy. After these moments the nervous system needs time to recalibrate itself to prepare for another release. After an exciting performance the body starts to balance out the level of neurotransmitters, and therefore it is not releasing the same level that caused the exciting feelings, resulting in the lingering sadness. In normal day-to-day life, biochemicals are released and rest/recovery follow, causing the typical ups and downs of life. In the case of PPD, the process is more extreme with higher highs and lower lows.” Consequently, one may ask themselves, why do musicians go on tour? Why don’t they just record at home? The answer is, now a days, it isn’t financially feasible to do so. Which leads us to a further complication for musicians, the financial instability and the inability to plan a future ahead. (Britton, 2015).

Working in the music industry is not what someone would describe as a stable or as an easy path. Until the 1990’s the main source of income for a music label would be the physical distribution of music (selling tapes, vinyl records and CD’s) (Kiss, J. (2018). However, with the introduction of media streaming, making money from music has become harder. Nowadays, most music is available for free or for a cheap monthly subscription fee on streaming platforms such as Youtube or Spotify. Therefore, artists rely on royalties to earn money from their work being streamed. For an upcoming artist, the recording, managing, distributing and promoting costs of a single track can surpass the money made from it. This makes it particularly hard and stressful for a musician who is trying to make a living from these sources. For example, Spotify will pay 0,00437$ per play. [9] Therefore, for an artist to make 1,500$ a month, their music must be streamed 343.249 times and this would be if he/she was to be the soul creator of the music. This shows, an artist has to reach a level of ‘success’ achieving a high number of streams before he/she can make a decent amount of money in this industry.

A further problem is there is not enough support for those who suffer from mental health issues in the music industry. A survey on music and mental health undertaken by Help Musicians UK found that of 2,000 musicians interviewed, 71% experience anxiety and 68.5% deal with depression. One would think that for that reason there would be plenty of help available. Unfortunately, there isn’t much support dedicated to musicians ‘The support network isn’t there just yet,’ says Drummer Ashton Irwin (5SOS) ‘There needs to be more talk about the ups and downs, especially in the entertainment industry.”[8] It can be very hard to find the adequate help, opening up about personal problems can certainly be challenging, even more if others may think you have an ideal life or you’re ‘living the dream’. Moreover, it can be very time consuming and difficult to get help through public healthcare, and can be very costly if seeking private medical help. In addition, there is a sense that in many cases, medication such as antidepressants is provided as an aid, but for many people this is just a mechanism to cope with the problem, not actually fixing it.

The last topic to be discussed in this essay is the common drug and alcohol abuse amongst musicians and the impact it can have on their mental health. With all the struggles that musicians face in the industry, drugs and alcohol can often seem like an ‘easy escape’ from all the pressure. However, what feels like an escape from pressure can escalate and into a deeper depression. “Avoiding emotions, such as sadness, keeps us from processing what is going on,” said A.J. Marsden, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. “Sadness can improve your judgment and motivation”. Therefore, those who abuse from substances in order to cope with mental health problems, lack that motivation . Some musicians are constantly surrounded by the temptation, the influence and the pressure of consuming drugs. Unfortunately for them, drugs and depression go hand by hand. Certain recreational drugs such as MDMA and ethanol (Alcohol) affect the levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin functions in the brain as a conveyer of feelings of well-being and contentment. When one is feeling sad and certain drugs are ingested, one’s serotonin levels will increase and result in a sense of happiness and relieve. Nonetheless, the body’s serotonin levels will afterwards be depleted and will magnify that sense of sadness. This is why someone who feels depressed feels the need to take drugs again when the sense of sadness overtakes. [11] It is no secret that many artists have taken drugs and sadly suffered from the consequences. Amy Winehouse passed away due to her drug addiction, which was a coping mechanism to her problems. [12] Demi Lovato is very open about her drug addiction herself and her path to sobriety hasn’t been easy with her recurring mental health problems. [13]

The study ‘Can music make you sick?’ includes a number of case studies which help to further understand the question. Lauren Aquilina is a 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Bristol. She used to upload music covers on Youtube and her originals on other platforms. She also released an independent EP and following from her success she was then signed to Island Records (Universal Music group) and had a publishing deal with BMG. For two years and a half she has been living of her publishing deals but says she is aware there is a limit on that. This shows that just having one recording and publishing deal is not enough for an artist to make a living. One has to be constantly working on new material to release or putting on shows and the stress and pressure that comes with it can lead to mental health problems. Lauren says “there are so many things that come with the music industry that aren’t necessarily music related, such as knowing that your money is going to run out eventually, which all contribute towards how I’m feeling now…”. The lack of routine is also a problem for her, she can be exhaustingly busy for a period of time and for the next two weeks have nothing on her schedule, “I get so depressed. I struggle with that”. In the past years she has realised that making music is not always so much fun as portrayed, for many other people, which she refers to as her competitors, it is all about the business. Lauren had an unpleasant experience with a producer. He was expecting to be included in her next album, and get his ‘cut’ from it. Once he realised her album had been finished, he said she wasn’t worth his time. This leaves her thinking if music is going to be the only path in her life, and without having any higher education she feels stuck in the music industry, which is a hard path and can be detrimental to her health. This leads one back to a topic mentioned in the introduction. Music is not the problem, it’s the music industry which can be prejudicial to one’s mental state. “Writing a song has never made me unhappy, but it’s the industry, it’s the game. It’s the game that makes you unhappy.” It seems to be a recurring opinion that it is the industry which is prejudicial. Concert pianist James Rhodes says “It’s not that it’s “hard” to be a musician; it’s hard to make a living at it. A lot of that is down to the industry.”

By discussing these topics one can come to the conclusion that working in the music industry has its positive and negative side. This essay explores mostly the negatives and the complications that the music industry can bring to one’s mental health. However, there can be positives too. Many musicians talk about how working in the music industry can be damaging towards mental health, but they also talk about how their music for love still remains and keeps them going. The topics discussed in this essay lead one to believe that the music industry itself isn’t what is harmful towards mental health, but certain aspects from it are. It can be mildly controversial that making music is what makes musicians feel best, but it is part of the job itself, of working in the music industry. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that the number of charities who support the cause is growing. The charity Help Musicians UK help musicians at times of crisis, but also at times of opportunity, giving them the extra support need at a crucial stage that could make or break their career. HMUK has also created Music Minds Matter, which is a support line and service for the whole UK music community. They offer help 24 hours a day for those who need it, which is of incredible help and will hopefully contribute to fill that gap which musicians felt there was. [14] Finally, one can say the music industry can certainly be destructive. It is hard to find success in this world or in other words, to become financially stable whilst being mentally strong. For all that, it is important for musicians to speak out, let the world know that this is a problem as there is a need for more helpful resources.