Haziqonfire
🇨🇦
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Really interesting piece from The Guardian about the toll the music industry is taking on artists when it comes to touring — both big and smaller artists.
Not to mention, in the 80s/90s artists needed to prioritize their mental health too but no one spoke about these issues or prioritized them, so many turned to alcohol and drugs to cope, then tours were cut short because of death or ODing.
The other problem is touring dates should also straight up just be way less demanding.
This week, Arlo Parks became the latest, cancelling a run of US shows and explaining how the relentless grind of the past 18 months had left her “exhausted and dangerously low”. Her decision followed Sam Fender’s announcement that he was cancelling his US tour support slots with Florence + the Machine due to burnout: “It seems completely hypocritical of me to advocate for discussion on mental health and write songs about it if I don’t take time off to look after my own mental health.”
There are two factors at play here: a growing willingness among musicians to talk about mental health struggles and the demands of their profession, and an industry desperate to spring back to life after a devastating pandemic, with turbo-charged touring and promotional schedules to make up for perceived lost time.
Couple this with pitiful income from streaming, and the mounting cost of living, and the pressure to work more and chase success increases further. “Those opportunities are rare,” says Smith, of the endless touring momentum. “No one owes you those slots, and you can say no to them, but if you lose traction, and then those opportunities don’t come along again, that’s on you.”
Personally, I’m glad artists are taking time to prioritize their mental health. The music industry isn’t the same as it once before, imagine being a new artist in the 80s or 90s you’d play 100-200 shows before you get recognized by record labels and start going on tour. Now, you’re famous after having your tracks blow up on streaming platforms, watching it all happen from your bedroom, never having performed a single live show, and then you’re thrown into it quickly because the label wants to keep your hype up.Social media has helped here. Over the summer, Arooj Aftab spoke on Twitter about the gathering strains of touring: the flight-price increases, fuel, visas, taxes and hotels, promoters’ fear of raising ticket prices, audience reticence to attend shows post-Covid and in a cost-of-living crisis. She had returned from her recent tour with headline slots and sold-out shows to find herself still tens of thousands in debt. “And I’m being told that it’s normal,” she wrote. “Why is this normal. This should not be normalised.”
Not to mention, in the 80s/90s artists needed to prioritize their mental health too but no one spoke about these issues or prioritized them, so many turned to alcohol and drugs to cope, then tours were cut short because of death or ODing.
The other problem is touring dates should also straight up just be way less demanding.