Why successful musicians are ‘sofa surfing and on Universal Credit’
Folk singer Billie Marten has said she is, like many musicians, “not doing great,” and struggling to make ends meet, despite releasing a successful album and touring.
Listen to this article
The Hackney-based Yorkshire singer has just released Dog Eared, her fifth and highest charting album, and is now set to play all around the UK, Europe, and the US.
The former BBC championed artist, who has had a Sony record deal, told The Independent last week, however, that she is essentially running at a loss.
“Mostly, artists are in financial ruin no matter how successful they appear to be. I’ve worked the hardest and the longest and I am the most busy I’ve ever been – and I am not doing great.”
She added: “Everyone that’s hanging onto the artist is buying houses and having families and going on holiday. And the artists could never dream of doing that. It’s funny.”
The 26-year-old said that she is not alone in her struggles and that while many artists are looking to break through, the state of play only allows for those at the top to make money.
Marten said: “Less money is going to mid-level and low-level artists. It’s a capitalist mentality, essentially.”
She was signed by Sony’s indie imprint Chess Club in the mid-2010s but left when the company was dissolved in 2019. Despite this, she is still obliged to keep repaying Sony as she has not yet made enough on their investment.
She said: “I haven’t recouped my deals, so it’s all gone to Sony to pay for the sofas in their office. Hey, I am not cynical! It’s just the facts.
“I’m also not complaining. I’m speaking for all of us who have made peace with it, because we’re nice people who just want to make music. But should we make peace with it? And how do we change it?”
Marten previously said that most of the musicians she knows with a top-ten album are on Universal Credit, but how did we get to this point?
Read also: From Ferraris to foreclosures: the hidden cost of living crisis hitting Britain's wealthy
Why are successful musicians losing money?
Bands and artists traditionally make their money through music sales and touring, but both of these avenues are being hit hard.
Touring
The cost-of-living crisis has been a factor in making touring a tougher financial entity for artists, who have come up against rising petrol, catering, and crew prices, while ticket costs and demand have not kept pace.
David Martin, chief executive officer of the Featured Artists Coalition, told the Guardian: “Artists are seeing [playing] live as a loss leader now.
“That’s if they can even afford to make it work in the first place.”
Lily Fontaine, with Mercury Award-winning band English Teacher, has sold out an 800-capacity venue but echoed Marten in stating that money is tight.
“The reality is that it’s normal for all of these achievements to coexist alongside being on Universal Credit, living at home or sofa surfing,” she said as part of the same article.
“The majority of artists are struggling to be able to afford to actually play shows,” singer Kate Nash said upon starting Only Fans account Butts for Tour Buses to pay for her live sets.
Venues closing
In 2023, two venues closed every week in the UK, with smaller venues, often starting points for up and coming bands to gain exposure, particularly hit. A more recent study found that a further 350 grassroots music venues are at immediate risk of closure.
The government has stepped in to call on the live music industry to introduce a voluntary ticket levy on stadiums and arenas to protect the grassroots music sector.
A £1 ticket levy was added to some Oasis Live ‘25 shows as well as other stadium performances this summer.
Even so, Joff Oddie, whose band Wolf Alice will play twice at The O2 this December, told Parliament in May that the levy will need imposing strictly for it to be effective in stopping ticket companies from avoiding paying it.
Streaming
The controversy around streaming is the relatively little cut that artists make from revenue.
How Spotify, for example, pays out varies from country to country and there are also complexities arising with artists earning less from songs that are featured on promoted playlists.
There are further nuances too, with less money coming in from those on a Spotify free plan.
Eddie Anders, who has had more than 20 million streams on Spotify, said he can receive around £15,000 a year, but only after careful and strategic decision making.
Apple Music pays $0.01 per play while Spotify says it will pay $0.0033 per play - the latter therefore requiring $303,000 streams for an artist to make £1,000.
But, of course, not all of that will go just to the artist.
Lily Allen said that, like Nash, she has been forced down the OnlyFans route. “Imagine being [an] artist and having nearly eight million monthly listeners on Spotify but earning more money from having 1,000 people subscribe to pictures of your feet,” she tweeted. Spotify said, in a 2021 report, that more than 130 artists earned $5m or more and the $7bn it paid out that year contributed to 25 per cent of the music industry’s revenue.
In 2024, this figure rose to $10bn. A statement read: “Our $10 billion payout is the largest in music industry history — more than any single retailer has ever paid in a year, and over 10x the contribution of the largest record store at the height of the CD era.”