Your Safety, Your Say

Labour Day is an opportunity for workers across the globe to pause. Whether you use the day to rest and recover, to reconnect with others, or to think about ways to improve the conditions of your trade, the day is about having a breath and look at the reality of labour without the rush of the race for success (or survival).

In a landscape where 71% of music makers and professionals are freelance, however, the date can easily be dismissed and pass unnoticed. This is highly detrimental, given that freelancing is a particularly hostile and challenging model of work. The specificities of freelancing make plenty of room for abuse, exploitation and intimidation. It's vital that we push together for increased standards of protection for freelancers all across our sector, and for that, we need information and perspective.

Last year, Black Lives in Music worked to inform the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) report on Misogyny in Music, which found wide-scale issues that pointed to an ‘endemic’ culture of abuse across the music industry. In response to this, Black Lives in Music put together a survey to better understand how bullying and harassment affect musicians.

Aware of the fact that speaking out against these issues can often pose a risk to livelihood, the survey is being conducted in complete anonymity. No matter if you’re a music executive, professional or maker, a rich breadth of experiences from people of all backgrounds is needed to inform the data.

Please consider answering the survey, which you can find at https://blim.org.uk/change/