The material life of independent musicians
Marc Perrenoud and Pierre Bataille conducted a survey of musicians, their careers and their incomes in French-speaking Switzerland.
The originality of sociological research Musicians LIVES conducted by academics Marc Perrenoud and Pierre Bataille on musicians in French-speaking Switzerland is first and foremost its subject. Instead of proceeding by musical genre, the researchers focused on the socio-economic situation of musicians who are not salaried employees of an orchestra, or freelance musicians. Seven musicians, differing as far as possible in age, sex and type of venue, were invited to contact three others, and so on, to arrive at a population of 123 people from whom a team of investigators collected both quantitative and qualitative data through individual interviews. These interviews are a second special feature of this approach, which this book illustrates with anonymous extracts.
Three groups emerge from this study: "creators", who perform original works in concert or stage settings; "craftsmen", who provide a service and perform a repertoire that is not their own, usually off-stage; and finally, "teachers". While the survey's findings do not provide any earth-shattering revelations about the material life of independent musicians in French-speaking Switzerland, a number of hypotheses are confirmed here. For example, the low level of support provided to artists by unemployment insurance - in contrast to the French intermittent du spectacle status - forces musicians to fall back on teaching, with the French-speaking population proving to be huge consumers of music lessons.
Other findings, which will come as no surprise to readers, are that incomes are lower than the Swiss average, there are more men than women in the business, and the vast majority of these freelance musicians have to multiply their activities, whether as musicians (concerts, entertainment, teaching) or in jobs that have nothing to do with music. In this respect, the portraits are sometimes striking. Boris (not his real name), for example, is a plumber two days a week and a "mercenary" bassist who plays an average of 150 gigs a year.
Marc Perrenoud, Pierre Bataille: Vivre de la musique? Enquête sur les musicien-ne-s et leurs carrières en Suisse romande (2012-2016), 191 p., Fr. 26.00, Edititons Antipodes, Lausanne 2019, ISBN 978-2-88901-162-9
