**The Many Faces of the Freelance Performer of Contemporary Music in the 21st Century**

#### **Zubin Kanga**

#### **1. Introduction**

Performing contemporary music requires a particular set of skills. Understanding new forms of notation, boundary-pushing virtuosity, new instrumental techniques, and the conceptual challenges of articulating complex sonic architecture are among the many challenges that the performer of new music must master. There are other skills and challenges facing the new music performer, however, away from scores and instruments, that are as vital to a performing career as musical expertise.

Recent generations of musicians working in contemporary music are increasingly self-managing their work rather than relying on agents or management teams. These musicians now need to learn the skills of agents and managers as well as those of marketers, PR agents, lawyers, fundraisers, project managers, social media managers, and compositional coaches. The increasing use of digital technology in both their performances and their marketing also demands that new skills be acquired, from a wide knowledge of computing and audio-visual hardware to skills in programming, photography, and video editing. These many faces of the contemporary music performer are largely unseen by audiences, yet they are vital not just to their careers but to the entire contemporary music ecosystem. One might call these "entrepreneurial" skills, but this term connotes an approach that is driven by growth and profit. As a result of the current challenging arts funding environment, many music companies and institutions have adopted neoliberal ideologies of market power and economic growth. Although these practices can be used to support artistic innovation, they should not be mistaken for goals in and of themselves (Ritchey 2019). For individuals focusing on contemporary music, this disjunct between means and ends is even clearer. The priority is rarely the maximisation of profit—it is primarily the creation and performance of new music, with many musicians (including myself) supplementing their performance income with other work despite having a busy performing schedule. I will, therefore, simply call the skills I discuss in this chapter "non-musical skills": unrelated to the craft of music yet necessary for a career as a musician.

The set of skills and approaches I discuss in this chapter are required of musicians working across solo as well as chamber music. There are significant continuities between the working modes, conditions, constraints, and opportunities experienced by soloists and chamber musicians, with the research findings being relevant for both kinds of practice. The main difference between these modes of working is that in chamber groups, the skills and related responsibilities can be distributed among the members, and coordination between members in undertaking these tasks can be as important to the survival of these ensembles as their compatibility as musicians. Some solo/chamber musicians apply these non-musical skills to a range of repertoire and styles, but as with musical skills, there are also non-musical skills that are specific to contemporary music, requiring a degree of specialisation. As (primarily) a specialist in the performance of contemporary music, I will cover both specialised and general non-musical skills to show the full range required by freelancers.

Although my focus is UK-based musicians and their careers within the UK's new music scene, many of the skills and conclusions can be applied much more widely, not just to other countries but to musicians across many specialties, genres, and styles. This chapter has two main parts. One is a case study of one of my own touring projects, examining the many skills and costs required during the two years of commissioning and performing. The second is a survey of mid-career freelancing contemporary music performers that sheds further light on the range of skills developed and utilised by 21st-century musicians, their approach to self-training in these skills, the time and financial pressures of self-managed work, and some of the troubling discriminatory issues that they face as freelancers.

#### **2. The 21st-Century Music "Industry"**

Most musicians and researchers would agree that there is no single music industry, but many different intersecting cultural industries (Williamson and Cloonan 2007; Dromey and Haferkorn 2018). Contemporary classical music is a relatively small and idiosyncratic part of this larger cultural ecology but shares many main features with other larger sectors, and it is subject to the same economic conditions. Although the current generation of freelance musicians faces many new challenges, the economic environment is not so different from the industry of the past. Since the late 18th century, performers have faced similar challenges of self-representation, self-promotion, and tour logistics as well as the economic pressures of live concerts (McGuinness 2003). However, it is also clear that the internet has transformed what it means to be a musician, alongside broader funding and economic changes that have demanded new skills and knowledge (Rogers 2013). Although I touch on this transformation of the industry in this chapter and discuss the views of musicians in my survey, my aim is to provide a snapshot of the skills and economic conditions of the contemporary music performer today, whether these are skills that have been required for centuries or skills that have only emerged in the post-internet age.

There have been a few insightful research projects touching on the specific skills required to be a freelance musician in the internet age. Wilson and Stokes (2002) identify many of the business skills that are required of musicians, stating that their research has demonstrated

the need to reconcile the virtues of "independence" with such qualities as appropriate partnership and promotion strategies, effective communication skills and financial self-sufficiency in order to optimise exchange conditions for cultural entrepreneurship. Such a reconciliation demands an unusual ability to combine understanding and experience of financial and management affairs with specialist music knowledge and skills. (Wilson and Stokes 2002, p. 51)

Susan Coulson's (2012) interviews with classical musicians in Northeast England offer further insights. She calls them "accidental entrepreneurs", with few of them considering themselves to be running a business and most rejecting the label of "entrepreneurial". Nevertheless, they were likely to self-identify "business-like" behaviours and skills such as organising their projects and maintaining their networks and to emphasise co-operation and community as their priorities (Coulson 2012, p. 251). Coulson identifies a danger in discussing musicians' work in terms of economic impact and, as previously mentioned, I agree that these skills should be measured as tools for artistic aims rather than in terms of entrepreneurial success. Indeed, Coulson's findings chime with my own experience of the current generation of contemporary music performers, who value collaboration and a sense of community over competition.

In another chapter in this volume, Davidson and Krause discuss the demands of a portfolio career on chamber musicians in Australia. Their case study on the GM Quartet shows how the quartet's inclusion in a prestigious series, "enables them to brand the quartet as a distinctive entity when promoting themselves as individuals or members of other ensembles in other forums such as broadcasting and recordings", but these benefits must be weighed against the time commitment required of all of the members and the other opportunities and responsibilities within their diverse portfolios. For them, "the ensemble is not a route to financial stability; rather, each member enjoys the diversification and many different and varied forms of performance".

Gross and Musgrave (2020) have highlighted the psychological pressures faced by self-managed musicians. They discuss the many roles and "logistical and organisational skills and knowledge" required of musicians across a range of genres:

Many of those we spoke to had a wide variety of roles within their musical work. For instance, some of the roles we heard about alongside music making and music performance involved artist management, starting their own record labels, teaching music . . . applying to third-party agencies, consulting, having a radio show . . . running choirs or producing for theatres. (Gross and Musgrave 2020, p. 43)

Significantly, they found that "becoming your own brand and presenting what you have to offer in the digital sphere has become a full-time occupation" (ibid.). For emerging artists, it is vital to "catch the attention of a live agent" and, even for established professionals signed to a label, "online work for many is part of a daily routine" (ibid.). On the question of whether the current generation of musicians faces new challenges, Gross and Musgrave argue that the current digital environment "exaggerates existing conditions while producing new ones", which can result in a disconnect between perceived success and financial security. As one of their interviewees explained:

Because of the way the music industry works, it's all sort of sold to people. It's smoke and mirrors. . . . From the way you have to promote yourself on social media, some people think I'm a millionaire! [But] I live in my Mum's loft. (Interviewee quoted in Gross and Musgrave 2020, p. 51)

Kirsten Thomson (2013) concurs that the internet age has created unique opportunities and challenges for musicians, stating that "technology has ushered in this era of artist as a free agent, both in control of his or her creative output and able to leverage value on the open market" but also documenting the large number of income sources musicians need to juggle in order to sustain a viable career (Thomson 2013, p. 523). The specific skills and economic environment of contemporary music have been much less researched, with the majority of these studies examining the conditions for composers through academic surveys (Smith and Thwaites 2019; Farrell and Notareschi 2021) and surveys by peak bodies (Sound and Music 2015; Bleicher 2016). With performers forming a vital component of contemporary music's creative ecology, examining their skills and challenges in more detail is vital to ensuring the ongoing sustainability of the whole new music sector.

#### **3. Case Study: Applying the Freelancer Skillset in Tours 2018–2019**

In order to examine the skills required of a self-managed performer, I will begin by discussing my own experiences. I am primarily a soloist, specialising in new works combining the piano with new technologies, and have collaborated with many of the world's leading composers, performing 120 world premieres. I have also had a parallel career as a chamber musician, however, performing as a core member of Ensemble Offspring and the Marsyas Trio, and in many guest performances with other UK and Australian ensembles. In 2018 and 2019, I toured a series of programmes featuring newly commissioned works, all using different

combinations of piano and multimedia. The majority of these programmes featured Alexander Schubert's (2018) internet culture-focused work *WIKI-PIANO.NET*. These programmes were performed in different combinations in 27 performances, featuring at major festivals and series across the UK, Denmark, Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Australia. As sensitive details will be discussed, I have anonymised the composers as well as the presenters when discussing specific negotiations, budgets, and correspondences. I have divided the skillsets into several major categories. Although there are various overlaps, there are also clear distinctions between skills in business and management, legal expertise, marketing and PR, managing budgets, and managing the audio/visual technical requirements of contemporary music.

#### *3.1. Management and Self-Representation*

Although management agencies are still taking on emerging musicians as clients, in my experience, this is rare for freelancers working in contemporary music. Indeed, of all the musicians interviewed as part of this research, only one had representation in Europe. For self-managed freelancing musicians, many of the tasks and roles that might have been taken on by agents and managers must be filled by the musicians themselves. And even for those with management, freelancing musicians still need to understand these skills and share many of the responsibilities with their managers.

#### 3.1.1. Networking

Networking is vital for freelancers who are attempting to build relationships with powerful curators and directors. Although networking has become a fundamental part of the industry, it is a skill that musicians are rarely trained in and that many introverted musicians (myself included) find difficult. Locations for networking vary widely. I have had the opportunity to meet curators at concerts on many occasions. These are often random meetings, however, and can be difficult for those without any mutual contacts. In many cases, luck plays a large role in gaining the ear of the right curator.

During the 2018–2019 tour, I also attended events whose primary aim was to create networking opportunities. The most prominent of these was Classical NEXT, held annually in Europe—those I attended were in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Hannover (Germany). Classical NEXT attracts festival directors, publishers, and curators from a wide variety of countries (including most of Europe, a number of countries in South America and Asia, and large contingents from Canada and Australia). Although I found this musical marketplace initially daunting, I have had increasing success over the course of three attendances at this event by developing better strategies for building networks and pitching proposals. I was then selected

for a showcase performance in the 2022 iteration, facilitating even greater access and visibility to curators and directors.

Although networking opportunities are theoretically open to all, networking is a practice that can advantage those from privileged, "insider" backgrounds and disadvantage many structurally disadvantaged groups, that is, groups whose disadvantage is embedded within the structure and practices of organisations and institutions. This includes women, members of ethnic minorities, trans and non-binary people, and people who are disabled or neurodiverse (see further discussion below). Another negative side effect of networking is the exacerbation of alcohol overconsumption. Melissa Dobson (2010) has examined the role of alcohol as a career facilitator in socio-professional contexts, particularly after concerts, and argued that the availability of alcohol as well as its cultural acceptance among musicians can lead to a much higher average intake of alcohol, exacerbating addiction and other mental health problems (Dobson 2010, p. 249).

#### 3.1.2. Pitching

Pitching a programme involves contacting a curator and sending a proposal in the form of a programme list and short description. Some curators respond well to themes or other "hooks", and many respond well to proposals utilising professional visual design and photographs. I utilised both of these strategies during this touring period, but I find it difficult to ascertain how much they contributed to a proposal's success. Even for a very successful tour, pitching has a low success rate, making it very time- and labour-intensive. I sent out 111 proposals to festivals and curators from 2017 onwards, which resulted in 27 performances of solo piano and multimedia repertoire in 2018 and 2019—a 24% success rate. Only four of these resulted from "cold calls", where I had no prior contact with the curator or connection via a featured composer—-an overall success rate of 7% when considering the cold calls alone. Even for existing relationships, many follow-ups were often required (in one case up to seven times) to get a response. Although I had complete control over the choice of programmes and presentation to the curators, the extra time and labour of designing, contacting, and following up required many additional hours each week—a significant addition to any musician's schedule.

#### 3.1.3. Negotiation

The final stage of discussions with a presenter is the negotiation of a fee and conditions. In these situations, a representative is far better placed to argue the value of a musician than they are themselves, given an individual's lack of points of comparison for fees and the impossibility of objectively judging one's own value. My own negotiations often featured at least one stage of requesting a better fee or conditions, but the power imbalance when negotiating with large organisations

meant that substantial changes were rare. In the past, I accepted performances for no fee, and emerging performers will often accept these terms in return for the opportunity to perform at a major venue or festival.

#### 3.1.4. Project Management

Planning and presenting a contemporary music concert, even with the support of the presenting organisation or festival, require project management skills. For newly commissioned works, I needed to manage the fundraising and contract writing as well as the negotiations with the composers. In the lead-up to an event, a photographer, designer, PR agent, and programming assistant were often required. In addition, presenters often have many staff requiring different types of information to first negotiate the event and then prepare for it. In one extreme case, the email exchanges with venue staff included:


On the day of a concert, up to 16 staff need management—in one case, I was managing an electronics assistant, a venue manager, two venue AV staff, two lighting staff, a photographer, a piano tuner, a film crew of three, the barman/catering for the interval, the front-of-house staff and two ushers, and my PR agent (who was still organising media engagements on the day of the concert). Managing all of these staff while simultaneously setting up and rehearsing for a concert is a challenging skill that few musicians receive any training in. The logistics of touring also require significant time and organisation, booking travel and accommodation, and planning travel between airports, hotels, and venues with large amounts of equipment. Planning these logistics while also keeping to very tight budgets requires months of preparation.

### 3.1.5. Legal Expertise

When drafting and negotiating contracts, as well as other music business decisions, I needed a wide range of knowledge of many areas of law. Touring requires knowledge of international tax treaties, visas, and work permits. Drafting contracts for composers requires an understanding of standard contract clauses and language. Negotiations with presenters require an even wider and deeper knowledge of many areas of law. Many musicians have little training or knowledge in these areas, leaving them open to inadvertently agreeing to non-standard or even exploitative contracts. For example, liability and insurance clauses can seem particularly opaque to the inexperienced. In one case, negotiating the clauses around public liability insurance and liability transference required me to undertake a close reading of that country's insurance law, which saved me hundreds of pounds in costs. Rights over recordings can also have many confusing components. In one contract, I surrendered the commercial rights over the live recording of the concert but negotiated restrictions over the specific ways it could be featured and exploited by the presenter. Many early career musicians lack the experience to successfully negotiate changes to these clauses, putting them at a disadvantage compared to musicians with professional representation.

#### *3.2. Marketing and PR*

Although many presenters have their own marketing plans, the majority require artists to implement their own plans to be able to draw an audience while under pressure and ensure a commercial success. The pressure is even greater for arrangements where the musician is receiving a door-split for their fee or taking on the financial risk of hiring the venue.

### 3.2.1. Print Marketing

My marketing for concerts in the tour involved a combination of physical media and online platforms. Some presenters produced physical media such as season flyers themselves, but additional concert-specific flyers were mostly left to the artists. However, with the cost of design, photography printing, and distribution factored in, the cost–benefit ratio does not always make this an efficient marketing tool. I produced flyers for only five of the 27 concerts in this tour (with design/printing/distribution for four of these totalling GBP 1100), although I also distributed series flyers produced by several venues. As with all of these skills, self-designing marketing materials can reduce these costs, but this also comes with the cost of the musician's time and labour as well as the prior costs of specialist software and self-training in graphic design.

### 3.2.2. Online Marketing

During this tour, I relied much more heavily on online marketing. I have a moderately strong (by contemporary music standards) social media following of 5200 followers across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter: moderately high in comparison to many new music soloists and chamber groups, but certainly not the highest, and minute in comparison to major classical organisations such as orchestras or in comparison to musicians in popular music genres, who all consequently wield substantial marketing power compared to contemporary music performers.

My strategy for social media marketing focused on a constant stream of new content across different platforms, often balancing the personal and the professional.

Creating this content and curating four different social media sites (including edited videos for YouTube) with multiple posts per week in the lead-up to a major concert were very time-consuming but have resulted in an average doubling of my audience numbers compared to previous tours. Alongside this distribution of content, documenting events for future marketing requires significant investment, including photography as well as recording and filming concerts. This is very difficult, if not impossible, to do well without outsourcing these tasks to professionals with the right skills and equipment, although such outsourcing often totals over GBP 1000, sometimes resulting in all profits from a concert being applied to cover documentation costs alone. Potential audience members can also be reached more directly through the use of email lists: I have relatively small lists numbering close to 500 people in total, although the difficulty of enlisting new members to the lists and increasing the use of email filters make this a limited tool in comparison to social media, although still valuable for communicating with audience members who are less active on social media.

#### 3.2.3. Public Relations

Public relations (PR) is also a crucial component of any marketing campaign, with the exposure of a feature article or review being worth thousands of pounds in marketing value. As part of this, a press release needs to be written, designed, and sent to dozens of press contacts two-to-three months in advance. Although many of the contact details for arts editors and TV/radio producers are now available online, a PR consultant has the advantage of established relationships with journalists to draw upon. Again, the time–cost benefit needs to be weighed. With the aid of funding, I hired PR consultants for eight performances of this tour at a significant cost (GBP 550–1500 per concert).

#### *3.3. Fundraising and Budgeting*

Besides the skills involved in undertaking a tour, there are many major costs involved. Fundraising involves a combination of application to grants from both public funding (such as through the Arts Council England) and non-government foundations and trusts (such as through the PRS Foundation and the RVW Trust), crowdfunding through platforms such as Kickstarter, and approaching private donors, all of which I undertook to fund this period of commissioning and touring. Grant applications can take weeks or months of work, with many requiring more than 20 pages detailing the planned project, its performances, its impact on the community, and the budget and budget justification. My crowdfunding campaigns relied on a persistent month-long campaign of emails and social media posts, offering rewards such as free tickets to concerts, listing in programmes, and an invitation to an afternoon party that I hosted for the donors to meet the composers. Enlisting

donors took the consistent cultivation of these relationships over five-to-ten years and inviting potential donors to concerts in hopes of them being interested in supporting a project when called upon.

Even with significant success in the fundraising for these projects, the costs for any event are high. To demonstrate this, I present the budget for a particular section of the two-year tour in Table 1. Three works were premiered, and the programme was then toured to three other venues for a total of four performances. Both public and private funding supported the project. As it can be seen, despite the funding and fees, I was left with only GBP 775 as profit for a project that required at least three months of intensive preparation for four performances (over three more months), with the majority of my fees being used to balance the budget. A lower-paid European performance that did not cover airfares was included in the tour as part of my long-term career goals in that country as well as some slightly better-paid performances in UK venues, including a festival, a pub-based series, and a university. The costs involved were relatively modest compared to other events, where flights, flyers, and (for self-presented events) the hiring of the venue and staff added thousands of pounds to the expenses.

The profits could be increased through less investment in the marketing/PR and documentation of the event, but I consider these as long-term investments towards future performances, so I weighed these costs against the opportunity cost of removing them from the budget. This type of investment is only an option for performers with a separate source of income—in my case, my academic position. Another possible solution would be applying for a larger grant, but this can be difficult when most public grants and trusts have tight limits for individuals as opposed to organisations or would be unlikely to award a larger grant for a relatively small-scale project. Some schemes are only available for commissioning funds or favour funding for commissioning over performance costs. In addition, most funders will not offer grants to projects requiring them to cover more than 75% of the costs, with some explicitly stating this as a condition (PRS Foundation 2021). Most importantly, many funding schemes do not account for the full extent of the administrative time required by performers to manage the project, including the application for the grant itself.

Given both the scarcity of funding, and the huge demand for it by performers, it should be clear why most solo/chamber performers of contemporary music require alternative sources of income. It also demonstrates the importance of publicly available funding schemes—without these, many contemporary music projects would simply be unviable.


**Table 1.** Budget for a series of four concerts, 2018–2019.

Source: Table by author.

#### *3.4. Technical Skills and Organisation*

This tour featured works combining the piano with live technologies, which are the core of my current commissioning/performance projects. The use of electronics and video is a common feature of recent contemporary music, and most soloists and chamber musicians need at least a basic familiarity with the technology to communicate their requirements to venues. Unlike many of the other skills discussed, the skills around the use of audio-visual digital technologies are specific to contemporary music and are only occasionally required by solo/chamber musicians performing historical repertoire.

#### 3.4.1. Knowledge of Equipment and Software

My touring programmes required investment in equipment—cables, adapters, and a sound interface to allow for ease of touring. Although most venues have the required cables and connectors, the precise inventory of each venue would always differ, and it became vital to have my own adapters and cables to supplement the venue's equipment. Building this set of equipment has required ongoing research and investment over the past decade.

The programmes also required a working knowledge of a number of digital audio workspaces (DAWs) and other software. These included: Max for complex live processing (using patches built by composers), Ableton for other live processing and samples, Logic as an alternative for samples (required by some composers), QLab for the syncing of video with click tracks and other elements and the web-based score performance application for *WIKI-PIANO.NET*, with some works requiring several of these to be used simultaneously. Being able to manage the electronics/video parts was not enough; I also needed to prepare and design all of the transitions to make them as seamless and swift as possible, which required many hours of planning and rehearsal. It should be noted that although my programmes utilised a lot of technology, I only required up to a five-speaker sound distribution—many solo/chamber electro-acoustic performers need to manage many more speakers and far more complex electronics parts.

#### 3.4.2. Communication of Technical Requirements

Communication with the venues about the required equipment was also crucial for concert preparation. Detailed discussions regarding the connectivity options for projectors, the locations of power points, available microphones, lighting, and details of the specific PA (public address) system were required for each concert. Communication about the musical needs of each piece further included the number of audio inputs, the location of foldback, and the balance between the electronics and live parts. A typical email is shown below, where I explain the need for a mixer to switch the video source between two different laptops (out of three laptops that were required for this performance):

For the video mixer—I think we should only need one. If you can mute the screen between pieces then that works fine, but do note that for some works the HDMI signal will come from my laptop and for others from Ben's at the desk, so there needs to be an elegant enough way to switch between these.

For the keyboard, I can bring mine (49 keys) but if a larger one can be found, that would be ideal. Just needs to be MIDI, not weighted or sound producing.

Can I just check that the mixing desk will take at least 9 inputs? And both XLR and jacks?

For lighting, I'll need just one spot above the keyboard, or one on each side (to cancel out shadows).

I have attached a stage plan for your reference. (Kanga 2019)

The stage plan mentioned in the email (Figure 1) is a vital tool for communicating these many technical requirements.

**Figure 1.** Stage plan created by the author for a Cambridge Musical Festival performance, 13 November 2019. Source: Figure by author. **Figure 1.** Stage plan created by the author for a Cambridge Music Festival performance, 13 November 2019. Source: Figure by author.

#### 3.4.3. The Costs of Performing with Technology 3.4.3. The Costs of Performing with Technology

technologies.

*3.5. The Freelancer's Time* 

There are significant time and financial costs to these technical requirements. The setup and soundcheck on the day require an additional four–six hours to a normal setup and an extra hour for packdown. Substantial time is required to communicate with the venues as well as preparing the electronics, including transitions, requiring many hours of additional rehearsal time. Each new software platform requires self-training over many weeks or even months, and the total costs of even basic cables and adapters add up quickly. In some cases, a recital will be so complex that an assistant is required and paid out of one's own performance fee, as was the case in the budget shown above. All of these requirements create significant There are significant time and financial costs to these technical requirements. The setup and soundcheck on the day require an additional four–six hours to a normal setup and an extra hour for packdown. Substantial time is required to communicate with the venues as well as preparing the electronics, including transitions, requiring many hours of additional rehearsal time. Each new software platform requires self-training over many weeks or even months, and the total costs of even basic cables and adapters add up quickly. In some cases, a recital will be so complex that

All of these tasks took much more time than the time spent on the music. In the weeks leading up to some of the bigger events with multiple premieres, I was spending 24 h of practice a week on the programme while spending around 36 h a week on all of the other non-musical tasks. In smaller chamber groups, this

barriers to the 21st-century musician in engaging in new music that integrates new

13

an assistant is required and paid out of one's own performance fee, as was the case in the budget shown above. All of these requirements create significant barriers to the 21st-century musician in engaging in new music that integrates new technologies.

#### *3.5. The Freelancer's Time*

All of these tasks took much more time than the time spent on the music. In the weeks leading up to some of the bigger events with multiple premieres, I was spending 24 hours of practice a week on the programme while spending around 36 hours a week on all of the other non-musical tasks. In smaller chamber groups, this additional administrative burden can be shared by the members, requiring collaborative planning, the sharing of contacts, and the distribution of tasks alongside the musical tasks of learning and rehearsing repertoire. In larger ensembles, distributing these tasks among all of the members becomes inefficient, and a small team around an artistic director usually takes on these responsibilities. In most cases, across this spectrum of solo and chamber music, the additional administrative workload is unpaid or only partially covered by funding. As we will see in the following section, many freelance musicians share my experience and observations about the skills and workload demands of the industry.

#### **4. Survey of UK-Based Contemporary Music Performers**

In order to place my own experiences within a larger context, a survey was undertaken in March–April 2019 of freelance solo/chamber musicians, all working in contemporary music in the UK. The survey was sent to a small number of selected performer colleagues by email as well as being posted on Twitter to elicit a wider range of responses, with this tweet receiving 10,128 impressions. Only responses from participants with established careers and a significant track record of featuring contemporary music as solo/chamber performers in the UK were accepted. Although some emerging and international performers also replied, their responses have not been included in this discussion. A total of 14 musicians were selected as eligible, all of whom are mid-career (age 28–48) UK-based contemporary music performers, performing across a number of instruments (piano, flute, clarinet, cello, guitar, percussion, voice). All have established careers and perform regularly at major festivals and venues around the UK, and all of them are self-managed. The survey covered the non-musical skills they use as part of their working lives as well as the challenges they have faced as freelancers. It consisted of a series of open questions to elicit free responses, with some participants writing extended multi-paragraph answers to each question. Follow-up questions followed in several cases via email interviews. All of the participants gave their consent to be included in the research, and all have been anonymised to protect their privacy. The main survey questions are provided in Appendix A.
