nxtB:now: Overlooked & Underestimated? – On the situation of solo self-employed in the music industry

The self-employed make up an ever-increasing proportion of those active in the music industry. They have enormous potential and unprecedented dynamism, as they are constantly connecting on a project-by-project basis and gaining a great deal of expertise. As the Corona crisis has shown in a drastic way, the financing and support structures for solo self-employed people in Germany are not precisely fitting and not adequately developed. The federal government and states have spontaneously tried to react to this situation. Nevertheless, the financial aids are often not fitting the needs of self-employed and not enough research has been done.

Prof. Dr. Carsten Winter (hmtm Hannover) researches music networks, music cities and new music festivals, as well as solo self-employed people as their drivers. In a short input, he described how the music industry in particular, as a “peoples business” in the context of digitalisation, is producing a steadily growing proportion of solo self-employed people. Music is an active process in which people want to participate, like, share, comment and create. New networking structures, festivals and conferences are constantly emerging, which form the basis of work for solo self-employed people. We identified the needs of solo self-employed people and entrepreneurs and discussed initial approaches for new collaboration and support models for this business structure. Problems were addressed that solo self-employed people have to deal with in the sector’s current structure and as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. These include a lack of structures, insufficient platforms for networking with each other and with companies, and inappropriate insurance models.

Photo: Dan Taylor