There’s a lot of discussion at the moment about how musicians are being ripped off by streaming platforms like Spotify. The argument is simple: artists aren’t being paid fairly for their music. It’s a conversation worth having however, I find myself stepping back and asking a different question. Have most musicians in history ever been paid fairly? Or have we simply become used to one unusually lucrative chapter in music history?
By way of example, imagine London in the 1850s – but it could be anywhere in the world at that time. You’re a highly trained violinist performing in a string quartet. You’ve spent years mastering your instrument. You’re talented, disciplined and respected by your peers. How do you earn a living? You play at dinner parties, private gatherings and soirées for wealthy families because recorded music doesn’t exist. If people want music, they have to hire musicians.
It sounds romantic until you realise what it was actually like. You weren’t arriving through the front door as an honoured guest. More often than not, you arrived through the servants’ entrance, performed while the guests socialised, perhaps shared a meal with the household staff afterwards in the servant’s quarters, then quietly left through the back door. You weren’t treated as a celebrity, you were simply hired entertainment no different to countless other trades. And chances are you still needed another job just to pay the rent.
Most musicians were never famous. History is full of extraordinary musicians who were never wealthy. There were organists playing every Sunday in churches, pianists accompanying silent films up and down the land. There were innumerable musicians performing in pubs and taverns and street performers entertaining anyone willing to stop and listen. There were more members of orchestras playing ballet, opera and symphonic concerts. And there were countless highly skilled composers whose music outlived them, even if financial success was not to be had. There have always been millions of talented musicians – very few ever became rich.
Perhaps it was around the 1940s that something changed. Recorded music became a global industry. Radio, records and later television created something relatively new: the music celebrity. Suddenly we had household names. Elvis Presley and The Beatles are two of the most obvious examples of individual and band musicians that became celebrities.
Then came the 1970s and 80s, when enormous record sales created extraordinary wealth for a relatively small number of artists. Musicians owning mansions, fleets of cars and private jets became part of popular culture. For a few decades, it almost looked normal. But perhaps it never was.
Have we reached the end of that era? Today the music industry looks very different. Streaming has changed how people consume music. Technology has made recording accessible to almost everyone. Artists can build studios at home instead of relying on hugely expensive commercial facilities. The barriers to creating music have fallen dramatically and so there are once again many musicians and producers hoping for a big slice of the cake.
Yes, musicians deserve to be paid fairly for their work. But what does “fairly” actually mean? Does it mean enough to make a full-time living? Historically, the answer has almost always been no. For most musicians, it never has.
We’re still just wandering minstrels. Maybe we’re not returning to something new. Maybe we’re returning to something very old. For thousands of years, musicians have travelled, performed, entertained and moved on to the next audience. Sometimes they were welcomed, sometimes admired and occasionally celebrated. Rarely were they wealthy simply for being able to play an instrument or write a melody.
Most of us are not global superstars, not millionaires, just wandering minstrels who learned an instrument, developed a craft, and chose to spend our lives making music for other people.
If that’s true, then perhaps the real value of being a musician was never measured by the size of the cheque. It was measured by the privilege of making music in the first place and seeing a smile on the face of those listening.
