Help Musicians
Supporting UK Musicians through the pandemic
The Challenge
The music sector struggled more than most during lockdown. Artists were unable to perform, and as most are freelance, many fell through the gaps of Government support. Help Musicians launched a £5m hardship fund to support to musicians struggling financially. The campaign had two key objectives. The first was to make musicians aware that the help was available, so they could get in touch and benefit from it. The second was to call for more donations from the public, so more money could be added to the fund.
The Solution
We created a series of hard-hitting news moments showing the struggles UK musicians were facing. We led on research highlighting that 99% of UK musicians were worried about their finances and that half said this was impacting their wellbeing. We also highlighted how quickly the fund was being used by musicians, in order to add a strong call for action for the public to make further donations. We also took advantage of additional news hooks - for example, highlighting that the capping of the Government’s Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) would lead to huge additional demand for support from musicians, and conducted further research showing that 96% of musicians had lost the majority of their income. This led to Help Musicians being a key voice for the music industry throughout the pandemic.
