The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music recently received a presentation from industry experts Tamsin Embleton and Peter Robinson on musicians’ mental health.
At a meeting in the House of Commons, the session addressed the pressing issue of safeguarding the mental health of musicians, an area that has gained significant public and political attention as a change.org petition for ‘Liam’s Law’ surpassed 150,000 signatures.
The petition was started following the death of singer Liam Payne, and calls for greater artist welfare and protections.
Tamsin Embleton, a psychotherapist specialising in the music industry and founder of the Music Industry Therapists Collective (MITC), attended the meeting alongside her colleague Peter Robinson, a music industry counsellor, psychotherapist and media coach.
Both presented topics relating to the unique psychological challenges faced by performers and crew members. They explored the significant stressors inherent in these roles and highlighted to the APPG on Music that musicians are four times more likely to have anxiety disorders and two times more likely to have depression.
Embleton and Robinson looked at the science behind stress by presenting on the limbic system and stress-c curve, as well as describing how four fifths of people are “dandelions that can thrive anywhere, while one fifth are orchids that need a little more care”.
They went on to describe how the music industry is currently working to address mental health concerns and discussed charities and services available, including Help Musicians, Tonic Music and Music Support, as well as the in-house support available at labels including Sony Music – recognising there are some gaps and that musicians may need medium to long-term care and greater support as freelancers.
This aligns with UK Music’s Manifesto for Music, which calls for enhanced protections for freelancers including extending protections related to discrimination and harassment in the Equality Act 2010 to all freelancers.
Members of the APPG on Music asked insightful questions around how legislation could help, including whether amendments could be made to existing legislation. They also asked if other industries have helpful case studies the music industry could use. The meeting concluded with members of the group promising to keep this high on the APPG’s agenda.
The meeting drew a strong, cross-party turnout of Parliamentarians, including Alex Sobel MP, Claire Hughes MP, Jonathan Davies MP, Patrick Hurley MP, James Frith MP, Kieran Mullan MP, Baroness Smith, Gill German MP, and representatives from the offices of Shaun Davies MP and Pete Wishart MP.
Industry figures also joined the discussion, with attendees including Tom Kiehl, Andy Edwards, and Hannah McLennan from UK Music, Martin Ghrabie from BPI, Annabella Coldrick and Kerry Harvey-Piper representing MMF, Jon Collins from LIVE and Andy Dockerty from AdLib.