The Death of the Middle-Class Musician

Whether “middle-class musicians” ever really existed

• Several argue the idea is romanticized: historically, most musicians were precarious workers or relied on patrons, with a tiny elite of stars.
• Others say there was a post-war window (clubs, session work, label advances, orchestras) where lots of competent professionals could earn solid but not star-level incomes, and that tier is shrinking.

Music as job vs hobby

• One camp says music should be treated like landscape painting or amateur sports: inherently valuable but rarely a career; most people should expect to do it for love, not income.
• Opponents counter that serious art requires time, training and space to fail; if it’s only a hobby for the well-off, culture narrows and society loses psychological and social benefits.
• Many note that amateurs can and do produce good recordings, but professionals generally set a higher bar, especially for complex genres, large ensembles, teaching, and touring.

Technology, streaming, and AI

• Commenters trace a long trend: recording → radio → internet → streaming → AI all reinforce winner‑take‑all dynamics.
• Streaming is widely seen as structurally underpaying most artists while rewarding catalogs, labels, and platforms; “long tail” dreams largely didn’t materialize.
• Some see AI and ultra-cheap production as the final step that makes mid-tier careers unviable, pushing music further toward patronage, teaching, or side‑gig status.

Live music and local economies

• Recorded music and phones have displaced many situations where live musicians were once “needed” (bars, weddings, background music).
• Pay for bar/club gigs is often flat or worse than decades ago, and many venues only book weekends, making full-time work impractical without heavy travel and side hustles.
• A few note countertrends: more weeknight gigs post‑COVID in some places, busking as relatively lucrative, and fans who intentionally support small acts via merch, Bandcamp, etc.

Platforms, labels, and superstar dynamics

• The article’s 360‑deal example is seen as unusually exploitative but emblematic of a model where the few hits subsidize many losing bets.
• Labels and platforms are described as opaque, payola‑driven, and structurally geared to superstars; “middle-list” acts often lose money for labels and get little leverage.

Class, inequality, and systemic fixes

• Multiple threads note that working musicians increasingly come from wealthier backgrounds who can absorb years of low pay; parallels drawn to actors, fashion, and other “creative” fields.
• This broadens into a long argument about economic inequality, housing costs, UBI, and whether society should explicitly fund more people to pursue arts (and other “dream careers”) versus relying on markets.