Mental health crisis in music industry inspires new initiative
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There is a mental health crisis in the music industry, many insiders agree. A Nashville nonprofit is teaming up with Universal Music Group to deal with it.
Why it matters: The crisis touches everyone from aspiring young musicians in the tumultuous early stages of their careers to top Music Row executives navigating high-stress jobs.
Driving the news: The Music Health Alliance is using a newly established music mental health fund to connect music industry professionals from every rung of the ladder to mental health resources.
- UMG is pumping money into the fund.
Threat level: According to the Greater Nashville Music Census, a large survey of music industry members last year, 29% reported struggling with mental health.
What she's saying: "Mental health has been the furiously fastest growing need within our industry," Music Health Alliance founder Tatum Hauck Allsep tells Axios. "I think it's not new. Since the dawn of time, the creative brain, we've known has fired differently."
- Hauck adds that she doesn't think the music industry has done "a good job taking care of our executives," whose jobs are viewed as light and glamorous, but are actually grueling and highly stressful.
The big picture: The Music Health Alliance launched in 2012 to address broader health care needs in the music industry.
- The organization helps music industry pros buy health insurance, pay for life-saving diagnostic tests and get dental and vision checkups.
Flashback: Hauck Allsep, a former Music Row executive, says she became passionate about helping the music community navigate the health system after her own harrowing experience.
- When she gave birth to twin boys who spent nine weeks in intensive care, she said she was "almost bankrupted by medical bills."
- "I thought my situation was isolated, but I quickly learned from so many friends in the music industry that it wasn't."
The intrigue: The new mental health initiative rolled out a few weeks after singer-songwriter Chappell Roan challenged the industry to take better care of young artists, especially when it comes to their health.
The new fund was in the works prior to Roan's speech, but Hauck Allsep says she appreciated the young artist's perspective.
- "This [need] isn't new, but what is new is the destigmatization of mental health and people feeling comfortable asking for help," she says.
Zoom in: Hauck Allsep says the mental health fund, which is open to current or previous music industry workers nationwide, will do more than provide a therapist's phone number.
- Her team will make individualized recommendations for counselors and psychiatrists in addition to providing grants to offset costs. They can also recommend other funding resources to ensure continuity of care.
- The new fund is an expansion of a preexisting partnership between Universal and Music Health Alliance.
Go deeper for more information on the fund including how to get help.