Being a Music Performer in French Speaking Switzerland: Relationships to Work and Employment

Abstract

Ordinary musicians are a relatively hard to find population. Based on the results of the research project Musicians’ LIVES carried out between 2012 and 2015, this article presents the working situation of performing musicians in French speaking Switzerland. We compare the social characteristics of the musicians with the active population. We then analyse musicians’ relationship to work and examine the composition of their income. Three main ways of being a musician in Western Switzerland are presented: the “craftsman,” the “teacher” and the “artist.”

Strategies for Multidomain Sequence Analysis in Social Research

“…These demographic dynamics are coupled with transitions out of education into the labor market, which has become more differentiated in recent decades, partly because of the increasing availability of employment arrangements other than full-time jobs (e.g., part-time work) and second jobs (Perrenoud 2020). Temporary contracts and the unemployment rate have remained relatively low compared with most European countries, although long-term unemployment is more widespread than the OECD mean (Lalive and Lehmann 2020).…”

Redistributive Effects of the Taxation of Couples and Families: A Microsimulation Study of Income Tax

“…Indeed, it has also been demonstrated that professional segments are distinguished as much by the "shared situational structure" (statuses, places of employment, types of public, etc., see Bucher & Strauss, 1961) as by the "subjective meaning" given to the professional activity (Hénaut & Poulard, 2018). In this respect, although the Pôle Emploi data make it difficult to understand the meaning given to a particular job, it is still possible to approach it through its structure (Gouyon, 2011;Perrenoud & Bataille, 2017), either within a clearly identified artistic speciality or its dilution across multiple jobs within the sector, as is common in the entertainment sector (Rannou & Roharik, 2006;Bureau et al, 2009). On these grounds, our analyses aim to understand these two aspects of the segmented artistic labour market -job structure and volume of work -whereby the challenge lies in understanding the relevance of these segmentation factors and the determinant factors that place individuals in a given segment.…”

“…Beyond the data processing already carried out, the data used could also be examined using sequence analysis (Robette, 2011) that aims to produce indicators of "stability" for the career paths and a typology of these paths in order to test how their distribution is altered by the changes in regulation. If "multiple disciplines" are part and parcel of artistic professions (Bureau et al, 2009;Gouyon, 2011;Perrenoud & Bataille, 2017), it can then be assumed that this is more or less encouraged, favoured, or even caused by the regulatory framework and the restrictive nature of the conditions of access to the "professional core" segment. This sheds light on the underlying mechanisms for implementing a support policy for artists, in a country that regularly declares its commitment to culture and its…”