George Musgrave
Biographic Data
| ID | 371072 |
|---|---|
| NAME | George Musgrave |
| GIVEN NAMES | George |
| FAMILY NAME | Musgrave |
| SIGNATURE | MUSGRAVE G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Goldsmiths University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4336-5443 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The ‘Creative Labour Sustainability Framework’: Developing a governance-oriented risk assessment for harm prevention in the creative industries
Extant literature demonstrates an increased prevalence of mental distress and suicidality among those working in creative and media industries, including the music industry, acting/film/television, video games and journalism. In response, a range of creative industries-specific mental health interventions have been formulated. However, existing approaches focus either on individual wellbeing outcomes or ethical commitments offering limited utilit…
Arts, cultural engagement and health inequalities: Critical reflections on the UK Creative Health Review (2023)
The Creative Health Review (CHR) published in 2023 is an advocacy document by the UK National Centre for Creative Health and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. The CHR defines creative health activities as visual and performing arts, crafts, film, literature, cooking, gardening, and visits to cultural centres and heritage sites and claims that active promotion of such activities in socially disadvantaged communities …
Psychic disjunctures in Denmark: Danish female musicians’ anxieties as a labour of believability
A recent survey (n=986) by this research team as part of a project entitled ‘When Music Speaks’ found that female, career-oriented musicians in Denmark were an at-risk group for clinically significant anxiety. This article draws on semi-structured interviews with eight female respondents to this survey to explore potential psychosocial causes. We undertake thematic analysis within a theoretical architecture of ‘believability’, and in doing so ack…
Musicians, the music industry, and suicide: Epidemiology, risk factors, and suggested prevention approaches
Evidence suggests that popular musicians are an at-risk occupational group for suicide, with the deaths of famous musicians in the ‘27 Club’ reinforcing culturally powerful notions of musicianship and early mortality. This cross-disciplinary paper advances our understanding of the factors that may increase the risk for suicide among musicians and offers clinical recommendations around screening and prevention. First, we synthesise extant literatu…
WeAreViable, aren’t we? Music careers, state support, and the political feasibility of a Basic Income for the Arts
During Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, many musicians failed to qualify for income support, leading the Government to announce it would only “support viable jobs”. This implication that creative work was not viable angered many, leading to the hashtag #WeAreViable on X (formerly Twitter) to defend the musical economy. However, given evidence concerning musicians’ incomes, are musical careers, in fact, viable? Have they ever been? This paper criti…
Determinants of Anxiety, Depression and Subjective Wellbeing Among Musicians in Denmark: Findings From the ‘When Music Speaks’ Project
Some studies have suggested that professional musicians may suffer from elevated levels of mental ill health compared to both non‐professional musicians and the general public. The aim of this study was to explore the levels of anxiety, depression, and subjective wellbeing among musicians in a country famed for high levels of wellbeing: Denmark. More specifically, we sought to evaluate the impact of age, gender, income, and subjective career stat…
Is it premature to formulate recommendations for policy and practice, based on culture and health research? A robust critique of the CultureForHealth (2022) report
Introduction: Arts and health practice and research has expanded rapidly since the turn of the millennium. A World Health Organization scoping review of a large body of evidence claims positive health benefits from arts participation and makes recommendations for policy and implementation of arts for health initiatives. A more recent scoping review (CultureForHealth) also claims that current evidence is sufficient to form recommendations for poli…
The dark side of optimism: Musical dreams, belief, and gambling
Being a career musician is typified by high risk. Despite low earnings, many musicians pursue their careers driven by self-belief, high expectations, and optimism. However, failure to obtain the success many optimistically aspire to has been seen to pose psychosocial risks relating to mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. While studies have shown dispositional optimism as having many health-related benefits, it has also been co…
Predicting anxiety, depression, and wellbeing in professional and nonprofessional musicians
People working in the music industry report significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population, but to date, studies have not explored the differences between professional musicians and those who perform music primarily for recreation. In this study, 254 musicians from 13 countries completed measures of anxiety, depression, and wellbeing as well as answering questions about their professional status, level of succes…
Musicians, their relationships, and their wellbeing: Creative labour, relational work
Evidence points towards the key role that networks of both formal and informal relationships play in musicians' careers. Alongside this, these careers have in recent decades become increasingly understood as engendering emotional stressors around mental health and wellbeing. However, what is the relationship between these two phenomena? In other words, what is the affective impact on musicians' mental health of maintaining, understanding and nego…
Music and wellbeing vs. musicians’ wellbeing: Examining the paradox of music-making positively impacting wellbeing, but musicians suffering from poor mental health
This paper interrogates two different perspectives on music and wellbeing. The first positions musical practice as being beneficial for emotional wellbeing and mental health, whilst the second positions musical work – building a career as a musician – as potentially detrimental. This apparent paradox matters because the clinical findings which establish a causal link between music and wellbeing are being disembedded from the contexts in which tho…
Does Spotify Create Attachment: Algorithmic Playlists, Intermediation and the Artist-Fan Relationship
This paper seeks to measure the extent to which algorithmically generated playlists, conceptualised herein as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu 1984), create 'attachment' between consumers of music and producers of music. This was undertaken following debates in the professional music press problematising the ability of streaming platforms to create relationships between artists and listeners and, in a wider discussion, to generate sustainable in…
Avicii: True Stories (Levan Tsikurishvili, dir)
Well-Being and Mental Health in the Gig Economy
A response is needed to the numerous issues spurred by the expansion of the gig economy, where flexible patterns of employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs. In this context of the exponential growth of the digital economy and underlying business models the largest nationwide study of its kind into the impact of the working conditions in the UK music industry ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ has been conducted by MusicTank/University of Westmin…
Musicians, their relationships, and their wellbeing: Creative labour, relational work
Evidence points towards the key role that networks of both formal and informal relationships play in musicians' careers. Alongside this, these careers have in recent decades become increasingly understood as engendering emotional stressors around mental health and wellbeing. However, what is the relationship between these two phenomena? In other words, what is the affective impact on musicians' mental health of maintaining, understanding and nego…
Music and wellbeing vs. musicians’ wellbeing: Examining the paradox of music-making positively impacting wellbeing, but musicians suffering from poor mental health
This paper interrogates two different perspectives on music and wellbeing. The first positions musical practice as being beneficial for emotional wellbeing and mental health, whilst the second positions musical work – building a career as a musician – as potentially detrimental. This apparent paradox matters because the clinical findings which establish a causal link between music and wellbeing are being disembedded from the contexts in which tho…
WeAreViable, aren’t we? Music careers, state support, and the political feasibility of a Basic Income for the Arts
During Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, many musicians failed to qualify for income support, leading the Government to announce it would only “support viable jobs”. This implication that creative work was not viable angered many, leading to the hashtag #WeAreViable on X (formerly Twitter) to defend the musical economy. However, given evidence concerning musicians’ incomes, are musical careers, in fact, viable? Have they ever been? This paper criti…
Determinants of Anxiety, Depression and Subjective Wellbeing Among Musicians in Denmark: Findings From the ‘When Music Speaks’ Project
Some studies have suggested that professional musicians may suffer from elevated levels of mental ill health compared to both non‐professional musicians and the general public. The aim of this study was to explore the levels of anxiety, depression, and subjective wellbeing among musicians in a country famed for high levels of wellbeing: Denmark. More specifically, we sought to evaluate the impact of age, gender, income, and subjective career stat…
Well-Being and Mental Health in the Gig Economy
A response is needed to the numerous issues spurred by the expansion of the gig economy, where flexible patterns of employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs. In this context of the exponential growth of the digital economy and underlying business models the largest nationwide study of its kind into the impact of the working conditions in the UK music industry ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ has been conducted by MusicTank/University of Westmin…
Avicii: True Stories (Levan Tsikurishvili, dir)
Music and wellbeing vs. musicians’ wellbeing: Examining the paradox of music-making positively impacting wellbeing, but musicians suffering from poor mental health
This paper interrogates two different perspectives on music and wellbeing. The first positions musical practice as being beneficial for emotional wellbeing and mental health, whilst the second positions musical work – building a career as a musician – as potentially detrimental. This apparent paradox matters because the clinical findings which establish a causal link between music and wellbeing are being disembedded from the contexts in which tho…
Does Spotify Create Attachment: Algorithmic Playlists, Intermediation and the Artist-Fan Relationship
This paper seeks to measure the extent to which algorithmically generated playlists, conceptualised herein as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu 1984), create 'attachment' between consumers of music and producers of music. This was undertaken following debates in the professional music press problematising the ability of streaming platforms to create relationships between artists and listeners and, in a wider discussion, to generate sustainable in…
Predicting anxiety, depression, and wellbeing in professional and nonprofessional musicians
People working in the music industry report significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population, but to date, studies have not explored the differences between professional musicians and those who perform music primarily for recreation. In this study, 254 musicians from 13 countries completed measures of anxiety, depression, and wellbeing as well as answering questions about their professional status, level of succes…
Musicians, their relationships, and their wellbeing: Creative labour, relational work
Evidence points towards the key role that networks of both formal and informal relationships play in musicians' careers. Alongside this, these careers have in recent decades become increasingly understood as engendering emotional stressors around mental health and wellbeing. However, what is the relationship between these two phenomena? In other words, what is the affective impact on musicians' mental health of maintaining, understanding and nego…
Is it premature to formulate recommendations for policy and practice, based on culture and health research? A robust critique of the CultureForHealth (2022) report
Introduction: Arts and health practice and research has expanded rapidly since the turn of the millennium. A World Health Organization scoping review of a large body of evidence claims positive health benefits from arts participation and makes recommendations for policy and implementation of arts for health initiatives. A more recent scoping review (CultureForHealth) also claims that current evidence is sufficient to form recommendations for poli…
The dark side of optimism: Musical dreams, belief, and gambling
Being a career musician is typified by high risk. Despite low earnings, many musicians pursue their careers driven by self-belief, high expectations, and optimism. However, failure to obtain the success many optimistically aspire to has been seen to pose psychosocial risks relating to mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. While studies have shown dispositional optimism as having many health-related benefits, it has also been co…
Musicians, the music industry, and suicide: Epidemiology, risk factors, and suggested prevention approaches
Evidence suggests that popular musicians are an at-risk occupational group for suicide, with the deaths of famous musicians in the ‘27 Club’ reinforcing culturally powerful notions of musicianship and early mortality. This cross-disciplinary paper advances our understanding of the factors that may increase the risk for suicide among musicians and offers clinical recommendations around screening and prevention. First, we synthesise extant literatu…
WeAreViable, aren’t we? Music careers, state support, and the political feasibility of a Basic Income for the Arts
During Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, many musicians failed to qualify for income support, leading the Government to announce it would only “support viable jobs”. This implication that creative work was not viable angered many, leading to the hashtag #WeAreViable on X (formerly Twitter) to defend the musical economy. However, given evidence concerning musicians’ incomes, are musical careers, in fact, viable? Have they ever been? This paper criti…
Determinants of Anxiety, Depression and Subjective Wellbeing Among Musicians in Denmark: Findings From the ‘When Music Speaks’ Project
Some studies have suggested that professional musicians may suffer from elevated levels of mental ill health compared to both non‐professional musicians and the general public. The aim of this study was to explore the levels of anxiety, depression, and subjective wellbeing among musicians in a country famed for high levels of wellbeing: Denmark. More specifically, we sought to evaluate the impact of age, gender, income, and subjective career stat…
The ‘Creative Labour Sustainability Framework’: Developing a governance-oriented risk assessment for harm prevention in the creative industries
Extant literature demonstrates an increased prevalence of mental distress and suicidality among those working in creative and media industries, including the music industry, acting/film/television, video games and journalism. In response, a range of creative industries-specific mental health interventions have been formulated. However, existing approaches focus either on individual wellbeing outcomes or ethical commitments offering limited utilit…
Arts, cultural engagement and health inequalities: Critical reflections on the UK Creative Health Review (2023)
The Creative Health Review (CHR) published in 2023 is an advocacy document by the UK National Centre for Creative Health and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing. The CHR defines creative health activities as visual and performing arts, crafts, film, literature, cooking, gardening, and visits to cultural centres and heritage sites and claims that active promotion of such activities in socially disadvantaged communities …
Psychic disjunctures in Denmark: Danish female musicians’ anxieties as a labour of believability
A recent survey (n=986) by this research team as part of a project entitled ‘When Music Speaks’ found that female, career-oriented musicians in Denmark were an at-risk group for clinically significant anxiety. This article draws on semi-structured interviews with eight female respondents to this survey to explore potential psychosocial causes. We undertake thematic analysis within a theoretical architecture of ‘believability’, and in doing so ack…
Psychology (9 works) · Diverse Music Education Insights (7 works) · Mental health (5 works) · Music Therapy and Health (5 works) · Musicians’ Health and Performance (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Psychiatry (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Aesthetics (3 works)