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Music industry’s attitude to mental health in the spotlight during Mental Health Awareness Week
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 19 May 2016
As this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week continues, the music industry is being placed very much in the spotlight.
Throughout the week, Noisey is publishing a series of articles and short films looking at mental health and music. The first of these films to be put online earlier this week features Bill Ryder-Jones, formerly of The Coral, and Rob Harvey, best known for his work with The Music, who both describe how their sudden rises to fame affected their mental health and how it was dealt with by others in the music industry.
Meanwhile, the Guardian has published an article written by the Music Managers Forum’s Fiona McGugan, looking at how the music business could and should be better at caring for the mental health of its artists.
“Far from the cliché of a cigar-chomping penny counter, a good modern music manager will protect their client’s emotional, mental and physical state just as passionately as their business interests”, she writes. “It’s a role that can make all the difference for artists who may be struggling with the demands of stardom, along with any other mental health challenges they harbour”.
On Friday, as part of the ‘What has the music industry ever done for you?’ strand at CMU Insights @ The Great Escape, we’ll also be exploring these issues. As part of this, we’ll be screening highlights of Noisey’s short films, and CMU Editor Andy Malt will be interviewing Vice’s Alex Hoffman, Bill Ryder-Jones’ manager Ellie Giles and others.
Find out more about ‘What has the music industry ever done for you?’ here, and watch Noisey’s film with Bill Ryder-Jones and Rob Harvey here:
