Number of full time musicians in the U.S. 2003-2019, by employment type

In May 2019, there were 1,560 full-time independent musicians working in the United States, up from 1,290 in the previous year. Unfortunately, 2020 will be a difficult year for independent artists, with the coronavirus having led to canceled tours and postponed releases, although many musicians around the world improvised by streaming content to their fans via social media or uploading music to YouTube. Whilst this cannot necessarily make up for lost revenue, smaller artists have worked hard to raise or maintain their profile during the unprecedented crisis.