For a few weeks now I've been planning on making a video about the topic of anxiety, depression and substance abuse in the music business. In light of Chris Cornell's recent passing from an apparent suicide, I felt compelled to make a video today about this topic.
It's not the most fun and exciting topic, but it's an important one. A study done in the UK last year concluded musicians are more than three times likely than the general population to suffer from anxiety and depression, and that as many as 70% of musicians deal with one or the other.
Another study done in Australia recently
concluded that out of 13,000 pop or rock stars that died between 1950 and 2014 that on average, they died 20 years younger than the rest of the population. On average, dying in their late 50s or early 60s.
Anxiety, depression and substance abuse are extremely prevalent in the music business and affect musicians at a much greater rate than the general population.
As musicians, it's important that we're aware of these issues and that we avoid what are, unfortunately, fairly common pitfalls in the music industry that far too many musicians succumb to.
Check out the video and hear my thoughts on this topic
here:
