London is the music industry’s powerhouse, it is arguably the most influential and important city in terms of international relevance and output. It functions as a ‘command and control centre’ for the global music industry (University of Westminster, 2024). Its importance also enables us to review the current status of the music industry without having to look elsewhere. The same applies for the live music scene, as London has an unparalleled 'ladder of progression’ within its varied selection of venues, from the 100-capacity pub backrooms in Camden to the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena (Goldsmiths, 2025). Tibet argues that the prevalence of music and audio within the city creates more opportunities for newcomers: "It’s quite hard to be a foreigner or outsider to London as everyone is also probably a foreigner and/our outsider. There is an immense amount of venues for music and theatre in London and lots of institutions that work with music and a huge amount of artists that are based here. I’d say it’s quite a flourishing scene and has a place to be for all levels of talent. One thing I appreciate is that as a complete beginner to the music scene, you won’t find too much trouble taking the first steps.” This also means that the city is extremely unforgiving about troublemakers within the industry and being a pleasant person to work with is what keeps London running. However, this is of course not specific to London: "Remember that the music industry is smaller than you might think—and word will get around surprisingly quickly if someone is not friendly” (SAE Institute, 2025). Tibet also agrees with this statement, as he believes that being a pleasant person to work with is even more important than your portfolio in the live music scene: "People may not remember if a concert was a great one but they might remember that you were a nice person to be working with. It does give you more credit when you can confidently say that you’ve worked on certain gigs and venues. Though a portfolio isn’t as influential in my part of the industry as it is in, say, as a mixing engineer.”

Live music differs from the other sides of the industry as it has the ability to create way more revenue, especially since music consumption is now dominated by streaming services. However, a live show is a high-risk, one-shot environment for technicians (Istanbul University Press, 2025). Depending on the status of the performing act, they will most probably be booked for other shows in the case of a serious technical problem. The same cannot be said about the technicians responsible for the show: "The live sound environment is a Zero-Fault Domain where the cost of technical failure is public and instantaneous. For the technician, a 'fuck up' (e.g., a total system failure or feedback loop during a headliner set) acts as a reputational rupture” (Goldsmiths, 2025). However, this is definitely not a case of “high risk high reward”, especially for younger live technicians. While the industry relies on 'extreme reliability' as a gatekeeping mechanism (International Journal of Music Business Research, 2024), the amount of stress that this expectation causes is definitely not compensated accordingly. The role of a live technician is notorious for being one of the worst jobs in terms of stress, working hours and payment: “When analyzing the Return on Stress (ROS) across music industry roles, live audio technicians consistently rank at the bottom. While high-level managers face comparable stress, their financial compensation and social status provide a buffer” (Hanorsian et al., 2025). The labor of a live technician remains economically invisible, as they might have to do the standard amount of work or a lot depending on the show, however in most cases this does not change the amount of money they will earn at the end of the day. Goldsmith also argues that the technician is under a Triple Burden': extreme physical exertion, high-stakes cognitive pressure, and chronic financial precarity. Tibet also struggles with the same problems: "I’ve got a terrible life work balance just because of the financial reality of it. Working events is a long job, my normal shift working for a concert is 10-12 hours. That means I kind of sacrifice the whole day for a single gig.” It is practically torture to decide to actively work in this scene if you do not enjoy working with audio or music in some capacity. While dreaming big is an option, just like for any creative industry, the risky nature of this job means that extremely well paying acts rely on the same people that they know and trust. "One thing I can say for all kinds of work is that, no one ever gets into audio tech for the money."

The in-studio and marketing aspects of the mainstream music/audio industry are already experiencing mass lay-offs and fundamental changes to the workflows because of Artificial Intelligence. However, a positive side of the work that a live technician has to do is that they are currently not facing this same threat. While this is mostly due to the amount of physical labour required for the tasks: “The live technician is protected by the Spatial Constraint of Live Events. Since a live gig is, by definition, a physical gathering, the labor required to facilitate it must remain local, physical, and human-centric” (University of Manchester, 2026).  The aspect of relying on trusted and skilled people also applies to this situation. Tibet also supported this statement: "I feel like the emergence of AI might even make my job more valuable over time as people rely too much on it and kind of forget to critically think. Until we get cyborgs that can set up a drum kit and mic it up, I think the role of a technician is safe. This is quite the exception though, I have first hand seen how AI has taken some jobs and made it more difficult. For example, voice actors and mixing/mastering engineers are finding less work due to the emergence of AI and we’re getting more “slop” content because of it.” While the COVID-19 pandemic shook the live music industry to its core and resulted in so many venues having to shut its doors ,live shows are still an integral part of in-person entertainment. In this regard, for someone that genuinely enjoys music/audio and the social aspect of these jobs, it's keeping its status as a tried and tested way to getting into the industry. In conclusion, being a nice person to work with and being stable in terms of proficiency can still start a career. However, one should always keep the obvious exploitation issues in mind: "The current climate of the industry isn’t utterly terrible, live events are still pretty much a thing and they still require a lot of people to make it happen. People are going out less and less as prices in venues are getting higher and tickets get more expensive, but the industry is still very much a thing. I don’t have a reason to feel optimistic about the future, but I don’t have too much of a reason to be pessimistic about it either. Crucial aspects like networking still happen face to face and it's nearly always through word of mouth(or word of texting), I always make sure to introduce myself and to remember people’s names whenever I work at a venue. Being a pleasant person to work with goes a long way and a huge important thing is to be reliable! Prove to people that you show up on time and actually do your homework. That’s my most valuable advice to anyone getting into the industry.”

Works Cited:

Istanbul University Press. (2025). Social capital, relations and the music world: A sociological study of recruitment in live performance networks. Istanbul University Press; Faculty of Communication Series.

International Journal of Music Business Research. (2024). Sync or sink: The financialization of songwriting and the professionalization of the audio workforce. IJMBR Publications; Vol. 13(2).

Goldsmiths, University of London. (2025). The technical workforce: From subculture to service industry: A report on the precarity of live audio professionals. Goldsmiths Press; Department of Sociology.

SAE Institute. (2025). Tips for successful music networking: The reputation economy in audio production. SAE Institute UK; Industry Insights Series.

University of Westminster. (2024). The post-industrial city and creative precarity: Mapping London’s music ecosystems and territorial displacement. Westminster Research Press; Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media.

University of Manchester. (2026). Labor resilience in the age of automation: Tactile labor and the "high-touch" premium in the creative economy. Manchester Institute for Popular Culture; University of Manchester Press.

Hanorsian, A. E., Septiani, D., Yunita, F. R., Paramitha, K. W. F., & Wahdah, N. B. (2025). Beyond musical talent: The role of professional networks in musicians' career development in Jakarta. Jurnal Manajemen, 16(1), 181-195. https://doi.org/10.32832/jm-uika.v16i1.18111