This paper will investigate the work-life balance of self-employed musicians. Although there are many salaried jobs in different sectors of the music industry, self-employment is a typical form of work in all the fields of art and culture. In 2022, almost one-third of cultural workers across the EU were working as freelancers or entrepreneurs (Eurostat 2024). Despite the fact that many freelancers consider their work as fulfilling, the instability and uncertainty of work and income can cause a lot of stress that these professionals need to cope with, which puts them in a psychologically more vulnerable position compared to employed professionals. In addition, the music industry is permeated by gender inequalities, potentially affecting specifically women and non-binary freelancers’ work-life balance.
Challenges caused by self-employment can affect musicians’ willingness or possibilities to have families, since dimensions of family life can create challenges for the wellbeing of parents regardless of their employment status. Having children brings along tensions for time use, family economy, and psychosocial resilience (Fawcett 1988; Nelson et al 2013; Collins & Glass 2018), which can further contribute to work-family conflicts. Furthermore, the music industry still seems to have a glass ceiling when it comes to gender and paid jobs, since in many countries, most professionals earning their living as musicians are men. It is likely that musicians struggle with more gendered difficulties and inequalities in work-family reconciliation compared to professionals in other fields. In this scoping review and paper, we will investigate the previous findings of how self-employed professionals of the music sector have balanced their work and family lives, and what kinds of challenges fre