Is There A Brain Drain in Audio?

Jul 19th

Here at Content is Queen, we have been asking how the current state of the audio industry is affecting working class and financially insecure audio professionals and podcasters. In the second of our short series of articles, our writer Francesca Turauskis is digging into the results to ask how we can make audio a place people want to work…

When we set up our mini survey, our aim was to get some idea of what the audio industry is like for working class audio professionals and podcasters. However, as mentioned at the end of my first article in this series, it was worrying to see that almost two-thirds of the respondents said they are considering leaving audio ‘seriously’ or ‘in passing’.

This feeling seems to be occurring regardless of class: almost all of the people who said they ‘Don’t Identify as Working Class’ also ticked that they had thought of leaving the audio industry in the past twelve months.

So in this article, I’m going to pivot (just for the moment) away from the conversation about class to address another issue – before we bring more people from underrepresented demographics into audio, how do we make it a place they want to stay? Here are some of my thoughts on where we can start.

ADDRESS THE ILLUSION OF SCARCITY

I’d like to begin by sharing one very honest comment from a survey respondent:

“The industry is shrinking left, right and centre. If it’s not huge radio conglomerates buying out local stations, it’s AI changing up the working processes. The industry is modernising, which is GREAT – it needs to. But it’s modernising into something a fraction of the size. Why are we still doing these “Getting into the Industry” events, there’s not even enough jobs for those of us already here?”

The worry from this person is clear, and if we want to talk about making audio a place people want to work, we need to make sure we aren’t pulling up the ladder out of undue fear. As I said in a previous article – listener numbers, advertising revenue, and the amount of shows all point to the fact that podcasting is a growing medium. Radio listenership is holding steady at 89% and the audiobook market is also in a state of growth.

I would argue that the jobs and opportunities are there – or could be made – but they are perhaps changing or going to different people. Looking at the UKAN Pay Survey, we can see stats that support this. In both 2023 and the 2024 results (which we got a peek at during The Podcast Show) wages have been stagnant or dropped for many people, except for those with more than eleven years experience. This suggests to me that newer audio professionals are being undervalued or compensated, whilst more established people are asking for more money – which makes me ask…

HAS AUDIO BEEN DE-PROFESSIONALISED? (AND HAVE I BEEN A PART OF IT..?)

When resources are tight, many industries fall into the trap of de-professionalising themselves by giving lower grade job roles greater responsibility without compensation. Meanwhile, mid-level jobs are cut and senior levels are placed in higher pay-grades as they manage larger teams.

Some of the responses of our survey would suggest this is happening in audio. One person said that the pay is “not high enough for the work we do, especially when we take on more than one role on a project” and more than one response suggested that “there’s a problem for mid-level producers” (something The Radio Academy has tried to address with their Mentoring Programme). And whilst I encourage people to get in touch with me if this has always been the standard, when BBC roles are advertised with a wage-range of “£55,000 – £85,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience” it begs the question of how it can be the same role? There seems to be an incentive (and excuse) to hire the person you can pay less.

This type of de-professionnalisation doesn’t just happen when budgets are cut, but also when there is a boom in industries – as we saw in podcasting over the pandemic restrictions. This is when people with less ‘relevant skills, knowledge and experience’ are accelerated to more senior positions to supply growth. Like many, I entered the industry because we went from 500,000 podcasts to nearly 4 million, and people needed producers. Thinking about the day rates and workloads I received at the start of my Producer journey – I was probably a part of the devaluing of audio.

However, I don’t think I – an ex-library worker, working fully freelance with no production connections – and others like me are to blame. I was offered a day rate, and the only open source reference I had for what to charge people was the Industry Rates from UKAN. This is pointedly ‘not intended as a fixed rates card’, yet as someone used to earning £15 an hour, those industry rates seemed pretty good to me. However, I’ve since come to learn…

AUDIO RATES ARE COMPARATIVELY LOW

As well as pay being low for the level of work, some responses suggested that the pay is low compared to other creative industries. One person said “industry bodies tout day rates which are unlivable. TV and film don’t pay as poorly as radio, often for less responsibility”. BECTU (the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union) has a rate card that backs this up, with a Sound Trainee in TV and film getting a day rate higher than the average women in the UKAN survey.

And despite audio production and sound design for film and television being higher than radio and podcast, only around 5% of a film budget is given to the audio – rates for film professionals are even higher.

Quite a few people also mentioned that “The UK has abysmally low rates of pay relative to other comparable countries”. We can see this reflected not just in day rates and wages, but in grants for podcasts and audio in the UK compared to the USA where Amazon offers a $10k commission fee to create your podcast pilot.

Low day rates make it incredibly difficult to pull the majority of your earnings from audio as a freelancer – in order for the UKAN survey ‘lowest average women’ to make the National Living Wage, they’d need to be working a five-day week for 36 weeks of the year. The ‘lowest average non-binary’ would be working 44 weeks. In an industry that is often project based, this is unlikely.

WHY IS THIS THE CASE?

Whilst I can’t say it’s the only reason, there is one theory that keeps surfacing:

“There has always been a culture of ‘radio is a lovely part time job for the wife’ in speech radio. The idea that it’s a privilege to work in audio has created a low wage industry in comparison to other industries which require similar dedication, skill and hours.”

This idea that audio is a ‘fun hobby’ is something that Ella Watts also mentioned in our conversation, and I think it’s related that we have audio professionals like Leanne Alie, James Acaster and Thomas Curry self-funding or crowdfunding the shows they really want to make.

With this culture of audio work being a ‘nice-to-have’ and the need for even established professionals to self-start projects, it’s no wonder that less than 10% of audio professionals are from working-class backgrounds.

SO, HOW DO WE MAKE AUDIO A PLACE PEOPLE WANT TO STAY?

One of the reasons I wanted to work in podcasting was the fact it felt like a welcoming industry. Podcasters really love the medium, we have great fun making our shows and as a non-linear form, there is so much space for growth and innovation. However, it’s clear that there are some bad legacies in audio work and love can only take us so far. There are some things me might try as an industry to bring up standards across the board:

  • We ALL need to welcome new people at all stages. We cannot pull up the ladder on people. The concern on whether there are enough jobs or career progression steps is a different problem and it is not new professionals’ fault.
  • Share resources and going rates with new professionals. Whether they are freelance or employed, people new to a role should be told about resources, initiatives and industry bodies. Links to AudioUK, The Radio Academy, The Equality in Audio Pact and UKAN could be part of inductions as standard. Options for workers unions that cover audio – such as BECTU or Equity for Audio Artists – could also be highlighted, something that is common practice in other industries.
  • Show solidarity on pay. The NUJ states that all members “have responsibilities, including, as stated in the union’s Rule Book, not to undercut other freelancers” and I think that audio professionals could have a similar pledge.

Read The Other Articles In This Series

How Is The Class Gap Affecting Working Class Professionals?

The Cultural Capital of Audio 

How Can Companies Welcome Working Class Professionals?

How Can Individuals Welcome Working Class Professionals?

If you have any thoughts on this topic, please feel free to get in touch with me directly on LinkedIn, and you can read the first article in this series ‘How is the class gap affecting audio and podcasting professionals?’.

Do you want to be a part of a welcoming audio community? The Content is Queen community awaits! Explore our membership options here.