(post authored by Communications Intern Olivia Brown)

Back in 2011, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) established that, starting in 2012, April 30 would be International Jazz Day. The day comes at the end of Jazz Appreciation Month , a music festival created by a curator at the Museum of American History. Established in 2001, the festival includes a slew of events  across the District, country, and world.

We’re proud to endorse the Jazz Journalist Association’s Jazz April campaign to highlight these events and celebrate the unifying and diplomatic effect of jazz music across the globe. This year’s main event  is set to be held in Istanbul and will be streamed online, and there are dozens more events from Albania to Zimbabwe.

While you’re waiting for musicians from all corners of the world to convene on the stage in Turkey, take a look at FMC’s Artist Revenue Streams report on Jazz Musicians and Money from Music. Like any other musicians, jazz musicians face unique challenges particular to their genre.  Some of the key findings include:

1. Jazz musicians have more formal education than most musicians, play many different roles, and have simpler support teams than musicians in other genres.
2. The mean gross estimated music income (EMI) for jazz musicians who took the Money from Music Survey was $23,300 for a non-AFM member. On average, jazz musicians made less money than classical or other musicians who took the survey.
3. While jazz musicians who are AFM members make a higher percentage of their total gross income from music than jazz musicians who are not AFM members, AFM-members also reported greater decreases than increases in various income categories over the last five years than non-AFM members. The income composition of AFM and non-AFM musicians is more similar than it is different.
4. Most jazz musicians who completed the survey are comfortable using technology as a creation, collaboration, promotion, distribution and fan cultivation tool. Classical respondents were less comfortable, while respondents from other genres had a higher comfort level.

Learn more about what we found here and take a minute to enjoy the show !