To be heard or not to be heard: Precarity in the lives of Turkish musicians in Paris and Istanbul

This phenomenological study explores Turkish musicians’ precarity experiences in Paris and Istanbul. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with 11 professional musicians in each city, it focuses on participants’ lived experiences and interpretations to understand how the precarity varies in these cities with different social policy tools available to musicians. The themes resulting from the data analysis indicate similar challenges in both cities, namely insufficient and low income, employment uncertainty, and informal work relations. Nevertheless, these problems manifest differently in each case. Musicians in Istanbul endure more severe consequences of precarity, lacking fundamental social rights. Hence, the essence of their precarity experience is a sense of invisibility, marginalization, and an unassured future. On the contrary, social policy measures, particularly the “Intermittence du Spectacle” regime tailored for intermittent performance workers in France, provide a significant safety net to mitigate the effects of precarity in the Paris case.