Musicians, the music industry, and suicide: Epidemiology, risk factors, and suggested prevention approaches

Evidence suggests that popular musicians are an at-risk occupational group for suicide, with the deaths of famous musicians in the ‘27 Club’ reinforcing culturally powerful notions of musicianship and early mortality. This cross-disciplinary paper advances our understanding of the factors that may increase the risk for suicide among musicians and offers clinical recommendations around screening and prevention. First, we synthesise extant literature on suicide risk among musicians from around the world, including emerging evidence from Korea, and evaluate some of the methodological challenges presented in the analysis of suicide data on musicians. Second, given the lack of musician-specific forms of suicide prevention intervention, we draw on the Zero Suicide Framework and apply this schematic to musicians and the wider music industries, analysing the latest evidence on suicide screening, assessment, and prevention to develop best practices in this at-risk population. In doing so, we offer a comprehensive and clinically relevant overview of this most tragic of cultural affinities to improve strategies to prevent this devastating and all too frequent feature of musical life.