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This article presents findings from a cross-disciplinary, international project that seeks to understand the importance of music-making for young people (aged 18–35 years) as a source of well-being during the COVID-19 crisis. A key objective of the project is to evaluate whether music-making has contributed in palpable ways to young people’s individual well-being and their sense of connection with others. For the purposes of the project, well-being is defined in relation to both physical and mental health but also by having a sense of social belonging. Given the unprecedented circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic, its rapid spread and ensuing disruptions to everyday life, the project findings offer a significant opportunity to examine and evaluate the importance of music-making for young people’s well-being in a time of rapidly shifting and increasingly uncertain socio-economic conditions. The article draws on data collected during 77 online interviews with young music-makers based in different locations around Australia, the UK and Portugal. Participants for the project were recruited through calls posted on social media with additional internal recruiting at one of the partner universities through a monthly call out for volunteers for research projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and increasingly uncertain socio-economic conditions, cultural practice remains a stable canvas upon which young people draw the most agency and exercise a sense of freedom. This article reports on an international research collaboration, drawing on the voices of 77 young musicians from three countries—Australia, England and Portugal—who were interviewed about their music-making practices during lockdown. Despite reporting loss of jobs and income and the social distancing restrictions placed upon the ability to make music, most young music-makers were positive about the value of having more time, to be both producers and consumers of music. At the same time, however, our data also highlight increasing forms of inequality among young music-makers. This article argues that despite short-term gains in relation to developing musical practice, the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 on the music industry will affect the sector for years to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]