A new YouGov survey reveals that 60% of respondents say that the media glamorizes addiction, while nearly three in ten say that knowing that a musician has a drug or alcohol problem would make them less likely to listen to the musician’s music.
When asked if whether knowing that a musician or performer had a drug or alcohol problem would affect how much they listen to the musician, 70% of respondents said it would make them “neither more nor less likely.” 28% said it would make them “less likely” to listen and 2% said it would make them “more likely.” Opinion varied across age groups, a trend which appeared throughout this survey. 18-34 year-olds were more likely to say that knowing a musician had a drug or alcohol problem would not affect how much they listen to the musician.
When asked whether they thought the media glamorized addiction by focusing on musicians or performers with drug or alcohol problems, a majority of respondents (60%) said yes, while 20% said no and another 20% were not sure. Older people seemed to perceive this as more of an issue than younger people, with 18-34 year-olds more likely to either not be sure or say that media did not glamorize addiction.
We also asked who had a responsibility to help a musician or performer if he or she had a substance addiction:
- 69% of respondents said the musician or performer’s friends or family did
- 48% said the musician or performer’s band-mates
- 48% said the musician or performer’s manager or label
- 8% said another group
- 22% said no one had a responsibility to help
Again the responses followed a trend across age: 18-34 year olds believed performers should receive support from those around them, citing all of the groups (family or friends, band-mates, manager or label) in higher proportions.
Finally, we asked respondents why they thought so many musicians or performers have alcohol or drug problems. The most popular answer was “[because] many [musicians] make large amounts of money and it's tempting to spend it on drugs and alcohol”. It was chosen 34% of respondents. The other options were:
- using drugs or alcohol is part of the life-style (chosen by 33%)
- the pressure of having to perform (25%)
- artistic people have a temperament which is typically drawn to drugs and alcohol (16%)
- people are driven to become musicians or performers because they want attention and they help fill this need with drugs or alcohol (13%)
- musicians or performers are morally weak people (5%)
Responses were also linked to political ideology. Conservatives were more than twice as likely as Liberals to choose: “because musicians and performers often make a lot of money”, “because musicians and performers are looking for attention” and “because musicians and performers are morally weak”.
Image Source: Press Association
