Why the MU Will Cause Independent Music Schools to Close — and Why We Shouldn’t Be OK With It

Independent music schools across the UK are quietly being squeezed out of existence. Not by lack of demand. Not by poor teaching. Not even by rising rents alone.

But by a growing disconnect between policy, union pressure, and economic reality.

If current trajectories continue, many independent music schools will simply stop being viable. And the uncomfortable truth is this: the Musician’s Union (MU), as it currently operates, is part of the problem.

This isn’t an attack on musicians. It’s a warning about systems that don’t understand how music education actually works on the ground.

The Core Issue: Performer Economics Applied to Education

The MU exists to protect musicians’ livelihoods. That matters.

But the MU largely frames pay and conditions through the lens of performance work — gigs, sessions, short-term contracts.

Teaching is not the same.

When performer-based economics are applied wholesale to music education — especially small, independent schools — the maths collapses.

Music schools are structurally different:

They operate on monthly subscriptions, not one-off fees

Students require continuity, not rotating staff

Parents have hard price ceilings, regardless of ideology

Schools carry venue costs, admin, safeguarding, insurance, marketing, tax, and risk

You cannot apply gig-economy logic to an education model without breaking it.

The Margin Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

Most independent music schools operate on tight margins — often 15–30% before reinvestment.

That margin pays for:

Staff cover

Training

Missed lessons

Growth

Stability

If teacher pay is pushed up without regard for:

Student pricing reality

Group-class economics

Regional affordability

The actual number of hours available

…then the school doesn’t become fairer.

It becomes non-existent.

And when the school closes:

Teachers lose all their students

Families lose access

Music education becomes a luxury again

The Myth: “Schools Can Just Charge More”

This is the most common response — and it’s wrong.

Parents are already under financial pressure. Raising fees endlessly doesn’t create fairness; it creates exclusion.

What actually happens when fees rise too far:

Middle-income families drop out

Group classes collapse

Schools pivot to elite-only private tuition — or shut down

That is not access. That is regression.

The Overlooked Reality: Independent Schools Are the Last Line of Access

This is the part that rarely gets said out loud:

Public access to music education is already functionally gone.

State schools offer minimal or no instrumental tuition

Peripatetic services are shrinking year after year

Councils have cut music provision to the bone

Waiting lists are long, funding is thin, and continuity is rare

For most families today, independent music schools are no longer a “luxury alternative” — they are the only option.

If independent schools close:

There is no public system ready to absorb those students

There is no safety net for children from non-elite backgrounds

Music education becomes private-only, fragmented, and postcode-dependent

In other words: access dies quietly.

And this is the paradox at the heart of the issue: Policies intended to protect musicians risk eliminating the very structures that make widespread access possible.

Independent schools are not the enemy.

They are the final bridge between music education and the public.

Break that bridge, and it doesn’t get rebuilt.

Employment vs Freelancing: A Critical Distinction

Many independent schools are actively trying to move teachers into employed, part-time roles because:

Employment = stability

Stability = student retention

Retention = sustainable pay

But union rhetoric often discourages these roles unless they resemble full-time equivalents, even when the hours are explicitly fractional.

This creates a trap:

Freelance teachers leave for better gigs

Employed roles are criticised as “not enough”

Long-term commitment becomes impossible

The result? Churn. Burnout. Closures.

The Unspoken Consequence: Fewer Jobs, Not Better Jobs

Policies designed to “protect musicians” are, in practice:

Reducing the number of available teaching roles

Increasing instability

Driving schools to automate, downscale, or exit

This disproportionately harms:

Early-career teachers

Teachers who actually care about education

Communities outside London

And yes — students are hit first.

You Can’t Unionise a Model Out of Existence

This is the question that needs to be asked honestly:

If the outcome of “doing the right thing” is that schools close, teachers lose work, and children lose access — is that really justice?

Protect musicians.

Protect teachers.

But also protect the institutions that make music education possible in the first place.

Because without independent music schools, there is no profession left to protect.