The Past and Future of Musical Laborco-sponsored by the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working PoorSince the start, workers in the music industry have been subject to precarious, speculative, and unpaid labor. The once romantic image of the “starving artist” is, in fact, a product of laws, racial inequities, technologies, and economic structures. The pandemic not only exacerbated the challenging conditions of musical labor, but also revealed the financial insecurity throughout the sector, the increasing stresses of touring, and the emotional toll of churning out artistic products. To envision a sustainable future of musical labor, we bring together artists, historians, and organizers to see how musical labor got to this point and identify where we may have some leverage at affecting real change.