NAICS 71151Industry · 5-digitlocal market

Independent artists, writers and performers

This industry comprises independent individuals (freelance) primarily engaged in performing in artistic productions, creating artistic and cultural works or productions, or providing technical expertise necessary for these productions. Independent celebrities, such as athletes, engaging in endorsement, speaking and similar services, are included. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 2,293
Under 10 employeesA: 97%
Establishments · USA: 38,064
Employment · USA: 61,989
Payroll · USA: $11.5B

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–42,13293%

5–91024%

10–19402%

20–49161%

50–9920%

100–19910%

200–4990—

500+0—

Of 2,293 Canadian establishments with employees, 97% have fewer than ten — an industry of very small operators.

Where they areA

Ontario90640%

British Columbia59526%

Quebec55524%

Alberta1326%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, US · opened 2020

81.3%

1 year

70.3%

3 years

57.1%

5 years

40.8%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 711, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

local competitionlow capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries

Costs that ticket prices have never covered, met by grants and donations. Promoters and agents are the commercial, enterable edge.

Who sets the price: Ticket buyers, donors and grant bodies.
The software it runs on: Ticketing, donor management and booking.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Screened one level up. Nothing is filed at this exact code; the screen for 7115 Independent artists, writers and performers covers it.

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 7115

Independent Artist & Writer PracticeExecution decides

binding constraint: defensibility

This code is people, not companies: 97% of the 2,293 Canadian establishments have fewer than ten employees [A], and in the US 38,064 establishments employ 61,989 people — 1.6 per establishment [A]. Those are the ones with a payroll at all; most practising artists and writers have none and are not in the count. Entry cost is effectively zero, which is the problem rather than the opportunity. There is nothing to acquire, because the asset is one person's name and hands; nothing to scale, because output is bounded by that person's hours; and nothing to defend, because the next artist is equally free to start. Income is set by reputation and is extremely unevenly distributed — US payroll per employee averages about $185,000 [A], a mean pulled up by a small number of very highly paid performers and writers, and says nothing about the typical practitioner. The enterable businesses are the ones built around artists rather than being one: agencies and booking (screened as software at 711411), galleries, publishers, and platforms that take a share of many careers instead of depending on a single one.

NAICS 71155 vendors named12 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

No vertical software market has been recorded along this branch. What the subsector typically runs on: Ticketing, donor management and booking.

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Who works here

The occupations employed in Arts, entertainment and recreation, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Occupations related to museums and art galleries Mostly one sector 63.2%

Support occupations in accommodation, travel, tourism and amusement services Mostly one sector 58.2%

Tourism and amusement services occupations Mostly one sector 51%

Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness Mostly one sector 49.8%

Athletes, coaches, referees and related occupations Mostly one sector 45.3%

Managers in art, culture, recreation and sport Mostly one sector 44.1%

Support occupations in art and culture Mostly one sector 41.2%

Logging, forestry, landscaping and other related labourers Mostly one sector 13.7%

Librarians, archivists, conservators and curators One industry 10.4%

Technical occupations in motion pictures, broadcasting and the performing arts Mostly one sector 5.8%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Building maintenance installers, servicers and repairers Across the economy 2.9%

Shoe repairers, shoemakers and upholsterers Across the economy 2.9%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 1.7%

Customer and information services representatives Across the economy 1.2%

Other technical trades Across the economy 1.2%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 1%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. But note the shape of this industry: 97% of establishments have fewer than ten employees, and at that size most of these roles are one person wearing several hats, or bought in from outside.

All 162 occupations →

Inside this industry

3 rows sit directly beneath 71151. Each has a base report of its own.

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
711511	Independent visual artists and artisans	485	screened at 7115
711512	Independent actors, comedians and performers	1,283	screened at 7115
711513	Independent writers and authors	525	screened at 7115