A £2.5m ($3.17m) fund set up to help musicians in the UK during the coronavirus crisis is set to run out of cash after just five days.
More than 3,500 people have applied for financial assistance since Friday, says the charity Help Musicians UK.
But with the fund reaching capacity, and live music a distant prospect, other applicants may be left stranded.
“It’s a bigger, longer crisis than any of us could have thought possible,” said the charity’s chief executive, Jack Ainscough.
Touring and gigging musicians have been particularly affected by the lockdown, as months of work simply vanished in mid-March.
Many of them (up to 25%) are not covered by the government’s scheme to support freelancers, and have no other source of income.
Source:Â bbc.com