Musicians face greater risks of problems associated with legal and illegal drugs than people working in more stable industries. For example, workplaces that find ways to support their employees often have employee assistance programs and other confidential sources of support that are easy to access, and will have more support available than the bars, clubs and venues where musicians perform or the spaces where they rehearse.

Urban studies researchers working with residents of Polish cities have found that common perceptions of smells in daily life reveal much about how people feel about change and place. The smells people notice are often linked to broader social, political and economic conditions. In Poland, for example, life smells less like the vegetables in grocery stores and the natural environment of the past under socialism, and more like the petrol stations and supermarket air conditioning of capitalism in the present.