This chapter examines the meaning, nature, and experience of precarious work for freelance and self-employed workers in the UK’s cultural and creative sector in general and for those who work as live performers in particular. In doing so, the parameters of the research are refined, providing an introduction and backdrop to the empirical research that underpins and informs this book. The chapter opens with a consideration of relevant literature on the prevalence and impact of precarious working practices in the UK’s cultural and creative sector. The focus is then narrowed to consider the predominantly socioeconomic consequences of such precarity on the work of freelance and self-employed performers. Finally, the chapter explores the more subjective dynamics associated with precarious work in the live performance industries and the challenges they present for performers’ identities and the circumstances shaping how their desire for recognition is experienced and understood.