Drill the notes you miss
Repeat the notes you keep missing in a hard passage, then listen to a recording to judge progress.
Career profile
Musician and Singer
Musicians and singers play instruments or sing for live audiences and for recordings.
Shift the timing of a melody line, or stress a different note, and it lands differently. Performers turn those choices into what listeners hear.
A day in the life
Rehearse together and watch cues
You rehearse with other players or singers, watching for signals so your starts and stops line up.
Shape your part for listeners
Onstage, you decide in the moment which notes of a phrase to soften and which to stress.
Choose the keeper take
On recording jobs, sing or play the section again, then compare takes before choosing one to keep.
Book venues and promote shows
If you book your own shows, contact venues and advertise your upcoming performances to draw a crowd.
Quick facts
Extensive practice and training
United States · 2025–2035
$47.80/hour median
United States · May 2025
Little employment change
United States · 2025–2035
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Extensive practice and trainingNo formal educational credential is typically required. Becoming ready for professional performances still takes substantial training.
Pay
$47.80/hour medianMay 2025 employee wages; self-employed performers are excluded. This is not a year-round income estimate.
Outlook
Little employment changeEmployment is projected to grow 0.3% from 2025 to 2035.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You enjoy repeating a short passage until it sounds right.
- You can listen to other performers while keeping your own part steady.
- You like experimenting with how the same music can sound.
Things to weigh
- Evening and weekend work can interrupt your social schedule.
- Auditions bring rejection, and gaps between jobs can mean needing other work.
Where AI may help
Recording software can store several takes and let you combine selected passages into one track. This is called comping.
What people still lead
You choose the phrasing and listen for how your sound fits the other performers.
What we can’t predict yet
Artificial intelligence can generate music with vocals and instruments. How much paid recording work it will replace—and how performers will be paid when their recordings train these tools—remains unsettled.
Pay in context
Earnings
An hourly rate tells you only part of the story. Annual income also depends on how much paid work you secure.
The national range
The May 2025 median was $47.80 an hour. The 10th-percentile wage was $20.35 and the 90th-percentile wage was $132.56. These describe the wage distribution, not beginner and experienced pay levels.
Pay differs across workplaces
In May 2023, hourly mean wages were $53.43 at performing arts companies, $58.92 at religious organizations, and $31.25 at colleges, universities, and professional schools. These older averages are distinct from the May 2025 national median.
Count the gaps between engagements
Part-time and intermittent work are common. These wage figures exclude self-employed performers, so they cannot tell you what a freelance career will bring in.
Openings despite little growth
About 17,400 openings a year are projected for 2025–2035, including replacement needs. Total employment is projected to grow just 0.3%; the openings are not all newly created jobs.
Getting started
Build experience through lessons and performing
- What the route involves
- Take lessons, practice regularly, and gain experience performing with others.
- What it can lead to
- Develop a prepared repertoire to demonstrate when auditioning for bands, choirs, or other groups.
Study music performance
- What the route involves
- In a performance degree, work through individual lessons, ensemble rehearsals, and recitals with faculty feedback.
- What it can lead to
- Build experience preparing complete programs and performing both individually and within an ensemble.
- What to check
- Admission commonly requires recordings or an audition. Completing a degree does not guarantee performance work.
You can build performance skills through experience or formal music study. A degree is not a universal entry requirement.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
Learn your parts before rehearsal and respond carefully to the group's cues.
Broaden what you can perform
Expand your repertoire and strengthen sight-reading or learning by ear for your chosen style.
Take musical leadership
You might lead a group or become an orchestra section leader, helping other players prepare their parts.
Where you can work
Concert halls and event venues
You perform for an audience, with travel between engagements and rehearsals or shows outside ordinary daytime hours.
- Indoors
- Travel
- Shift work
Recording studios
The focus is a recorded performance. You can repeat passages and listen back closely before choosing a take.
- Indoors
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Record a short passage you already know on your voice or instrument. Listen back, choose one timing or phrasing change, and record it again. Compare the versions: do you enjoy the careful repetition as much as the finished sound?
Sources
- O*NET OnLine. Musicians and Singers — 27-2042.00. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Musicians and Singers — Occupational Outlook Handbook. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- O*NET OnLine / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Wages: Musicians and Singers. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Projections and Worker Characteristics. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2023 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: Musicians and Singers. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Ableton. Live Reference Manual: Comping. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- American Federation of Musicians. Summary of the AFM v. Universal, Warner, and Atlantic “New Use” Litigation. Accessed 2026-10-03.
- Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. Undergraduate Program Information. Accessed 2026-10-03.