How hard is it to become a musician?

Becoming a musician is a challenging endeavor that requires talent, dedication, practice, and often formal training. Becoming a musician involves developing musical skills, which can be a long and difficult process. What can make this challenging is that while developing musical skills is posibile, developing talent is not, so you need to start as a talented individual and then hone that talent. It requires a good ear for music, rhythm, and sometimes the ability to read musical scores. Many musicians start learning an instrument at a young age and spend countless hours practicing to perfect their skills. Some also attend music schools or take private lessons to enhance their abilities.

How to make it in the music industry

To make it in the music industry, you must decide what you want to do in the music industry, practice, and obtain a manager or agent. Here are the steps to making it in the music industry:

How to start a music career

You start a music career by creating a long-term plan and defining your success. The path to a successful music career is different for everyone. Some go viral on TikTok, and others spend years (maybe even decades) going on tours and playing local gigs. Before you get started, you need to define what you want your career to look like.

What are the best gifts for a musician?

The best gifts for a musician are instruments, music software, and other technical items. When buying a present for a musician, it is important to know what they already own and if any of their music-producing items need to be upgraded.

What degree do you need to be a musician?

You do not need a degree to be a musician. You may seek to obtain a bachelor's degree in music to help you with your career. However, this is only a requirement if you want to become a music teacher.

How To Become A Musician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a musician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dianna Campbell

The duties of a musician include writing lyrics, rehearsing, performing, and recording new music every day. They may appear on TV shows and radio programs. Also, they keep themselves updated on industry trends, build strong relationships with other artists and their fans, and maintain a strong social media presence by posting regularly, creating relevant content, and interacting with their fans. Musicians collaborate with other artists and professionals in the entertainment industry. They may be trained in a particular musical genre and musical instrument.

To excel as a musician, you need to be relentless in your pursuit of mastery and creativity. You must strive to expand your circles. Although not necessary, having a degree in music can be advantageous. Also, you must possess communication, time management, and interpersonal skills. Having industry experience is a plus. Musicians make an average annual salary of $45,576. It ranges between $27,000 and $78,000.

What general advice would you give to a Musician?

Dianna Campbell

Professor of music, Seminole State College of Florida

Be flexible as to your application of the degree. Be willing to start small for higher aspirations in the end. You may never be financially wealthy, but your life will be more precious for your pursuit of passion.

ScoreMusicianUS Average

Salary

4.5

Avg. Salary $57,257

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.2

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 5.45%

Black or African American 10.94%

Hispanic or Latino 12.91%

Unknown 5.08%

White 65.44%

Gender

female 19.59%

male 80.41%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

4.2

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.8

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Musician in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become a musician

Explore musician education requirements

Most common musician degrees

Bachelor's

60.9 %

High School Diploma

13.1 %

Associate

12.6 %

Start to develop specific musician skills

Skills	Percentages
Live Performances	19.67%
Keyboard	10.61%
Music Theory	6.36%
Synthesizers	5.99%
DJ	4.15%

Research musician duties and responsibilities

Accomplish placement in first group clarinet section.
Play trombone, trumpet, baritone saxophone, keyboard, rhythm guitar, and provide backup vocals.
Jazz, fusion, blues band.
Design and maintain Facebook, MySpace and Purevolume websites.

Prepare your musician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your musician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a musician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Musician Resume templates

Build a professional Musician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Musician resume.

Apply for musician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a musician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do musicians rate their job?

5/5

Based On 2 Ratings

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Musician reviews

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2022

Pros

I have fun and I like to sing and playing guitar and see people and travel around the world

Cons

nothing at all love it

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2021

Pros

Writing or copying music is like playing the music i'm copying.

Cons

When notes I wrote is wrong.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2021

Pros

Well I love singing a lot because I am so happy and proud to become a famous singer one day and I get so excited about things that are coming my way and music is my favourite hobby it’s and I love my music because I am in to the 60s and the 50s and the 40s so I would love to be rich and famous singer and to get married to my gorgeous partner one day and to move house in the future

Cons

I don’t like people telling me off all the time and when they are being sneaky and lurking behind your back and to get out of of my house and to get out of derby all together for good

What is a musician and how to become one

What general advice would you give to a Musician?

Newest jobs for Musician in Columbus, OH

Musician career paths

Key steps to become a musician

Explore musician education requirements

Most common musician degrees

Start to develop specific musician skills

Research musician duties and responsibilities

Prepare your musician resume

Choose From 10+ Customizable Musician Resume templates

Apply for musician jobs

How Did You Land Your First Musician Job

Average musician salary

How do musicians rate their job?

Musician reviews

Musician FAQs

How hard is it to become a musician?

How to make it in the music industry

How to start a music career

What are the best gifts for a musician?

What degree do you need to be a musician?

Search for musician jobs