The Guide to Choosing Your Perfect Music Career

Chances are, if you're here reading this post then you're probably, like me, interested in a career in the music industry. The struggle for many is that you'd love to make something so cool and diverse as music your job, but choosing the perfect career for you is a pretty overwhelming decision, especially considering the plethora of avenues available to you. From the performance side of things, to the field of production, sound engineering, and everything in-between, there is certainly the job of your dreams out there, it's just a case of figuring out what suits you. An important note to make, that people are sometimes unaware of, is that it's not uncommon for professionals in the music industry to work a range of different jobs, meaning that you don't have to narrow your life's career down to one aspect of the industry you're passionate about. As I said perviously, there is a vast number of options to explore, whether you wish to be centre-stage or behind the scenes, and I'm going to discuss both the more typical routes, as well as some of the slightly more obscure routes, that are often overlooked.

The first, and probably most obvious route, is performing. This route has plenty of opportunities from being a band member, or a solo artist, to a backing vocalist, or a session specialist. This is a job for you to showcase your skills, and be in the spotlight. Gigging at larger venues can be super thrilling, and getting reaction from a live audience to your music that you love is very rewarding. However, you can go in a slightly different direction to being a singer or instrumentalist, and instead be a DJ or an electronic music artist. One thing to consider is the possible lack of consistency with your schedule, or struggle to find opportunity and therefore not having a particularly stable income.

If performing isn't really your thing, or you'd rather leave it as a hobby, there are plenty of other options that are just a crucial to the industry, such as sound and production. You could be a creative producer, a sound engineer, a game audio designer, a film and TV sound designer, an audio technician, etc. As a producer, sound engineer, or technician, you get to be involved in the live music, but without the pressures of performing, and you may even get to go on tour with an artist or band. This is a great option if you are pretty technical, patient and very creative. 

In a similar way of getting to be creative with production, there's also the route of composing, which gives you a huge creative license. There are so many ways you can go with it, too - you could be a film composer, a production music composer, a video game composer, etc. Although, something to bear in mind is that if you are a self-employed composer, you may experience periods with no work available. Similar to composition, there's also songwriting, which is an area where you can make a LOT of money - if you're good, that is. However, you have to be a very motivated and resilient person, someone willing to fail many times, throw away pages and pages of attempts, and keep on going until you finish the song. And then repeat.

And then of course there's the music business side of things, which has a vast range of opportunities such as running a record label, being a label executive, being a music manager, a music agent, a music distributor, a music promoter, a DIY release manager, a publisher, a gig promoter, or going into A&R. Running a record label means that you can work with the artists you want, artists that play the kind of music YOU love. You get control over a lot of decisions, from choosing releases, deciding release dates and tour dates, and how you'll go about promotion. However, to run a label, you must face an initial investment and it can be a while until you make money from it, which can be frustrating, and so you must take lots into consideration before deciding to run your own label. You need to be organised, especially since you'll have to be wise with the budget. It will be down to you to pay for everything involved with the music releases, and so you have to balance things correctly in order to make a profit. Working for a label allows you to get similar experience but without the risk of losing money. As a music manager, you would have control over the aspects of an artist or band's career, working with artists you love, but this does mean you have a lot of responsibility. As a music promoter, you'll spend your time promoting music, artists, events and more. As a music agent, you'd work with mangers, promoters, labels and artists - this can be a difficult career to get into, and you won't earn much until you're established and make a name for yourself. As a music distributor, you get to listen to new releases before anyone else, and be the first to know when new music is coming out, working with labels and record shops. However, you may have to sell albums you dislike, and the job can be dull. As for working in A&R, you would go talent scouting and oversee the development of artists.

You can also go into live sound and events. You could become an events manager or organiser, a festival site manager, a live production manager, a venue manager, a tour manager, or an artist liaison. Working in any aspect of events is going to be an exciting position, as you get to work with others to put together and attend events, but it is definitely a high-stress position, with long hours, much travel and high demands. As for being a tour manager, you get to work closely with artists and bands, but in the same way as careers in events management, it is a lot of pressure and stress, along with much travel. As an artist liaison, you would work with artists, handling the artist management for events, making sure that the artist's transport and accommodation is all sorted. You'd look after them on-site, and make sure that they are updated on everything. This job works really well with being a stage manager, and sometimes the two roles can be combined. This way you get to meet artists and attend cool events!

Then there's marketing and communications, with opportunities in music PR, music journalism, broadcasting, digital marketing, event marketing & social media. With music PR and marketing, you work with the media, and feel rewarded when what you've been promoting gets played - but it is a tricky and quite repetitive job. As a music journalist, you always get the inside info on upcoming releases and events, and have the chance to share your thoughts and create trends. However, this is a very competitive job, and so it's very difficult to get published. 

Taking an avenue that helps improves other's lives can be very fulfilling. An obvious one here would be teaching - you could be a music teacher, an academic, an instrumental or vocal tutor, or run a choir or band. These jobs may not pay so well, however some of them could be a second job - one that's mostly for enjoyment, passing on your musical knowledge, and bringing people together. Another choice is to go into music therapy, which is a great option for those of you who are passionate about music, but also its psychological benefits. 

And finally, if you're a lover of both art and music, then becoming a cover art designer is a fantastic option. This way you get to play a huge part in creating the vibe of an album, giving it an identity, giving it that special something that makes the album stand out to someone endlessly scrolling through Spotify, or browsing a record shop, for example. This is a job that will require you to make yourself and your art known to get work, but is a really unique job that allows you to get working with artists and experimenting with different styles of art. 

So, that's it! I hope this post shows you just how diverse the industry is for jobs, and helps you take the next step in figuring out your future in music.