Working Musician
Performs, records and teaches across several income streams at once. Practice is the job; the gig is the exam.
- Pay band (est.)
- $88k–$219k
- Time to competence
- 10 years
- Licence
- None
- Setting
- stage
- Leverage
- high
- Place constraint
- high
- Physical demand
- 45/100
- Hours burden
- 68/100
Factor percentiles
Percentile against the whole curated set. Higher is better on that factor only.
- Play99th
Absorbing rather than merely paid.
- Specific knowledge99th
A combination of skills that is hard to copy.
- Leverage86th
Output that scales through code, media, capital or crew.
- Demand23th
Durability and shortage, scored conservatively.
- Pay72th
Mid-career floor and the range above it.
- Body44th
Inverse of physical demand and hours.
- Autonomy83th
Control of methods and time.
- People fit63th
Distance from your preferred people level.
- Place flexibility14th
Remote fit and freedom from specific metros.
- Time to skill5th
Inverse of years to competence.
- Meaning load50th
Closeness to the families you marked as meaningful. Your mapping, not ours.
- Downside tolerance9th
Inverse of named risk to body, market or platform.
Downside
Income is unstable and platform-dependent; most exit by 35.
Examine this against your weights
The percentiles above use the default weights. Set your own on the ranking and this vocation moves with them.
- Place constraint is high. Where you live is analysed at locationistics.com.
- Hours burden is 68/100 and people intensity 70/100. Who you are with is analysed at relationistics.com.
Source note: BLS OEWS May 2024, Musicians and Singers (27-2042): median $88,296, 75th percentile (90th not published) $219,315. Outlook from BLS 2025-35 projections, +0.3%. Other scores editorial. All figures are estimates for comparison.