Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · Holland code AES
Musicians and Singers
Play one or more musical instruments or sing. May perform on stage, for broadcasting, or for sound or video recording.
Also called: Musician, Orchestra Musician, Singer, Violinist, Chorister, Drummer, Opera Singer, Percussionist.
O*NET 27-2042.00
At a glance
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +1% · Slower than average
- 169,800 jobs in 2024, projected 171,600. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Musicians and singers".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Perform before live audiences in concerts, recitals, educational presentations, and other social gatherings.
- Practice performances, individually or in rehearsal with other musicians, to master individual pieces of music or to maintain and improve skills.
- Specialize in playing a specific family of instruments or a particular type of music.
- Play musical instruments as soloists, or as members or guest artists of musical groups such as orchestras, ensembles, or bands.
- Interpret or modify music, applying knowledge of harmony, melody, rhythm, and voice production to individualize presentations and maintain audience interest.
- Provide the musical background for live shows, such as ballets, operas, musical theatre, and cabarets.
- Play from memory or by following scores.
- Practice singing exercises and study with vocal coaches to develop voice and skills and to rehearse for upcoming roles.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Speaking3.4 / 5
- Active Listening3.3 / 5
- Monitoring3.3 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.1 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.0 / 5
- Writing2.8 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Fine Arts4.8 / 5
- Education and Training2.9 / 5
- English Language2.8 / 5
- Administration and Management2.7 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service2.5 / 5
- Communications and Media2.5 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic31
- Investigative9
- Artistic94
- Social40
- Enterprising40
- Conventional19
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- music instructor · DE Hochschullehrkraft für Musik · FR professeur de musique/professeure de musique
- composer · DE Komponist/Komponistin · FR compositeur/compositrice
- music arranger · DE Musikarrangeur/Musikarrangeurin · FR arrangeur musical/arrangeuse musicale
- music director · DE Musikdirektor/Musikdirektorin · FR directeur musical/directrice musicale
- musician · DE Musiker/Musikerin · FR musicien/musicienne
- musical conductor · DE Dirigent/Dirigentin · FR chef d’orchestre
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Higher education teaching professionals (2311)258,500 employed
- Musicians (3415)54,300 employed
- Actors, entertainers and presenters (3413)58,500 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “音楽家，舞台芸術家”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥318,100
- Middle half earn ¥262,200 to ¥449,900 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 31,660
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of 0.00. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (27-2042).
Related careers
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