Composer Chat: Can You Make a Living as a Composer?
Composer Chat: Can You Make a Living as a Composer?
It’s a question many musicians want to know. Can they make a living writing music? Whether that’s scoring films, writing music for video games, composing for TV the question is much the same. Guy Michelmore has been doing just that for over thirty years so here is his take on this question. IN the vidoe Guy analyses the state of the market, where the opportunities are and where they are not.
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what about writing songs for Musicals
Great video! I’d like to add that in addition to the musical and technical skills you need (at least) basic level social skills and a professional attitude. Composing is a job like any other and you need to be able interact with other people clearly, openly and respectfully, be able to take feedback and respect the client’s vision.
AI will change the employment opportunities in this field very soon I’m afraid.
Would love to see a breakdown of what to charge to score a video game, show, movie, etc.! Appreciate you Guy!
I am so sick I cant even play at funerals.,, for people to sing ,,, I have heart disease ,,and depershion ,,,,Im not gonna get my medical records out ,,I was borne sick its all I have known all my life ,,sickness ,, I buy these keyboards on credit ,, and save them ,, I have had synths from 1996,,I still got ,,I love to play them ,,but bands and music for money I have never in my life did that one time ,, I cant play at church or as I said funerals ,, I cant even sing Karaoke ,,I cant breath ,,from heart disease ,, I have anexity so bad I have it is life debleating sickness has ruled by life all my life from childhood ,,in to adulthood and on , Piano and guitar and later synths ,, is one of the things that I do enjoy ,,I dont try to make a clean recording or a beautiful video ,, I do it enough where I am comfortable and that is fine for me ,,my life in a pure living hell and keyboards and music is a excape from the daily hell I go thru ,, that is my payment to get my mind off of the torment and pain ,,,People will pay you to play music ,,,and people who has money keeps it well guarded from anyone ever touching it ,, Its called Rich and Poor ,,two different kids of people they dont live in the same world ,, nor do they interact ,, One small part of humans dont know how the other for half of human live ,,, It would shock them ,, The rich is shocked by the poors miserable lives to the point of utter horror ,,, and the poor is shocked by the rich if they ever see or know a rich person ,,,I dont do art and music or my thoughts and ideas for money ,,,and never will go in bebt buy me a keyboard play it enjoy my self and get up go to bed ,,and try and rest…there is a great division between the rich and the poor and the smart and the dumb and the beautiful and the ugly different classes of people almost like some humans being animals on the street ,,,expect nothing and enjoy your self no one is gonna give you anything ,, Live in your own world and block every one out ,,,and things will be much better for you ,,
Thanks for this video Guy. I would definitely be interested in hearing you talk in more detail about composing for video games and tv.
Movies have gone Woke and as they say go Woke go Broke!
thank you Guy for these explanations, which seem simple but so important 🙏
Hey Guy, great content as usual. On an unrelated note, did you switch to the Arturia because it has a better piano keybed than the Kontrol S88 MKII?
Very impressive and interesting statistics
Hi Guy…love your videos. I have a question about why you’ve changed the NI controller for the Arturia? From my experience of the first gen, it was very noisy and clunky keyboard. I currently have a Roland A88 MKII…but curious about the Arturia 88. BTW, i do have the Keylab 49 MKII
You’re completely right in this. But it’s still not easy for some of us who already are working for major tv series, documentaries and also feature films. The difficoult part for us is to build a constant flow of new works to make a stable living.
The ones who already hired us, keep doing it. To get new ones is still hard, because the established directors or productions already have their trusted composers since years, and also because it is often needed to personally know and meet people involved in new productions to get known, but it’s quite hard to do it.
This is another aspect to keep in consideration, for the ones of us already working at high levels, but not yet with a constant and consistent flow of works to make a proper and stable living.
thank you always interesting
Mistake
Netflix is not Television
Many thanks for your video. Really important topic. I would note that answering the question “are there music composing jobs out there?” Is not the same as answering “can you make a living as a composer?”. It’s perfectly possible to find indie projects where they don’t pay enough to cover your expenses. Answering the question about making a living as a composer requires to include the variables income and expenses in the equation. That’s my take on this. What do you think?
Thankyou Guy, i’ve a question for you. In web in particolar in YouTube there are a lot of video about composition for orchestra, for film in english ect… But in Italy there aren’t so much. Why for you? Isn’t there enought work for composer?
Very useful, indeed. Thank you!
Working towards it.
Great info! 🙂
You never fail to cheer up and motivate a dull day (and always impress to not have a single edit point in your videos!). Really encouraging and loving your TS masters programme so far! 😊
These are really interesting videos. Please do more. It’s really interesting knowing how people approach things so one person can learn more about the industry. Thanks guy.
Nice work, Guy. There are so many folk on YouTube etc, setting beginner’s expectations high for what success looks like, whereas the reality is hard. Thanks for explaining this.
There’s a parallel with writing (fiction) where widespread computer availability lowered the skill threshold for writing. It enabled more folk to enjoy creative writing, with many of them having dreams of becoming a successful author and generating a steady comfortable income. In truth [I think] about 10% of writers finish a substantial work, 10% of those approach an agent, a small fraction of those reach publication, and a small fraction of those enjoy success with their book.
I’m a hobbyist in sound design/composition, and in writing, but I don’t have a realistic hope of going all-in to bid for work in such a competitive environment. I really enjoy it, and don’t want to put anyone off with what I’ve said here; I’ve really restated the problem you set out in this video, and I’m all for equipping folk with realistic expectations and the tools to pursue their dreams.
Also, amateur composers, especially male, have got to stop being delusional and lose their ridiculous ego. If you can’t play a piano or don’t have a university degree in music, you’re doomed only to listen to your own ego music in your bedroom while your mom shouts your tea is ready. Nobody’s interested in your music at all. It takes an extreme amount of work to get into film music. A lot of history on your talent. Also, if you’re a gamer, like the music and think you can write a game score. WRONG!
Quite good analysis of the potential field for composers to make a living out of it. What I’m concerned about is that loads of players in the AI industry are sampling zillions of patterns for sounds and compositions as we speak. Since Open AI is shocking us with their incredible performance we shouldn’t be surprised about the outcome of their endeavors to revolutionize the music industry.
Very helpful video.
How about advertisement/commercial music (jingles etc.)? Must be also a huge market. Or do they mostly use stock/library music nowadays?
Nice video.
I had a friend who played guitar. He said he wanted to write music for Motion Pictures. He did not know how to read music. Knew nothing about orchestration.
Composing has been my full time gig for 4 years now. Not only just making a living, but doing quite well. Anything is obtainable, but I really think a certain level of obsession is required. Not only to get better at your craft, but also the amount of output necessary to make it in this field requires quite an effort (I’ve delivered over 600 songs/cues in a 4 year span) it’s not easy and it isn’t supposed to be, but to anyone reading this who is serious about it…I BELIEVE IN YOU
I’m creating music and sounds for a game. The developer is very aware of my shortcomings as a composer but won’t consider anyone else. It helps enormously that the developer is me.
This is stupid because the companies didn’t wanna pay a penny because everyone can do these days. The market grows but not for composers and producers. Companies producing audio in India for some cents… you can not even create a speaker company cuz premium voices are completely managed by other companies already. Try to make videos on YT about ‘is it worth to become a composer in the game or broadcast industry’" gl
With the emerging A.I. disease songwriters will be out of a job soon.
Hello Guy, I don’t like to see anyone losing or "tossed away", after all, the purpose of life is to learn, It would be unbelievably fantastic if for a fee you would listen and give an honest opinion about a piece of music. Of course I’m sure this sort of thing already exist but I believe to have "your" opinion and guidance would mean the world to any of us who watch you and love you. I’m sure you are busy, it was just a thought… Thanks for all the great videos.
Hey Guy, is Cubase, Logic, ProTools etc a requirement for your COURSE? I only use Reaper
Yes, that was MOST interesting! Years ago-when he had started his channel-I recall asking Christian Henson if he would lend some insight into the business/logistical side of the craft (aside from DAW/mock-up tutorials) and he did, and it was one of his most successful & useful videos ever! ⚡️✨
This was an ABSOLUTELY wonderful video!!
Excellent!😊
It’s pretty interesting that they reached out to a few people who managed to fit the profile…. only to find out they were already occupied with other work projects. I’m not surprised, but still funny. Life is easy for those on top 😉
Not a composer myself, but the advice you just gave fits so well with so many different professional endeavors. 1) Know how to do the job. 2) Know how to follow instructions. 3) Bring something more to the job that is desirable than everyone else.
It’s very interesting. I’ll add a couple of things. I always ‘stress test’ people that are working for me. If I just critique the music or performance many people will collapse at that point. They think they are the best and don’t listen at all to feedback. If you are to make it you must listen and learn from feedback. Many don’t adhere to a schedule, yes life happens and I can work with people that are good and I have reason to believe what they are telling me is true. If you have an open contract with me and ignore it making twitch streams or youTube videos in the meantime I know right away to let you go because you aren’t serious about what you are doing.
Amazing video with loads of helpful insight, thank you Guy!
As another video Idea: It would be amazing to get some tips on how to make your own demo reel to sell yourself better.
Cheerio
Thanks Guy, Would be good to know what to aim for to get to that ‘Professional’ level and to realise your music is good enough. At the moment I am probably one of the ones who think it is when it clearly is not!. What level we should to aspire to? Thanks again.
Very cool and informative video. Do you think studying composition at an university may be beneficial for entering in this industry?
Great video guy 🙂
Great video otherwise aside but I question these projections and statistics, as just that, especially without more detail.
Thank you for sharing this one!! I am just starting my degree in music composition for film, tv, and games with Berklee and this is incredibly encouraging. Love your channel and the work you do! Thanks and be well 🙌🏻
So helpful, Guy! very useful. I would love other videos on how to get the real voice and compositional topics to avoid.
Gracias!!
As a professional musician of 25 years now focusing all my energy on composition, this short video has been an encouraging encounter and would like to say thank you for your sage advice. But mostly for it’s kind and open manner i thank you Xander
NIce video Guy.
I entered a music contest and though my musical direction was different, my production was weak. Skill somewhat but time since I entered late.
The compliments that I received mimic your description of the 1 percent.
A different take from the rest.