Berklee Studies U.S. Music Industry Salaries

Berklee College of Music’s Career Development Center has released an updated version of Music Careers in Dollars and Cents, outlining salary ranges for U.S. music positions including performance, business, audio technology, education, and music therapy.

The study shows salaries trending upwards for certain positions (Orchestral Musician, Assistant Professor, Public Relations Specialist), while others are seeing a decline (Commercial Jingle Composer, A&R Representative, Music Education Administrator). Here are some of the findings:

Songpluggers: $20,000 – $64,590
Publishing Admin: $20,000 – $60,000
Label A&R: $27,000 – $85,000+
Label Digital Marketing: $24,000 – $55,000
Road Manager: $25,000 – $125,000+
FOH Engineer: $60,000 – $120,000+
Studio Engineer: $25,000 – $150,000+

“There is downward pressure on many music performance salaries right now due to the slowing global economic recovery, changing perceptions of music’s value, and hyper competition,” said Peter Spellman, Director of Berklee’s Career Development Center.

New features for the publication include emerging career paths, current positions expected to experience growth (Mobile Music App Developer, Content Acquisition, Audio Advertising Producer), in addition to salary range and job title reports for Music Supervisors, and Composers. A flowchart is also provided to aid in the negotiation of job offers.

First released by the college in 2010, the 2012 updated study can be viewed in its entirety here.