Music Directors and Composers

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.0/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

14% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
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Working directly with the public

Quite important
Why this matters
The job involves face-to-face interaction with customers, clients, or guests—answering questions, handling requests, and managing service situations in real time. Roles with frequent public interaction are harder to replace end-to-end because they rely on trust, communication, and adapting to unpredictable human needs.
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Persuasion

Quite important
Why this matters
Influencing people to change their minds or behavior through conversation, trust, and negotiation.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Show 4 more strengths

Decision-making and problem solving

Quite important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 434 votes

37% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 14% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Music Directors and Composers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Music Directors and Composers was $63,670 ($31 per hour).

The median annual wage for Music Directors and Composers was 28.6% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Music Directors and Composers' job openings is expected to decline 0.3% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 12,330 people employed as 'Music Directors and Composers' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 12 thousand people are employed as 'Music Directors and Composers'.

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What people are saying (31)

Leave a comment
J (Low)
06 Jan 2024 21:08
The only people are impressed by the music AIVA and other AI technologies create are people who either lack an ability to evaluate music properly (they are not musical themselves and don't actively listen to music) or people who stand to gain if they can replace the creativity of composers with a program.

This is without taking into account all of the interpersonal elements of composition, which are also not well understood by people who don't do this work.

Finally, given that humans are subject to copyright law and that the level of imitation and inspiration from previous works is controlled and limited by these laws, it is unlikely that music created by AI that was not drastically reshaped by a human composer would avoid copyright lawsuits or be subject to copyright itself, as current technology in this field only knows how to aggregate and make stylistic choices based on probability. A human composer is not going to waste time fiddling with AI compositions to "get them there" when they could just write something themselves.

Show me an evangelist who actually produces music and isn't heavily invested in AI themselves in some way, and I'll reconsider.
Bel (Low)
04 Sep 2024 02:59
Robots (IA's) will never match human creativity.
Joe (Low)
11 Jul 2024 11:06
It makes sense why some people would use AI for small things, like as background music for a YouTube video. Everywhere else, you'd have to have human minds and human limbs behind it. The way I see it, AI will never be Hans Zimmer or Jacob Collier. Not by a longshot.
Zac (No chance)
16 Jun 2021 04:48
Even if they could it wouldn't be the same as a person composing and putting their input and ideas into the composition. The feeling and emotion has to come from within to create something astonishing in my opinion. Because of this, they wouldn't fully replace humans in music writing/composing.
Anomius Maximus (No chance)
29 Apr 2019 23:34
No way a robot would have ever been able to create a song as great, innovative, inspiring and culture changing as the masterpiece that is known as 'All Star' by Smash Mouth.
Matt
30 Apr 2019 20:28
:)
beanz (No chance)
15 Jun 2025 18:37
Because Automated machines don't have emotions (as you probably know by asking Siri or whatever,) a conductor, for one, would be impossible to replace because it would lack, first of all, free movement of the joints, and in the event it does become automated, would look EXTREMELY uncanny...
Jaybird (Low)
08 Jul 2024 00:02
It’s too complex and subjective for individual AI feedback to be effective over the arc of learning
EdwinBrophy
07 Jul 2020 13:34
Composing pop music is already nearly completely automated but serious music will continue to require human composers.
EdwinBrophyIsAClown
08 Dec 2020 11:57
Composing pop music is not automated. Just because it is created on a computer doesn't mean it is automated, you still need human to create the ideas.
nathanuppnext (No chance)
11 Apr 2021 19:12
I'm a trap producer and its true
Dave
20 Sep 2022 23:32
Not true, and there is no such thing as 'serious music'
Nicholas Venet (No chance)
14 Mar 2025 12:33
music can be performed by bots and you can have a robot conductor however the emotion of a musician, providing interpertions of word is not able to be replicated by robots
Joey (Low)
13 Mar 2025 22:46
You need a lot of emotion - something unable to be reproduced by robots - to have and do this job well. Also, originality is a BIG part of the job.
DJ (No chance)
20 Mar 2021 17:00
Produce own style of music, create melody you like, there is just no way AI could replace it
Natalie (Low)
22 May 2020 01:00
Music would be awful of it was automated. Music requires feelings to be any good.
Joel (No chance)
26 Jun 2019 03:40
Music, or the act of composing music, has no formula of equation to it. Music is the expression of one's emotions, often called the outburst of the soul. A robot or machine is literally incapable of having emotions or a soul, therefore a robot will never be able to replace a human composer.
Jason (Highly likely)
01 Sep 2019 10:23
You are wrong. A big part of AI works by spotting patterns. Patterns is relatively simple given that there are only so many notes and scales in music. It can even come out with sounds that arent be able to be produced by normal instruments. AI can already write articles somewhat. They can already compose music (see link below). Playing music is trivial and doesnt even require AI. There are only 2 things that an AI may have trouble with. 1. Which is understanding which part of what they created did a human like and thus may have trouble using reinforced learning. 2. Lyrics have meaning behind the words. Its much more complex than just a melody. Its these lyrics and building melody in combination with lyrics which is going to be rather difficult but not impossible. Lyric writing is going to be one of the Last things AI will be able to do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYb3Wimn01s
Dylan Dukat
03 Dec 2019 18:49
I’ll raise you this. Music is a sphere of culture, and as such evolves with culture. Looking throughout music’s history, there are evident reasons why eras change, morph, and evolve. The role of composers is to create a unique voice that resonates with ever-shifting cultural trends. AI can easily analyze music and replicate its patterns, sure. But, that’s not really the foundation of music composition. I could, in writing a work, replicate the unique qualities of Shostakovich or Schoenberg. I could tell you all about how Shostakovich’s music was a rally against the USSR, and balanced nationalism with individualism and a rebellion against the machine. I could tell you how Shoenberg used serialism as a direct counter to Romanticism, and how he managed to create beautiful music mathematically. And I could produce similar work. But doing that without self-stylized inspiration… is it really writing music anymore? And could AI write music as a counter to a political movement while adhering to its demands? Or could it revolutionize an entire artistic culture? That’s the question that forms the crux of the counter.
Zaran Jathaul (No chance)
09 Apr 2019 14:27
You can't automate music. Unless it is dub step but even then people have to make that. After hundreds of years why has classical music always stayed popular? Because it is an advanced form of music that people understand once they get an advanced understanding of music and that is why people will always pay to see it live.
Gadgetsz
05 Mar 2021 18:34
The act of composing will not be replaced BUT it will definitely change and maybe become more easy and accessible for all people. Maybe one day, everyone is a composer because you don't even need to learn score writing, DAW, playing or singing. Maybe just by thinking, you can create masterworks.. We will see?
Joshua
01 Jun 2020 15:19
People who learn the same music theories write different songs, so do robots. Robots are rarely likely to replace human beings in the field of composition.
Sam (Moderate)
11 Jan 2026 19:46
Ai is rapidly developing, and ai will probably be in charge of background music etc in the near future.
Someone (Highly likely)
26 Apr 2019 18:54
Sad but very likely. Many projects (e.g. Jukedeck and Aiva) have already proven this by analyzing works made by humans and creating their own pieces.
Nikola
13 Jul 2020 12:54
But just because a robot can "make" music or "write" a book, i.e. create a composite of what's already out there, it doesn't mean that these professions will be overtaken by AI. People gravitate towards works of art created by humans, because reading a good book or gives you insight into the mind of the person who created it, in addition to possibly being relatable to you on a personal level. Art is deeply individual, both from the perspective of the artist and the consumer of art. I'd say it's very hard to imagine that any creative profession that's grounded in relaying the sensory, emotional, intellectual, and philosophical experiences of the world would ever cease to exist. People will always feel the need to tell stories and express themselves through art, and other people will always want to hear those stories and consume that art. It's because art gives more meaning to our lives. It elevates our experience of living to another level. There's a difference between automating jobs like assembly line work or driving and automating creative work. The former can arguably be perfected through automation, while the latter becomes devoid of meaning through automation. Only one way I can imagine this happening is if all humans cease to exist, and we're replaced by machines. But if that happens, I won't be around to care.
Rachel Farina
28 Mar 2023 22:48
You are right. What happens when we no longer can decipher what is and isn't created by AI? There are no regulations in place at the moment, zero laws, no certification or copyright process to say, "This was created by a human." Not a surprise given no one wants to but the brakes on big tech. But I sadly feel like this line will get very blurred, and AI and its billionaire founders will be all the more eager to keep it blurred so people keep using their AI, driving costly human artists and musicians and writers into obsolescence. There will be room for them in the highest realms of the arts and humanities, which still cuts out 90% of working artists.
John (Highly likely)
07 May 2021 20:39
There are already many ai composers like AIVA, so I am pretty sure in the next 15-20 years ai composers will replace human music composers.
yo lads (Moderate)
16 Sep 2021 06:14
i seen some robots making chunes and people saying they bussin beats bye bye dutse, hesh and koot
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Job description

Conduct, direct, plan, and lead instrumental or vocal performances by musical artists or groups, such as orchestras, bands, choirs, and glee clubs; or create original works of music.

O*NET-SOC code: 27-2041.00