Musicians and Singers

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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
4.7/10
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

29% (Low Risk)

Low Risk (21-40%): This occupation has a lower risk of full replacement by AI, software, or robotic systems. Some tasks may be automated or assisted, but the role usually still relies on human judgement, communication, responsibility, physical adaptability, or practical decision-making.

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.

Working directly with the public

Very 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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Thinking creatively

Quite 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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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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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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What users think

Based on 1,678 votes

41% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. However, employees may be able to find reassurance in the automated risk level we have generated, which shows 29% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Musicians and Singers 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

Growth

Slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Musicians and Singers' job openings is expected to rise 1.1% 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

Moderate range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 38,350 people employed as 'Musicians and Singers' within the United States.

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

Put another way, around 1 in 4 thousand people are employed as 'Musicians and Singers'.

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What people are saying (101)

Leave a comment
Kayliegh (Low)
24 Oct 2024 21:45
Music comes from what we feel and our life. Robots can't have feelings and tend to have creepy voices. Music is to emotional to be replaced by robots or AI
Zoe
04 Feb 2026 02:37
Plus the AI voices don't sound human or good at all.
guy (Moderate)
24 Sep 2024 21:45
Already have AI generated songs but people still mostly prefer actual people.
Samara (No chance)
03 Jul 2024 07:21
I don't wanna see a live concert played by robots and if you know that a real person made a song and not AI, it's kinda better
Aidan (Moderate)
10 Jul 2024 19:37
Recorded music could very easily be automated, and unfortunately we're already seeing this happen with big record labels going all in on the new AI technology. The live show however will never be replaced by AI, and real music enthusiasts will always seek out "real"music instead of the formulated hits big labels pump out.
Paul (No chance)
05 Jul 2024 07:57
Humans will want to listen to music made by other humans.
Josh (No chance)
04 Jul 2024 06:39
There's a reason people pay to see other people perform at concerts
Özgür Taylan Çelik (No chance)
20 Jul 2025 09:55
It's a human to human thing. It's always been this way
no (No chance)
17 Jan 2025 20:38
how would robots make music without copying other people?
Joshua (No chance)
10 Nov 2024 13:28
Robots aren’t creative duh
tuna (No chance)
10 Oct 2024 11:46
the music they make is very similar even now, especially the vocals. even the working logic of artificial intelligence does not allow for originality, so it is impossible.
Anonymous (Low)
07 Jul 2024 10:38
I saw a few advertisements for an app that makes music with AI, and it could be better. I also tried making lyrics with ChatGPT once (don't ask why); they can't do it that well. AI can only do some things well regarding music (at least from a few experiences of mine).
Siddhansh Wagh (Low)
09 Mar 2025 09:49
Robots will not have the same human emotion to their songs than humans.
Shane (No chance)
01 Jul 2024 18:35
Music and art as a whole is an expression of human emotions. Although AI can replicate music, it cant replicate the passion put into it
annie
23 Jun 2025 13:42
how would a robot make an orginal song
Sunnie (Uncertain)
03 Jul 2024 03:45
you need a stable singing voice or a good songwriting skills and I don't think normal robots can do that
Anonymous Music Listener. (Moderate)
15 May 2024 17:33
Well, musicians are in trouble for a long time.

We are already using DAW and VSTIs for recording. So if it is not a complex classical music piece there is no need for musicians. I'm not even mentioning workstation and digital synthesizer era.

There are already acoustic pianos that can play itself! We may see self playing instruments more in the future. If they sync them together; maybe one day we don't need live musicians.

Suno AI is not good enough to replace DAW and DAW user. So many things are missing. No effects, you can't use your own melody and so on. AI supported DAW may help so much for music creation. It may also reduce the cost and we may finally hear good quality music again, who knows?

When it comes to singers though; I think it is impossible to replace. Because if all you care is the song itself, then play it through speakers. You don't need to go to concert. Imitating is not the only problem. You can't emotionally connect to AI that much. When you become a fan of a singer, you start following him/her on social media, you may even talk with them if you have luck. You may also follow their overall life and thoughts. What about AI? It is just a software, no human being.
Cornelius (Low)
06 Mar 2024 12:37
Audiences want to know their favourite musicians as people. For AI to replace them, it would have to replace them in all the functions of celebrity, not merely musical performance.
Alexandre V. Knippel (No chance)
13 Oct 2025 00:10
Robots simply have no emotions. They can play riffs, but not put emotion into it.
If that were the case, AI would already rule stadiums, with the already present AI Music category.
Bendzsi (No chance)
10 Oct 2025 21:56
People connect with the artists themselves, no robot has a personality nor can hold a concert
jeremy (Low)
04 Jul 2024 09:37
it is nearly impossible to automate a musicians style

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Job description

Play one or more musical instruments or sing. May perform on stage, for broadcasting, or for sound or video recording.

O*NET-SOC code: 27-2042.00