According to the "U. To put that in perspective, a session musician can be hired by anybody that needs to record music: a band, music producer, music contractor, even a video producer and thereby increasing the opportunity of employment of session musicians. Chase your dream of becoming a famous singer. Their duties vary based on the employer and the job they are hired to do. At the heart of getting a gig, is the skill, in which a session musician needs to be proficient to survive in the music industry.
The market gets difficult due to the ever-prevalent competition between the newcomers and top-tier session musicians.
So, getting a job can be troublesome due to the difficult job market. Only a minor percentage of people get to the point of getting known and thereby earning a sustained living.
Session musicians work as freelance artists which means that they may have to suffer through a period of unemployment between gigs. However, it is not impossible to make a decent living from this job. Their salaries are fixed and are usually decided based on the experience and skills of the musician. They are paid hourly unless they are hired full-time by a music director. Some session musicians give music lessons or find other ways to supplement their income like playing on the subway.
The role of a session musician is necessarily that of "an anonymous, professional service provider". The wage that this particular profession entails varies from a minimum wage to a couple of hundred bucks per hour. It is directly proportional to the number of gigs that one can manage. Building relationships with clients like music directors and other musicians is very important in the field.
Establishing a reputation in the studio and worth in public are keys to become successful. The wages vary depending on the projects and the expertise of the artist. Is singing your therapy? Bureau of Labor Statistics' has given the data of earning of the session musician:.
This sum is for the audio recording, the video component of the job will count for additional charges. However, there is another side to the story.
Get your musical passion. There isn't necessarily, an exam that ensures the pursuit of the profession of session musician but there certainly are various university programs related to it.
However, the only requirement for being a session musician is to be the best at your skill and stand out amongst other musicians. As it is mentioned earlier that the profession entails a difficult job market so to be successful, the session musician needs to be an expert of his instrument along with having vast musical knowledge. In this way, it is easier to be more resourceful and make references that play a major role in becoming a known session musician. So, in short, there is no certification required or available but personal talent and hard work.
Whilst studying at Uni, I was in a band playing a lot of gigs, and we began attracting attention from labels, which led to us getting signed to a major. This curtailed my stay at Salford, and the next 4 years were spent touring round the world, being in lots of studios, constantly writing and generally having the time of my life. When we decided to call it a day last year, my first instinct was to carry on performing, but this time as a session guitarist.
However, there are two ways of looking at this. The second way is to realise that some people may come to you and give you an opportunity to build up your CV, gain vital experience but maybe without being able to pay you anything at all.
I personally like the anonymity of being a session musician. We were a tight-knit group of friends that went from playing small back-rooms in pubs to places like the old Astoria in London and Brixton Academy.
Whilst all this was fantastic for our career, it came to the point where I wanted the complete opposite. It can be unbelievably hard to get a breakthrough sometimes. Also, you have to deal with a lot of people in the music industry. There are a lot of people out there who can be very ruthless, and I can speak from experience on this.
Without doubt the biggest responsibility is being professional. This seems very obvious but a bad reputation goes a long way in the session world. You have to be good at talking as well and having a sense of humour always helps. It also goes without saying that a good grasp of music theory helps as this makes it easier to deal with things like chord charts or transposing parts to different keys.
Confidence in your own ability is essential too. I think you should try and better yourself as much as possible and of course, degree courses will invariably help you to do this. I feel that this will give me more options in the long term and will help me to diversify in my career as a musician. As mentioned previously, I want to go back to studying at university but I also want to carry on working as a freelance session musician. In the last year I have made a lot of progress with session work and I want to get involved with more artists.
At the moment I have just finished recording an EP with an up and coming band and the plan is to get more gigs and future sessions which will help keep the money rolling in. However, this can vary depending on experience and how much a producer or artist wants you!
I also love DJ-ing, though only as a side project to earn extra money. Willaert says that like any form of musicianship, most session musicians begin their careers with a love of the craft and hopes of becoming a star. Misconceptions : While there was a time when session musicians were largely employed by major record labels to assist mainstream artists, Mr.
Willaert says this is no longer the case. While recording artists still employ session musicians, most are hired for film, television and advertising work. Give us the scoop: Are you a session musician? Write a note in the comments area of this story or e-mail your comment to careerquestion globeandmail. Want to read more stories from our Salaries Series? This represents the addition of some 10, jobs.
A lot of the job growth is in the studio or session musician area, especially in the scoring of films, television shows and commercials, an industry that now employs the lion's share of session musicians. Studio musicians get hired because they're quick learners and very accomplished. Those with exceptional talent and dedication should have the best opportunities.
Her articles have appeared on numerous business sites including Typefinder, Women in Business, Startwire and Indeed. Find her at www. By Jayne Thompson Updated August 14, References U.
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