How To Become A Composer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a composer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

The average composer salary is $53,019. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an music major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a composer. Composers with a Avid Certified Operator: Pro Tools | Music certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 2,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreComposerUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $53,019

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.7

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 5.27%

Black or African American 5.62%

Hispanic or Latino 9.49%

Unknown 4.75%

White 74.69%

Gender

female 20.18%

male 79.82%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress level

4.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a composer

Explore composer education requirements

Most common composer degrees

Bachelor's

67.0 %

Master's

12.6 %

Associate

8.8 %

Start to develop specific composer skills

Skills	Percentages
Video Games	12.11%
Adobe Photoshop	11.00%
Adobe Premiere	9.65%
Sound Design	9.27%
Avid Media Composer	5.66%

Complete relevant composer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New composers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a composer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real composer resumes.

Research composer duties and responsibilities

Supervise, manage and book DJ's.
Produce: NYC, Houston, TX, tour TX.
Work with multiple DAW software.
Record and master young talent demo CDs.

Prepare your composer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your composer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a composer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable composer resume templates

Build a professional composer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your composer resume.