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Job outlook for music journalists in the United States
Are music journalist jobs in demand?
Music journalist job and salary trends over time
Music journalist jobs over time
Music journalist job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 299 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 288 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 297 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 298 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 301 | 0.00% |
Average music journalist salary over time
Music journalist salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $71,698 | $34.47 | +0.2% |
| 2024 | $71,533 | $34.39 | --0.6% |
| 2023 | $71,976 | $34.60 | +4.5% |
| 2022 | $68,858 | $33.10 | --2.5% |
| 2021 | $70,628 | $33.96 | +5.1% |
Music journalist jobs by state
Most common states for music journalists
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 10 | 1% |
| 2 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 5 | 1% |
| 3 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 5 | 1% |
| 4 | Vermont | 623,657 | 4 | 1% |
| 5 | California | 39,536,653 | 81 | 0% |
| 6 | New York | 19,849,399 | 69 | 0% |
| 7 | North Carolina | 10,273,419 | 25 | 0% |
| 8 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 21 | 0% |
| 9 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 20 | 0% |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 19 | 0% |
| 11 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 17 | 0% |
| 12 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 16 | 0% |
| 13 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 15 | 0% |
| 14 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 14 | 0% |
| 15 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 11 | 0% |
| 16 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 7 | 0% |
| 17 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 5 | 0% |
| 18 | Alaska | 739,795 | 3 | 0% |
| 19 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 3 | 0% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 0 | 0% |
Music Journalist job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of music journalist experts
The University of Findlay
Western Kentucky University
Georgia State University
Montclair State University
New Mexico State University
Metropolitan State University of Denver
American University
Butler University
University of Oregon
Towson University
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Belmont University
Miami University
Fairfield University
University of Central Missouri
The University of Kansas
Bates College
University of Kansas
Cal Poly
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Amy Rogan: Journalists do a number of things and no two days look alike. Journalists need to have sound, solid news judgement and know their audience and what their audience needs to know. They pitch stories to their editors, producers, or managers, then they research their story topic, find the appropriate interviews and set those up. Once they complete the interviews and gather all their research they then have to craft a story that captures the readers’ or viewers’ attention and serves the community. Typically, that is just one day of work unless you’re working on a special project. Multimedia skills are in high demand because journalists are on so many platforms these days. You need to know how to write for print, digital, and broadcast. And, if you know how to shoot and edit video as well as write, your name goes to the top of the list.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Amy Rogan: People working in journalism probably most dislike the hours and the pay but it’s truly one of the most rewarding fields to work in. It can be stressful but also exciting and challenging. Whether at the local level or a larger stage, it’s truly a service to your community to provide vital information.
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Professor Mac McKerral: Producing quality journalism is not easy. It’s hard work and requires a variety of skills, all of which contribute to quality journalism. The writing, reporting and editing must all be in balance and strong. Anyone can be a journalist these days. But not everyone should. Continue to learn on the job. Find a good mentor/editor and milk that individual for everything he or she can offer. If you want to write about yourself rather than others, seek a different career. Your first job might not be your ideal job, but it will be the ticket to your ideal job. Approach every assignment, regardless of how menial, as if it is the most important story ever. You cannot pick and choose what you want to do well. Anything you report will impact someone. Always remember that. Develop a visceral hate for mistakes. Know what your ethical line in the sand is before you are faced with an ethical conundrum. Understanding where you stand before making ethical decisions will enhance your chances of making the right choice.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Professor Mac McKerral: Produce quality work for student publications while in school. Do multiple internships. Hold onto and use what you are taught in school. Be capable of doing anything needed: A/V news gathering and editing; visual work; editing; basic design. Be self-motivated and take initiative. Show a wiliness to learn.
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Helen Cauley Ph.D.: The best way is to show you already have experience, and the employer won’t need to train you. An applicant who arrives ready to hit the ground running stands a better chance of getting the job and the top salary over someone who has never been published, taken a photo, put together a video story or – most important! – proved they can meet a deadline under pressure.
Associate Professor Thomas Franklin
Associate Professor, Multimedia JournalismMontclair State University
Radio, Television, And Digital Communication
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Associate Professor Thomas Franklin: In the media industry, making substantial income right from the start can be particularly challenging. However, by cultivating a strong network, seeking guidance from mentors and sources, and securing top internships, you can enhance your prospects of landing a position at a solid media outlet, where earning potential may be greater. I believe strongly in having several side hustles at all times. By maintaining side hustles, it can provide supplementary income and also be a way to nurture your passion if your main gig is not doing it for you. For early career professionals, I advocate prioritizing skill development and pursuing your passions, rather than fixating solely on monetary gain. Instead of focusing on immediate financial rewards, concentrate on gaining valuable experience and recognition for your work. While this may require patience, it ultimately lays a solid foundation for long-term success. In the grand scheme of things, prioritizing experience and long-term growth over immediate financial gain is solid advice when trying to build a sustainable career in the media industry.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Associate Professor Thomas Franklin: The most valuable advice I could offer to someone embarking on a career in journalism and multimedia storytelling is to immerse yourself in a topic that truly captivates you and then pursue it relentlessly. Strive to become not just proficient, but truly passionate and knowledgeable about your chosen subject matter. By doing so, you'll naturally become somewhat of an expert in the field. I firmly believe in the importance of dedicating significant time and effort to your craft. As Malcolm Gladwell famously suggests, mastery often requires putting in around 10,000 hours of practice. So, start chipping away at that goal, knowing that with perseverance and dedication, great things are bound to happen. In addition to honing your expertise, focus on cultivating a wide network of sources. These individuals can provide you with story ideas, access to compelling characters, and unique opportunities. By building strong relationships within your community, you'll find yourself plugged into a network that can offer both exposure and new avenues for growth. But also cultivate a network of media professionals who do the kind of work that you aspire to do.
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Darren Phillips M.A.: First and foremost, I would advise journalists starting out to be curious and to read, read, and read some more. The best storytellers are voracious consumers of information — credible information — and they’re infinitely curious about world events, politics, history, and the like. Knowledge is power. It’s also marketability. Be an expert, or at least know enough about the wider world to be able to bring relevant context and nuance to your work. This requires you to read. For journalism students still in school, this also means taking elective courses in government and economics, geography, and other subjects outside your major that will help you make greater sense of complex topics. Reading and just a life-long commitment to learning are so important.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Darren Phillips M.A.: Maximizing salary potential as a media professional starts with everything I’ve already mentioned. Journalists and even PR and advertising professionals must be extremely well informed on a broad range of topics. This starts with reading and just being a voracious media consumer. This also requires one to think critically, to consume media from disparate sources, to not shy away from contrarian viewpoints, and to work hard and in good faith to synthesize information responsibly. This ties in with maintaining strict allegiance to industry best practices including media ethics. Reputation is everything. Make sure your employers, prospective employers, and clients all understand and appreciate your professional integrity and just your commitment to truth and accuracy. Moreover, embrace change, lean into technological change, and become a bit of a techno geek. Work hard making contacts and building a professional network. Work hard, generally. Hard work goes a long way in any vocation. Beyond that, attend industry conferences, pay close attention to your online presence, curate your social media profiles carefully and put some real time and thought into things like your LinkedIn profile and online portfolio. Lastly, don’t be put off by rejection. Rejection comes with the territory in any competitive career field. Believe in yourself, stay positive, stay open minded, learn all you can, read like crazy, keep grinding, and success will follow eventually.
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Alfredo Sanchez ACUE: Students will need to become more digital and Social Media savvy. As digital platforms continue to reshape how audiences consume news and information, digital and social media proficiency will be increasingly crucial. However, Multimedia Storytelling must be a cornerstone of our industry. Integrating multimedia elements such as video, audio, graphics, and interactive elements will become more prevalent in broadcast journalism. Professionals who can tell compelling stories using a combination of multimedia formats will be in high demand. I always encourage students to enroll in Data Visualization courses. The ability to extract meaningful insights from data and present them visually engagingly will help broadcasters provide deeper insights and context to their stories. We must remember Mobile Journalism (MoJo). Using your mobile devices to capture, edit, and publish news content will become a standard for journalists. Last but not least, journalists must build meaningful connections with audiences through interactive storytelling, live chats, audience polls, and user-generated content will become increasingly important. Broadcasters who can foster active engagement and dialogue with their audience will be able to cultivate loyal viewership and build community around their content.
Assistant Amy Eisman
Assistant ProfessorAmerican University
Arts, Entertainment, And Media Management
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Assistant Amy Eisman: One skill is easy: be flexible. The technology is changing at lightning speed. At the moment, it helps to be strong at data journalism and understanding emergent technology, such as AI. Topic areas of interest include climate coverage, health and education. It also helps to be a great team player; the speed of news means you rarely work alone. Overall, make sure you embrace the basics in the field: accuracy, fairness, transparency, independence and accountability. Be a solid writer and an even better editor and producer. No one can predict what is next for technology. Employers therefore will look for people who uphold the values of the past, are enthusiastic about the present and are curious about the future.
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Assistant Amy Eisman: As others have said, the career track is a jungle gym, not a ladder. Acquire new skill sets wherever you go, then use them in the next job. And be great at whatever task you take on. Even if you are in an entry-level position, ace it, impress your colleagues, and be the person everyone wants on their team. The field is changing. That is not a secret. Many of the changes are overdue. There is more focus on trauma-informed reporting, for example, and on rethinking how we treat sources. There is more focus on bringing multiple voices into the fold and healthy debates about the role of identity. There is a deep focus, as there should be, on investigative journalism and on keeping citizens informed in a democracy. Be the best at your job. Don't burn bridges behind you.
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Joseph Valenzano III: Beginning a career must always come with the understanding that your first job is not your career, and it won’t pay you as much as you might think. Maximizing your potential in this scenario depends on many variables, some of which you cannot control. The ones you can control are the quality of your writing samples, having a record of published work in outlets (including the school paper), the clarity of your resume, and the strength of your interview. It also would be helpful to do homework on the market, the employer, and any data on comparisons you can collect. This can help you calibrate your expectations in advance of any offer. One don’t in this process: don’t expect to have a simple 9-5 job; going the extra mile when asked, and even when not asked, can help demonstrate your value to the employer and accelerate the rate of your growth in the industry as well.
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Damian Radcliffe: The three things I would emphasize are resilience, adaptability and being nice to work with. Resilience matters, because there is constant churn and disruption in many industries, including journalism. Many graduates find it harder to get their start than they realize, those that succeed – and keep succeeding – are resilient. They’re driven. They learn from knockbacks. Those are skills you will need throughout your career.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Damian Radcliffe: I believe that a lot of core journalistic skills will remain important. That means having a strong news sense, being able to write well, the ability to produce content for multiple platforms and understanding ethics and media law.
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Pallavi Guha Ph.D.: Mastering all trades, for example, if you are a journalist, you need reporting skills, social media storytelling skills, basic photography/video skills, and editing skills. Using storyboards and graphics such as Canva, and effectively using social media for sourcing, interviews, checking accuracy, and promoting stories will become irreplaceable.
Natalie Becerra
Career Development SpecialistUniversity of Nebraska - Lincoln
Journalism
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Natalie Becerra: I think some very important skills that will be important to have are resourcefulness and research skills. Especially in the journalism and media industries everything is very trend driven. That means people need to have better research-backed strategies if they want to see long-term, sustainable success. It will be hard to just rely on clickbait and bandwagoning forever, so people should sharpen their research skills and foster a sense of curiosity and resourcefulness to dig deeper and find information for themselves.
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Natalie Becerra: In general, I encourage new graduates to stay curious. After you graduate it feels like you're standing on the edge of a cliff in a way, like the road has stopped. There are no more set milestones for you unless you set them yourself. A way to combat that existential feeling is to be curious. Some things you can do are 1) figure out who you are as an individual, 2) ask yourself what you truly enjoy doing for fun, 3) try to learn new skills or gain new experiences, and 4) if you're future-oriented or goal-oriented ask yourself what you want to plan for. The biggest adjustment for me after graduation was figuring out what to do outside of work. I had no hobbies and no idea what I liked to do for fun because I was working or studying outside of classes all through college. So do that self-reflection and act on the self-discoveries!
Assistant Professor Dorren Robinson
Assistant Professor of JournalismBelmont University
Journalism
What Music Journalist skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Assistant Professor Dorren Robinson: Now more than ever, we need journalists to hold those in power accountable and write unbiased, ethically sourced stories. Journalists can inform, educate and help create a more informed society that leads to a strong democracy. Journalists can uncover corruption, lift up the marginalized and explain complex international issues as well as telling audiences about their local communities.
Rosemary Pennington
Associate Professor & Area Coordinator of Journalism Miami UniversityMiami University
Journalism
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Rosemary Pennington: This one is harder, but I do think skill stacking is always a good idea. Someone who can, for example, write well, can work with data, and can take good photos is a more versatile reporter and could demand a higher salary than a reporter entering the field who has gotten really good at just one of those things. Building a deep resume through internships and working in student media can also help as it shows you are an experienced reporter who understands the fundamentals of the profession.
Matt Tullis
Director of Digital Journalism, Co-Director of Sports Media, Assistant Professor of Practice of Digital Journalism, Author of Running With Ghosts, Host and Producer of Gangrey: The PodcastFairfield University
College of Arts & Sciences
What skills will help Music Journalists earn the most?
Matt Tullis: I don't know if there is a definite answer to this, other than you just have to be willing to work hard to pull off amazing journalism. The more you do that, the more you move up the ranks.
Joe Moore Ph.D.
Professor of Communication Program Coordinator, Digital Media ProductionUniversity of Central Missouri
Department of Communication
What general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Joe Moore Ph.D.: Work for your student media outlets throughout your career and do at least one internship (preferably a couple with different outlets). Skills are great, but if you don't come out with some experience, you are going to be behind.
Steve Rottinghaus
Career and outreach coordinatorThe University of Kansas
William Allen White School of Journalism
What will help Music Journalists increase their earning potential?
Steve Rottinghaus: Journalists like creating content that matters to a community and helping community members make decisions based on facts. They enjoy meeting different people and telling their stories. In a 24/7 news cycle, the time commitment can become overwhelming. Working nights, weekends, and holidays are common, especially in smaller news organizations.
Matthew Hall
President of the National Society of Professional Journalists and editorial and opinion director at The San Diego Union-TribuneWhat general advice would you give to a Music Journalist?
Matthew Hall: The only constant in journalism these days is change, and that's been compounded by the pandemic. There are obviously fewer journalism jobs in the industry than there were last year, let alone 10 years ago, so emerging journalists should make sure they understand and are not scared by troubling industry trends, daunting shifts in technology and declining trust in the media. Luckily, people's appetite for news is larger than ever and journalists can do a lot to gain audience trust and knowledge about the field from a young age. That includes always acting ethically, interacting with their communities and joining an advocacy organization like SPJ for networking, training, and support. In the next several years, you're going to see an accelerating shift away from daily print publication and paper products to digital journalism, so young journalists should learn how to code, how to get the most out of social media and how to find and tell stories using only a phone. If they do, then they, journalism and the country will be OK. No one can predict which trends or technology will emerge in coming months or years, so the best journalists will stay on top of industry developments, be quick studies and stick to what's tried and true in journalism: Telling stories that matter to communities that care.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Music Journalists?
Dr. Daniel Sanford: One of the most interesting changes we've seen since the start of the pandemic is that everyone in higher education has been very quickly acclimated to teaching, learning, and writing, using online tools. Graduates are entering a workforce where the same thing has been happening. Coronavirus has shown all of us that we don't need to be in a room together to work and collaborate. This health crisis will recede, but that insight is going to stick around. It's going to be an essential skill for graduates to do good work and to fully participate in workplace cultures, using remote tools.
Dr. Tara Welch
ProfessorUniversity of Kansas
Department of Humanities - Classics
How do you envision technology impacting Music Journalists in the next 5 years?
Dr. Tara Welch: Technology has already made the ancient world more available and accessible, and digital resources and research tools enable exciting new work to happen without the need to travel. Teachers are also becoming more effective at leading online and hybrid classes. Those are here to stay. In the present climate of social distancing and digital meetings, however, I see a craving for human interaction - those exchanges that remind us that we are spontaneous, creative, and responsive beings. No matter the technology, Classics (like all of the humanities) will always be about humans.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Music Journalists to find work opportunities?
Dr. Tara Welch: The qualities I just described are applicable anywhere, anytime, and in any field. For those who wish to work directly in Classics - in teaching Latin or ancient history, for example, or in participating in archaeological digs - an advanced degree (Ph.D., MA, or MEd) is generally required. Most people who work directly in Classics relocate for their job, but most of our graduates work in other fields - publishing, museums, research and analysis, libraries, education, government, and politics, etc. - and can find good opportunities where they are.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Music Journalists to find work opportunities?
Eileen Buecher: The majority of our students live and work in California. In addition to CA, the top ten states recruiting Cal Poly English majors by the above-mentioned job functions include: New York, Washington DC, Texas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio.