Music: Career areas

Music graduates work in a wide range of professions inside and outside music. If you choose to follow a music career, be mindful that no two career paths are the same. Approach career planning creatively and be prepared to develop a portfolio of roles. You may want to combine teaching with freelance performance work, as well as doing contract/session work on particular projects. It is common for graduates to take several years to establish themselves in creative industries.

Six months after graduation just over 56% of music graduates are in employment, with a further 9% combining work with further study. Of these, 23% find jobs in arts, design, culture and sports professions, 14% are in education professions, 23% go into retail, catering, waiting and bar work and 7% are in clerical and secretarial occupations.

Where are the jobs?

Music graduates can be found working for a wide range of employers on both a freelance and contract basis. Employers include schools and colleges, the National Health Service, orchestras, music retailers, media organisations, the armed forces, commercial organisations and a wide range of employers in the cultural and creative industries.

The most common job sectors in which music graduates are employed are:

• Creative arts and culture - encompasses music, teaching, therapy, writing and arts administration.
• Teaching and education - includes schools, further education and higher education.
• Media and publishing - a varied sector, including television, radio, film, corporate production and interactive media.

For further information on possibilities in other employment areas, see job sectors. 

Statistics are collected every year to show what HE students do immediately after graduation. These can be a useful guide but, in reality, because the data is collected within six months of graduation, many graduates are travelling, waiting to start a course, paying off debts, getting work experience or still deciding what they want to do. For further information about some of the areas of employment commonly entered by graduates of any degree discipline, check out What Do Graduates Do?  and your degree...what next?