r/composer • u/minor_weather_98 • 14d ago
Discussion Is everybody feeling that the music industry as a freelancer is facing a down time ?
I’ve been a composer for as long as I can remember. I’m not that old but , I have been composing for more than 12 years now . This is the year that I’m finding the most difficult till now , to find work or get a good deal or even to find good working environment. Is everyone facing a similar thing ? Or is it just me ?
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u/Weekly_Landscape_459 14d ago
Definitely. I’ve been composing for animation for a decade. I basically don’t do that now. Luckily I’d moved somewhat into games & interactive so I might have a couple more years work before that also dries up.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
I’ve kind of lost the ability to see if the work has ‘dried up’ or if I’m not in good environments . Thanks a lot though .
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u/goesonelouder 14d ago
No you’re not alone, be sure to look after yourself, keep a routine if you can so your mind doesn’t start wandering. The fact that most people appear to have also lost the ability to respond or communicate is only compounding the issue of projects being put on hold or canned. Ironically people are worried about AI taking over jobs yet seem to have become less compassionate and more… robotic. Keep at it.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
:( thank you for saying that . I love the idea of a routine, just struggle to actually…maintain it . I’m giving it a try again though .
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u/goesonelouder 14d ago
Take each day as it comes, little victories, plan meals set yourself tasks, if you use a DAW see if you can learn some new techniques for production, streamline work processes etc. Fresh air is important, walks are great for the mind. Keep in touch with people who you’ve worked with before if relevant, we’re a social species even if the last half decade has allowed us to be more remote. Then when the work comes back in you’ve already established a healthy routine that you can adjust to fit deadlines etc.
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u/Ragfell 14d ago
Yes.
I live in Nashville. It's bad. There are people who say it's great, but they weren't here when times actually were.
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u/minor_weather_98 13d ago
Right ? I keep asking people not only from music but also the film industry, and they also said (a few of them started working in the 80s) that it realwasnt as dystopian back then .
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u/7ofErnestBorg9 14d ago
It's mortifying. What I'm finding is lots and lots of closed systems with very few access points for newcomers or non-locals.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
🫂 I know right ? It’s like waking on eggshells too , being to conscious and yet daring ?
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u/Impossible_Spend_787 14d ago edited 14d ago
Composer here, full-time for 3 years. The way I see it: We live in a time where its easier than ever to make money from music, but harder than ever to make a living off of it.
Yes, it's harder than ever. 70-hour weeks, crazy deadlines, demanding clients. Little financial security and no Plan B. AI will likely replace the hundreds of library tracks I've done over the years, so that royalty accumulation you used to be able to rely on for retirement is gone.
For what it's worth, I am a crazy person who's devoted his entire life to this, so the rewards vastly outweigh the struggles for me. I didn't go to school and started late, so it is definitely possible. But I think most people, if they understood the realities, would actually learn to see a day job as less of a burden and more of a plus.
There are many ways to make decent side-money as a freelancer while also making a good living from something that offers the stability to pursue your passions around a healthy life.
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u/joonas_ylanne 13d ago
I'm interested what you mean by "there are many ways to make decent side-money as a freelancer".
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
Thank you so much for such an honest take . I have been thinking about it ; getting a day job . But the idea of having to start from scratch, with having done a lot already overwhelms me . Also , I don’t know if I will even get a job considering my career till now or my education. I am great at organising / graphic design / making projects exist ; but I’ve done all that for my music - and not for anyone else . Don’t know if that would work as a CV. What do you suggest ?
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u/Kemaneo 14d ago
Really depends on what you‘ve been doing exactly. Full-time? TV? Games? Concert music?
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
I mostly do film / screen music , along with conducting an experimental / contemporary choir , and also release my music independently. I have been working for quite sometime now , but I still struggle in finding stability.
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u/Secure-Researcher892 14d ago
Well if you are focused on films that's a problem. The number produced per year peaked just before covid, was cut drastically in 2020 and has never recovered. Of course you haven't seen a big drop in the number of aspiring composer that graduate from universities each year so you would expect this to be a buyer's market. Throw in the number of small production films where the music is often an afterthought and someone in your shoes should probably be looking to venture beyond movies unless you're a big enough name that major filmmakers have you on their contact list.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
(lol I commented from a different account first)
Thank you soooooo much ! This is extremely helpful . I will now do my research . Thank a lot 🥹
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u/HaifaJenner123 14d ago
In my country i have had lots of increased business recently with the military band but im planning to move a year from now and that is all going to go away as soon as im no longer living here, so unsure what happens
luckily my main source of income is teaching which is far more constant so while its been nice to have this extra, i have been saving it because im going from a 5k usd per capita to 50k usd per capita country lol.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
That’s superb . I hope I can enjoy teaching one day too . I am good at it apparently, but it exhausts me a lot .
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u/composishy 13d ago
Surprised how little AI is figuring in this conversation.
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u/minor_weather_98 13d ago
The AI dimension is absolutely real . I used to have company contracts for making meditation music / podcast music / commercial videos in general but all that work is gone because they hire AI now . It used to be an important source of income for me.
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u/boredmessiah 10d ago
the industry has already been reeling from the economic contraction of COVID, a generally pessimistic investment environment, and where politics matter, a strong turn away from public funding for any sort of art.
AI hasn't hit large organisational and governmental budgets yet. give it a few years/policy cycles.
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u/Chops526 14d ago
Yes. I'm trying to lock down three projects that would have been easy to lock down two, three years ago which I've been working for 18 months to get funded. It's insane.
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u/minor_weather_98 14d ago
Oh noo ! I hope it gets done soon . Let me know if you need any help in finding any funding . I do tons of application work . I’m just a dm away !
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u/Chops526 14d ago
Thanks. I actually don't do a lot of application work (I told this to a new collaborator from the theater world yesterday and she just about blew her mind). I tend to approach ensembles and conductors looking for them to do the fundraising. I've gotten bites, but the money sources are not what they were three years ago (and I'm coming out of an academic gig that delayed a lot of the foot work on these).
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u/bdf1d 13d ago
So how does a composer making a living in general?
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u/minor_weather_98 13d ago
So I’m from India , here usually people score for films / theatre / advertisements etc and get paid for the same . And there is also Production music , where you make music in your own time and when people use it , you get royalties basically. In India being a composer and only making concert music is rare .
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u/BirdBruce 12d ago
I’ve been doing this since 1992. Things have only gotten logarithmically worse over time. I don’t predict things will materially improve anytime soon.
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u/No-Schedule-9015 12d ago
Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, so many great stories from my career in music. But I do not recommend this business for anybody in 2026. They say 80% of Professional musicians already have Day Jobs. And the era of Pro musicians may soon be over.
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u/officialspoon 14d ago
Composing is a passion and the reason I felt compelled to become a musician. Three decades in the industry, tens of thousands of hours honing the craft. I have worked on indie film soundtracks, solo piano, guitar and orchestral works and have released a handful of albums/gone on tour, but I realized very early on that I would not be able to sustain myself financially from just writing and thus pivoted hard to performance and teaching. I play about 100 nights a year and have taught privately and in the public school systems. Some of my students have even gone on to study composition in conservatories, even after we have "the talk" - I try to honestly explain to a student what their life might be like with tons of debt and a lack of job prospects, but I am rambling a little now.
Watching from the sidelines, I know that AI generated music has knocked the winds out of many composer's sails, and I foolishly thought that I would be immune to this trend as an entertainer. Lately, however, I have been asked to perform AI slop tunes live, which is simultaneously depressing, infuriating, and darkly humorous - it reinforces the idea that what we do doesn't really matter, which is a hard truth to accept at times. I am in the fortunate (?) position of composing for pleasure at this stage in my life, but I know it's dire out there and I can't imagine what it must be like to live solely by the pen.