Money · 1 of 5
What composers make
Typical
$73,710
Starting out
$39,880
Established screen or concert composer
$165,760
The national median is $73,710 a year and the bottom tenth are near $39,880. Read it carefully: the wage survey counts Music Directors and Composers together, and it counts people in salaried posts. Most composers are paid per project, and stringing together a full year of work is the hard part, so plenty earn less than the bottom of this range in a slow year.