The music industry is home to countless underappreciated people, and session musicians are no exception to that. Countless examples of big hits, films, tv shows, or adverts would be incomplete without arguably the most talented kind of musician out there. This portfolio will explore every element of being a session musician, supported by extensive research and evidence that show the crucial nature of the session musician within the music industry.
To be a session musician you do not legally need any qualifications or even education. However, session musicians must be brilliant overall musicians. Technical skill is not enough on its own, as session musicians must also be able to sight read and adapt to any genre proficiently. Other helpful musical skills most session musicians have include playing multiple instruments and playing by ear. As a result of the high skill requirements, most session musicians have a university education in music. To be a session musician, you do not just need to be an incredibly skilled musician, it is also essential to be organised, on time, and possess good people skills, as most of the session work you get will be because of your reputation and other people’s opinion of you. Dan McDougall (2017) reinforces this sentiment in Leeds Conservatoire’s Musicians’ Survival Guide: The Life of a Session Musician and Songwriter “90% of the people in every session I’ve been involved with, be it songwriting, production or recording, are really nice. Nice people get used again”1.
As a session musician, a lot of responsibility is placed on you to perform reliably, most likely on short notice. Often you will be sent charts, mock-up recordings, or full scores only days before the session, with the expectation that the music is learned. It is also possible that more music will be given to sight read or improvise on the day. Playing the music correctly on the day furthers your reputation amongst all collaborators on the project, and also minimises costs for the employer; a win-win situation. This makes employers more likely to hire reliable session musicians again in the future. For this reason, being efficient is key as a session musician. Session musicians also have a lot of personal responsibility to ensure that they get enough work to make a living. In order to do so, it is imperative to create a website containing an EPK and to regularly post videos of musicianship on social media. Employers are not likely to hire those that are less well known, as they are not able to find videos of reliable playing in under a minute by simply googling a name. Therefore, it is essential to make sure that, as a session musician, accessibility is a top priority. It is also important to make sure that you do not publicly post any personal opinions that could potentially damage your reputation; focusing only on music in order to gain further work. Another important responsibility that could often be overlooked is checking emails, as employers favour communication on email. Failure to respond to emails at a reasonable speed may result it in the loss of an opportunity as they have employed someone else instead. For this reason, it is crucial that emails are regularly checked and responded.
As session musicians are mostly self-employed, it is a necessity to register as self-employed with local authorities. This means that you must declare your income every year, file your own tax returns, and pay your own national insurance. Insurance is also widely agreed to be necessary, despite not legally being required, to protect yourself, your instruments, and other expensive gear in the event anything is damaged. The types of insurance most session musicians will have include: public liability insurance, which protects a session musician from liability claims should they accidentally injure somebody on tour; and instrument insurance, allowing for a session musician to claim money up to a certain amount specified by an insurance company in the event that an instrument or piece of equipment is damaged. As these events are often unpredictable, membership to the Musicians’ Union allows for any gear up to a value of £3000 will be covered worldwide.
The Musicians’ Union (MU) is the UK trade union representing over 36,000 musicians across the country. Membership to the union is not required but is extremely helpful as it provides the previously mentioned insurance, alongside experts who will provide help dealing with legal issues such as tax, and representatives who lobby the government to introduce new laws that favour musicians. Furthermore, the MU will also negotiate on the behalf of a session musician with employers to ensure that you are being paid and treated fairly. Another union that a session musician could join is the ISM (Independent Society of Musicians), who similarly offer 24h legal advice and support with contracts and chasing fees, 24h wellbeing and multiple varieties of therapy, and a range of insurance benefits, including 50% off instrument insurance. There are also unions specifically for educators, which include the MTA and NEU.
Contracts are a crucial part of being a session musician, more specifically ensuring that pay is properly negotiated for work, as well as negotiating the possibility of a paid portion of royalties in the future. A contract should be clear and concise, and membership of a union is recommended as both the MU and ISM provide pre-written contracts alongside agreements with organisations such as the BBC to avoid the arduous process of creating contracts independently. A contract, at the bare minimum, should contain: the title of the song, employer and employee titles, the time and date of any recording sessions or performances, exact fees for the amount of work provided, and a section detailing the specific agreements of copyright for both the song and the recording. The rights for a song are often split into the intellectual property, which belongs to the composers, and the master (That specific recording of the song) which often belongs to the record label. As a session musician it is unlikely you will ever make any money from the intellectual property of a song, but it is possible that you may receive a cut of the royalties from the specific recording that you featured on. If so, this should be detailed in the contract.
As previously mentioned, it is imperative that good communication skills and an easily accessible portfolio are part of a session musicians’ skill set. However, other ways to market also exist. As a professional musician, open mics and jam sessions should not be seen mainly as networking but also as fun for your free time. Fortunately, these sessions can be fun alongside being a key to furthering your reputation with other local musicians. Of course, musicians can live and work from anywhere, but since studios, open mics, gigs, and any other opportunities mostly occur in and around cities, living in a city greatly increases the chances of employability, especially cities with a diverse music culture such as London, Leeds, or Manchester in the UK. Whilst not a requirement to become a successful session musician, achieving a music degree at an institution is a reputable way to network as well. Often, spending three or four years building relationships with similarly minded students, as well as teachers who could potentially turn into band members or employers after graduation. Since most conservatoires and universities that offer music degrees are based in cities, this is another reason to take such a degree, especially for those who previously lived in towns without an established music culture. Finally, teaching can be a great to network as well. Teaching in a school or university will also result in meeting likeminded colleagues and students who could potentially become collaborators, and who could also recommend employment opportunities through connections and word of mouth.
Being a session musician is possibly one of the most exhausting and challenging jobs in the music industry. By far the most prominent challenge in the job is insecurity. The best session musicians are indispensable, however there are an abundance of those trying to be the best, and there is often an element of luck involved with getting work. At first it is extremely difficult, however, the more work and reliable performance that a musician demonstrates within the industry, the easier it becomes to find future work. For this reason, session musicians must be extremely resilient and dedicated. There will be many periods in a session musician’s career when their trajectory looks uncertain, and the ability to keep pushing through these difficult times, continue practicing, and continue proving self-worth is invaluable. Although there are also some aspects of session musicianship that make it easier than being an artist, notably the lack of creative pressure, it is undeniable that session musicians are not provided with the best job security. Though, session musicians, in a positive light, do not need to rely on a constant stream of original content as songwriters and composers must do. Instead, session musicians get to help others with their original content, exposing them to an incredible variety of music. In this sense, it could be said that being a session musician is one of the most rewarding and desirable career paths in the music industry.
As a session musician, there is no clear career progression. The path from starting out to being hired by big labels to record for A-listers will differ wildly depending on connections, place of residence, level of skill, and ultimately, a bit of luck. There is also no clear idea of progression up the “ladder” from one job to the next, unlike a secure office job where employees are promoted from being a supervisor, to the manager, then regional manager etc. Everyone will have a different perspective on where the “top of the ladder” is and will have different goals for their career. Although, it is clear that most session musician’s main goal is to enjoy their work, it would be unwise to enter such a competitive industry with such a high skill requirement alongside the low pay compared to other jobs that require less time and effort without the passion and desire to play music for a living. Session musicians do what they do because they do not care about being famous or rich, ultimately placing emphasis on playing music and valuing the opportunity to do so for a living. It is true that certain jobs as a session musician are more desirable, such as tours, as they guarantee good payment for several weeks or months, or recording sessions with big names, organised by big labels. However, these are rare, and most big labels will have go-to musicians who have reliably played for them for years.
In conclusion, being a session musician is simultaneously one of the most challenging and rewarding careers available to performers in the music industry. A career built on reputation and mastery of your instrument/s, and potentially a career that could result in travelling the world, experiencing more diverse musical genres, and meeting more amazing people that the average person may not be able to meet.
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