Career Progression and Employability When Composing for Media

The aim of my studies at Leeds Conservatoire is to become a full-time media composer, with a focus on film and television. By researching the profession, I have outlined a career path that suits my workflow and dedication, while also building a deeper understanding of what the work will involve, therefore allowing me to prepare the skill set I will need.

Qualifications and Experience 

In terms of qualifications needed to enter the profession, there are no strict qualifications needed; there have been many successful film composers, such as Danny Elfman, who never received any form of formal music training (Wise Music Classical, 2006). However, when hiring, it is beneficial in a competitive market to have the competency of a potential composer guaranteed in the form of a music degree, especially when the barrier for entry is so low with modern software. This was the reasoning I had when I chose this degree.    

The typical pathway before securing a paid project as the main composer involves assisting an established composer. This experience not only provides valuable industry insight but also helps develop connections needed to find future clients.   

Before taking on a large project, it will also be necessary to build a portfolio. This will allow potential clients to see if you will be able to produce the work they are looking for. Berklee College of Music recommends that “Aspiring composers should aim to create a website with samples of their music… and network vigorously”. My portfolio will feature a diverse array of prior projects I have worked on, alongside pieces I have written. I plan to make my portfolio accessible via a website so that it can easily be sent to potential clients or discovered. 

Skills and Attributes

The main skills and personal attributes I will need are based on industry standards. By learning and practising all of these, I will be able to work for clients in a professional manner.   

To work in the industry, you must have a complete understanding of musical technique. I need to be able to provide the quality of work that will be demanded from me. There are three main stages I will need to ensure are of industry standard before working professionally.    

Firstly, conceptualising music in accordance with the director’s vision, I need to be able to communicate with the director effectively, ideas should be easily understood, and criticism and feedback should be carefully considered and applied. I need to have a keen awareness of when and where music should be applied and what it is doing to serve the narrative. The Berklee College of Music lists that film composers should have “The ability to engage in an exchange of ideas is vital for a film composer, as is the humility to ultimately defer and adapt to a director’s vision”.   

Secondly, when writing music, you must have the skill required to create music that is technically sound. This requires an understanding of harmony, orchestration, melody, instruments, and much more. Soundtrack.academy listed the most vital skills as “[the] need to understand instruments and their ranges…[to] learn fundamentals: arranging, orchestration, and notation”. This is the focus of my current studies in the film music course.   

Finally, media composers must be able to mix and master their work, as Soundtrack.academy said, “It’s a hard fact that composers nowadays simply cannot get away with handing the director some sheet music…Composers have to do the majority of those things themselves…mixing and mastering.” This part of the career has largely changed over their past few decades and still varies from project to project, despite this, a composer should be equipped to prepare for situations when mixing and mastering are expected, both to save money and to ensure the project is polished to an industry standard.

Day-to-Day Expectations

A typical day for a working composer depends on the stage of the project they are in; at different points in the development, they need to focus their attention on many different aspects of how they are going to create and edit their music. For a film, the composer begins with spotting sessions with the director to take notes and identify what the intent and effect of the music should be in each scene before moving on to writing the music. When the dBs Institute wrote a career spotlight on film composition, they outlined the creation of sonic templates, the development of character themes, followed by the scoring of individual scenes. This may take several iterations of feedback from the director to find the correct tone.  

While the process varies for each series in television the composer will often begin by spending around 80% of the time writing the music for the first episode before reusing the themes in different ways for the rest of the series, for many composers who work on weekly shows for television the work will be completed over a series of months writing the music for each new episode as it reaches the end of filming.

Financial and Legal Issues 

The main legal issues media composers will face are concerning the rights to the music. If a composer retains the rights to the music they create, every time the media containing it is played, they will earn royalties from the money the distributor makes. Royalties allow composers to earn additional revenue from the music they have created however, in many industries, ‘buyouts’ are common so that the company to earn more money Videogames Chronicle, 2020). Conventions of if the composer retains changes from media to media, for example, videogame composers rarely keep the rights to their music as they are most often ‘bought out’ by the company that employs them GameSoundCon, 2019). For many composers’ royalties are a large source of income and allow for financial security. This is part of the reason I am mainly looking to compose for television, as reruns and streaming networks allow for a passive income after the project is finished.   

In some cases, part of the job will include hiring musicians to record the music. While often this will be managed separately, this can be left to the composer. When hiring musicians, the composer needs to consider the budget they are given, the rates the musicians need to be paid in accordance with the Musicians’ Union, and how long each musician is needed. To manage this, composers need to write their music based on how many musicians the budget will allow for and how the music can be recorded quickly, preventing excess costs.   

Unless a composer is contracted as an employee of a company, which is common for video game productions, they are self-employed. This means that they will have to manage their tax payments personally based on their predicted income while also keeping track of business expenses and other expenses, such as student debt. As of January 7th, 2026, the Musicians’ Union explains that self-employed musicians and composers must register as self-employed and report all income each year, after the first-year tax will be paid biannually on top of national insurance based on self-assessments.

Marketing and Promotional Aspects

For a composer to find steady work, the often-best solution is to have a working relationship with a director who prefers to bring them on the project instead of risking someone new, it is common for directors to use the same composer for many projects. This has been seen in many famous partnerships, John Williams and Steven Spielberg, Danny Elfman and Tim Burton, etc. In his video “Composer Chat: How to Grow Your Career,” the composer Guy Michelmore discusses how, when these relationships are formed, they drastically increase the chances of being recommended for other projects, both from word of mouth and reputation. The more a composer writes for film and television, the more people they meet and make impressions on. This increases the chance that in their own future projects, the people they meet will recommend them. This creates an expanding network of contacts that must be maintained diligently by keeping in contact with as many people as possible.    

While it is easier to find work after a composer has completed a few projects, it can be very difficult to find the first one. There are different approaches to this, but there are some techniques that will help. Building a portfolio is essential for this phase, as mentioned before, it is how a composer communicates their work, and it is weighed heavily when considering a composer. Once the portfolio is ready, it is time to consider reaching out to a more experienced composer to request working with them as an assisting composer. This can be done in a few ways; the main methods are: Cold calling, where the composer calls or emails directors in the hope they will consider them for their next project and meeting people through networking events like film festivals. In terms of building a network, this will allow an aspiring composer to meet people and form a reputation without the hurdle of finding that first gig and hoping the people working with them will be successful long-term contacts. Eventually, it is common for the more experienced composer to give a project that they do not have time for to their assisting composer, launching their career as a main composer.

Intellectual and Personal Challenges

The intellectual challenges for a composer are clear: to conjure new and interesting material for any variety of content in accordance with the director’s view can be difficult. Sometimes a composer will be required to write music that they are not comfortable with, or a scene may require technically challenging music or arrangements. These problems can be addressed through practice, patience and resilience by working through difficult problems and developing a method that the next time that problem occurs will be much easier. Similarly, structuring information by using rules and systematic frameworks, can help to streamline workflow (Owens, P. and Sweller, J. 2008) this will also develop a composer’s unique voice.   

Personal challenges for a composer are more difficult to deal with. By nature, composers will be working under pressure to provide an often-substantial amount of quality music for a fixed deadline; this pressure, when not dealt with correctly, can cause stress and may impact the quality of the work. Standard stressful events, such as writer’s block or a piece of work not meeting expectations, are exacerbated due to a time limit and the pressure that comes with a whole team of people depending on them to deliver. While there is no solution to the conditions a project may have, such as time constraints, there are multiple factors the composer can control to manage this.  

A composer can control how many projects they undertake. To maintain their mental health and work motivation, composers need to manage how many projects they work on in any set period. Too many projects can lead to burnout and time management difficulties; too few won’t provide enough money to live on, so a compromise is usually needed. If a composer finds they have too much work, they can hire assistant composers to lighten the load and help less experienced composers.   

It is also important to fortify the mind and prepare for stressful situations, by anticipatory coping or preparing for setbacks, the stress is reduced when they inevitably do happen, which also improves the way they are handled and the overall work quality (Aspinwall, L.G. and Taylor, S.E. 1997) 

Career Progression

A composer’s career progression closely matches networking progression. As a composer works on more projects, they will meet more people and improve their reputation. This will often lead to higher-paying positions on bigger-budget films and television, where they can meet new people and further climb the industry.  

It is also important to note that a composer’s career is rarely linear, as the composer takes on many new projects, the prestige of the media can often fluctuate based on what is available at the time and what the people with their network are creating. In an industry that is constantly changing, it is difficult to navigate a simple path. Composers must be prepared to shift with the times, not to chase trends, but to continue to provide music that is suitable in the ever-developing world of media. 

Bibliography 

Wise Music Classical (2006) Danny Elfman, Wise Music Classical. Available at: https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/2267/Danny-Elfman/ (Accessed: 7 January 2026) 

Berklee College of Music (no date) Composer (Television). Available at: https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/composer-tv (Accessed: 5 January 2026) 

Berklee College of Music (no date) Composer (Film). Available at: https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/composer-film (Accessed: 5 January 2026) 

soundtrack.academy (no date) 10 Skills You Need to Be a Media Composer. Available at: https://soundtrack.academy/10-skills-you-need-to-be-a-media-composer/ (Accessed: 5 January 2026) 

dBs Institute (no date) Career spotlight: Composer for Screen. dBs Institute. Available at: https://www.dbsinstitute.ac.uk/career-spotlights/composer-for-screen (Accessed: 7 January 2026) 

Videogames Chronicle (2020) Composers tell us why developers still don’t take game music seriously. Available at: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/features/composers-tell-us-why-developers-still-dont-take-game-music-seriously/ (Accessed: 7 January 2026) 

GameSoundCon (2019) Can video game composers get royalties? Available at: https://www.gamesoundcon.com/post/2019/06/15/can-video-game-composers-get-royalties (Accessed: 7 January 2026) 

Tax advice for musicians: How to do taxes as a musician (no date) The Musicians’ Union. Available at: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/legal-money/finance-and-tax/tax-advice-and-guidance-for-musicians (Accessed: 07 January 2026). 

Michelmore, G. (2023) Composer Chat: How to Grow Your Career, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvOYGkkPJNY (Accessed: 08 January 2026). 

Owens, P. and Sweller, J. (2008) Cognitive load theory and music instruction. Educational Psychology, 28(1), pp. 29–45. doi:10.1080/01443410701369146 (Accessed: 8 January 2026) 

Aspinwall, L.G. and Taylor, S.E. (1997) ‘A stitch in time: Self-regulation and proactive coping’, Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), pp. 417–436. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6283316/ (Accessed: 8 January 2026)