Session musicians are musicians hired to perform with bands/artists in recording sessions and/or live performances on tour. They are not official members or part of the band or artists image/branding as such, they are a temporary musician there to aid the artist/band.
Many session musicians at top levels will get hired by the same artists over and over again such as Nathan East, who has played bass on over 2,000 recordings and has toured with the likes of Eric Clapton for years. This is due to a reputation that proceeds him, after years of playing for countless artists. A session musician’s reputation is their most important asset, as from the bottom to top levels of the industry, word of mouth between artists is one of the biggest contributors to getting hired for a job. The key to success is getting known by as many people in the industry as possible.
Opportunities for work as a session musician include recording for a client’s album, working as a session musician for a record label, doing film scoring (more common for classically trained musicians), and working as a session player on tour with a client. Musicians will also likely have other jobs and projects they work on, such as production of tracks or simply another day job. This can be really useful in supplementing income made from working as a session musician, as it can be unstable at times.
To be a successful session musician with no shortage of jobs, qualifications on a piece of paper are not required as such. It is very unlikely if a musician is deemed a high enough skill level and right fit for what is required, that they won’t get hired because they don’t have a degree in Folk or Musicology, for example. However, the skills acquired from studying for qualifications will benefit session musicians to no end. Essential skills for this career path include ability to collaborate and be creative with others, having very extensive knowledge and skill on the specialist instrument, being able to adapt and deliver to artists’ needs fast and pick parts up as fast as possible. Sight reading is one of the most important skills, as this is fundamental to being adaptive to parts, fast in learning those parts and accurate while playing them. These skills will most definitely all be improved by studying for qualifications, making them more than worthwhile for musicians, despite them not being formally required.
The importance of having and using these skills varies between jobs, as recording a jazz album, for example, will require high level sight-reading and improvisational ability. The musician will also have to be able to ‘serve the song’ and base their playing style around what they are playing. Whereas, going on tour with a classic rock band, requires a much different playing style and will be less dependent on the sight-reading element of things.
As work is never guaranteed, a day of work for a session musician will likely never be the same. Depending on jobs they have been hired for, what a working day consists of will vary. Some things that will almost always feature in a day of work for a session musician will be practice, admin and whatever the paid work may be at the time, such as recording for an album. Practice for a session musician is extremely important as their skill and knowledge of their instrument and specialized genres must be maintained at as high a level as possible. This is key in ensuring top performances and being able to deliver what the customer (e.g. artist) wants as this will build the musician’s reputation and give a higher chance of being hired in the future. The admin involved with being a session musician includes arranging jobs and tasks around each other, making agreements and deciding on contract terms with employers as well as basic accounting.
Agreeing on contracts is something very important for session musicians, as this is where all terms and conditions about the job in question are decided. This includes the timing and quantity of work (days, hours etc.), the venue where work will take place, a rate of pay and making sure all moral rights and entitlements, and other factors are legally sound. Rate of pay will vary between jobs, especially at lower levels. However, as a session musician becomes more well known in the industry and grows their breadth of experience, they will start to be able to demand a standard rate for their work. Rate of pay also varies depending on the geographical area and type of work. “In many countries, there are set rates of pay that session musicians receive for studio recording and live performances”. “If there are no official “set” rates for your area, there will certainly be an accepted “going rate” that the session musician should be paid.” (McDonald, H: 2019)
As session musicians are freelance workers, it is likely that at least at the start of their career, it will be their responsibility to manage everything themselves rather than have a manager, for example. These responsibilities will include the basic administrative activities mentioned earlier, being as self-sufficient as possible. Maintaining and being responsible for personal equipment is another part of day-to-day life for a session musician, as almost all of the time, session musicians are expected to provide their own equipment such as guitars and amplifiers. In some cases, studios with a well-known, high-quality selection of amplifying equipment can be used rather than the musician’s personal equipment.
Session musicians will often have multiple projects going on at the same time and need to be able to juggle these commitments themselves successfully. Musicians may have their own personal compositions and recording projects, some may co-produce projects as well as playing the instrument itself. It is important for session musicians to diversify themselves and their abilities as this can generate more sources of income and increases their financial security, as it means they don’t have to rely on one flow of income. “Many musicians have either branched out to take on more or other music-related work, tapped new sources of income, reduced costs, or all of the above.” (Thomson 2013).
Unless musicians have composed any material and have been credited as a composer, royalties do not get paid to session musicians after the initial payment for the work done that was agreed in the contract. “Session musician contracts fall under the category of ‘contracts for services’ (also known as ‘work for hire contracts’ in the US) which means that everything created as part of the performance of said contract belongs from inception to final form to the party commissioning and offering a payment. Therefore, the session musician who is paid to perform the tasks described in the service contract has no claim on the ownership of copyright or any related intellectual property created as part of the performance detailed in the contract.” (Juanlopez, 2015). This limits the reward of working to the initial pay of work done such as recording. As a result, musicians may push to have a role in composition/writing of material in projects they participate them as this not only will increase the work payment but will get them writing credits gaining them royalties for when the music is used. Royalties act as a passive income and can play a key role in supporting musicians financially as the composition rights are owned by the author/composer and last until 70 years after the owner’s death. This means they can support a cause the owner legally decides for years after they have gone. “The 2023 Musicians’ Census revealed that UK musicians’ average annual income from music work is £20,700 – yet nearly half earn under £14,000. The same survey showed that only 28% of musicians currently have a workplace pension and only 14% have a pension of any other kind.” (Crossley, n.d.) Pensions are a struggle for freelance musicians as they are likely to be low based on the musician’s income. This makes royalties a key supplement to a pension in the later years of life.
Session musicians may often have their own website in which they promote their work and provide contact information for potential employers to use. This will include a personal portfolio of some of the musician’s favourite work by themselves or highest-level experience. As well as having a website, it is key for session musicians to network with others like them and with people who may be interested in working with them. Networking is a term that describes getting to know lots of people and exchanging information with them so that you and they may benefit from using each other’s skills and services. “Networking can open new doors for you and help take your career to the next level. The more people know about you, the more opportunities you’ll find to work with industry professionals and promote your music to new audiences.” (Sayana, 2024).
In recent years, social media has become a huge part of society, making it an incredible tool for session musicians to utilise to publicise and promote themselves, as well as getting in contact with many others alike. It is invaluable for musicians to use to promote themselves and their work. Not only is it much faster and easier than other forms of promotion but it also allows musicians to reach much wider audiences then methods such as websites.
This will also boost word of mouth around the musician, making them more well known on the scene. As word of mouth and other factors are so important, first impressions are crucial. This is because that first impression will be the sole experience a client will base their opinion of the musician on, making it potentially make or break to get hired by that client again in the future.
It can be very overwhelming for musicians as it is essentially running a business, and with that comes many responsibilities and tasks that need to be done. It requires a lot of self-discipline and resilience to be successful. It can be difficult to maintain a healthy attitude in periods where work may be quiet. It is highly likely that a session musicians will have quiet spells of work, especially during the early stages of their career. This can make it challenging to maintain resilience and a solid work ethic, making strong determination a must.
Musicians need to be willing to publicise themselves as available for work and try to make things happen for them rather than waiting for work to find them. As work can be scarce sometimes, financial stability can be hard. This in turn can be very stressful.
In most cases, session musicians’ careers begin with a few, low-paid jobs, as the musician is unknown and lacking experience. As time goes on, the musician builds up their reputation and gains more experience from more jobs. This means the musicians will become more well known in the business and further job opportunities will present themselves. The musician will build up a portfolio over time which will attract clients and lead to larger scale, higher profile and higher paying job opportunities.
As is the case with most career paths, the job of a session musician has its advantages and disadvantages, and success will depend on the musician’s hard work and dedication. What you put in is very relative to what you get out.
Bibliography:
Crossley, N. et al. (n.d.) The DOS and don’ts of pensions for self-employed musicians, The Musicians’ Union. Available at: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/the-dos-and-don-ts-of-pensions-for-self-employed-musicians-en#:~:text=Session%20players%2C%20for%20example%2C%20can,SIPP)%20can%20be%20an%20option . (Accessed: 07 January 2025).
Juanlopez (2015) Setting the record straight with session musicians, download lawyer-crafted music contract templates. Available at: https://www.musiclawcontracts.com/session-musicians/ (Accessed: 06 January 2025).
McDonald, H. (2019). What is a session musician? The balance careers.https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-session-musician-2460709 (Accessed Jan 5th).
Sayana (2024) Networking for musicians: Why it’s vital and how to network like a pro – blog, Splice. Available at: https://splice.com/blog/networking-for-musicians/ (Accessed: 06 January 2025).
Thomson, K. (2013). Roles, Revenue, and Responsibilities: The Changing Nature of Being a Working Musician. Work and Occupations, 40(4), 514-525. https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888413504208
