Writing Careers

Job Category	Job Title	Salary	Summary
Commercial Writing	Broadway Show Arranger	As much as $30 - $50 per 4-bar page, with most Broadway scores being 600-800 pages	Combines music, lyrics, and actions into a unified score per director and writer needs.
Commercial Writing	Commercial Jingle Composer	$100 - $8,000+/commercial	Composes and arranges music for a product or service to interest customers.
Commercial Writing	Competition Prizes	Prizes range from $150 - $15,000/competition and may also award performances, national publicity, and recordings	Competitions award additional income, but also assist in building a resume as well as create additional network connections.
Commercial Writing	Music Supervisor for TV or Film	$2,000 - $5,000/TV project $0 - $15,000/Low Budget Independent Film $10,000 - $45,000/Low Budget Feature Film $13,000 - $150,000/Medium Budget Feature Film $150,000 - $500,000/High Budget Feature Film	Suggests, chooses, and negotiates rights for music to be used in films. Collaborates with record companies, composers, and other parties who have roles in the music for a project. In addition, they manage the overall musical budget and production for a project.
Commercial Writing	Songwriter or Lyricist	Fees for freelance artists range widely. Music/Song Licensing rates: $250 - $750/Independent film $7,500 - $17,500/Feature film by major studio $0 - $250/Film festival use $4,000 - $7,500/Promotional trailer (theatrical) $2,000 - $2,500/Promotional trailer (TV) $0 - $250/Basic cable TV program $100 - $500/Daytime drama on network TV $500 - $2,500/Primetime one-hour TV series $5,000 - $1,000,000/National TV theme song $15,000 - $100,000/National TV commercial $100,000 - $500,000/National TV commercial jingle $250,000 - $2,500,000/Top 10 hit on Billboard Hot 100	These rates are typically for songs and popular music licensed individually. Income is generated through royalties from record sales and performances (radio, TV, etc), or if an artist decides to record and release their songs, or if the song is used in other commercial ways, such as in an ad or a computer game (known as synchs). A high-profile synch could bring in as much as $2,000,000.
Commercial Writing	TV Show Composer	1500- $7,500+/30 minute episode 2000- $15,000+/60 minute episode 2000- $55,000+/TV movie	Composers are usually paid on a per-project basis. Vancouver, Toronto, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are all hot spots.
Composition	Arranger	$20,000 - $43,000+	Creatively organizes the various parts of a musical composition. Develops new and different ways to write and play music.
Composition	Conductor	$15,000 - $275,000+ $75 - $500+ per service for small orchestras	Prepares an orchestra for the finest performance it is capable of presenting through rehearsals and choosing appropriate repertoire.
Composition	Copyist	Rate set by American Federation of Musicians, and varies depending on length and employer type. Work is paid by the line, page, or the hour.	Transcribes musical parts from a score onto staff/manuscript paper by hand or by computer.
Composition	Orchestrator		Writes the scores for an orchestra, band, and choral group.
Film Scoring	Film Score Composer	$0 - $10,000+/Student film $2,500 - $500,000+/Indie Feature (package deal) $35,000 - $2mil+/Studio Feature (package deal)	Package deal is where the composer pays for all production costs including studio, music prep, musicians, engineers, and orchestration to present finished produced music. Being where most of the action is (i.e. LA or NY) helps tremendously.
Film Scoring	Film Score Conductor	American Federation of Musician's scale for conducting is 200% - 300% of player "scale" wages for a single performing musician for each session	Hired for a live orchestra's recording session when the composer wishes not to conduct. Assists in coordinating the music with the film.
Film Scoring	TV Movie Composer	$1,500 - $55,000+/television movie	Composer fee is determined from a range of the following potential projects: TV Movie, Network 60 or 30 min. project, and Cable 60 or 30 min. project.
Film Scoring	Video Game Composer	$30,000 - $75,000+ for Creative Fee deal - interactive game (30 min. of music) $30,000 - $60,000+ for Package Fee deal - interactive game (30 min. of music - covers composing and all expenses $300 - $600 per minute of finished music for casual games (creative fee only)	Income for composers comes from creative fees or production or both. With no public performance of this music, performing rights royalties are not a significant source of income. But the sale of soundtrack music via downloads and soundtrack albums allow composers to generate writer's royalties.