composer
Composers create new music pieces in a variety of styles. They usually note down the created music in musical notation. Composers may work independently or as part of a group or ensemble. Many create pieces to support film, television, games or live performances.
composer composers create new music pieces in a variety of styles. They usually note down the created music in musical notation. Composers may work independently or as part of a group or ensemble. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include develop musical ideas, develop an artistic framework, study music, transpose music, create musical forms.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £46,591 a year for Musicians (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3415). ONS publishes this estimate without a precision measure. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only composer, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Fine Arts
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Computers and Electronics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Philosophy and Theology
- Administrative
- Communications and Media
What you'd actually do
- Use gestures to shape the music being played, communicating desired tempo, phrasing, tone, color, pitch, volume, and other performance aspects.
- Direct groups at rehearsals and live or recorded performances to achieve desired effects such as tonal and harmonic balance dynamics, rhythm, and tempo.
- Study scores to learn the music in detail, and to develop interpretations.
- Apply elements of music theory to create musical and tonal structures, including harmonies and melodies.
- Consider such factors as ensemble size and abilities, availability of scores, and the need for musical variety, to select music to be performed.
- Determine voices, instruments, harmonic structures, rhythms, tempos, and tone balances required to achieve the effects desired in a musical composition.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does composer do?
Composers create new music pieces in a variety of styles. They usually note down the created music in musical notation. Composers may work independently or as part of a group or ensemble. Many create pieces to support film, television, games or live performances.
What skills does composer need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include develop musical ideas, develop an artistic framework, study music, transpose music, create musical forms, rewrite musical scores. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace composer?
Our AI-durability model gives composer a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.