Music managers are one of the happiest careers in the United States.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, music managers rate their career happiness 3.8 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 14% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy music managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Audio engineer
3.9
$28k
Recording engineer
3.9
$34k
Music promoter
3.8
$31k
Piano accompanist
3.8
$47k
Live sound engineer
3.8
$31k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are music managers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do music managers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as music managers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are music manager’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are music managers making the best use of their abilities?

Are music managers happy with their salary?

Music managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.4/5. Most music managers do not feel that their salaries adequately reflect their work, and are actively unhappy with their income.

We asked music managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

2.4 out of 5 stars

72 music managers

5 Star
13%

13% of music managers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
8%

8% of music managers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of music managers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
29%

29% of music managers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
31%

31% of music managers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do music managers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, music managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 3.6/5. Unlike many careers, music managers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become music managers.

We asked music managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

3.6 out of 5 stars

75 music managers

5 Star
33%

33% of music managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of music managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of music managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of music managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of music managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as music managers?

Music managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.2/5. The majority of music managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked music managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

4.2 out of 5 stars

83 music managers

5 Star
48%

48% of music managers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
33%

33% of music managers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
12%

12% of music managers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
5%

5% of music managers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of music managers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a music manager’s work environment?

As a whole, music managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.1/5. A solid majority of music managers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a music manager.

We asked music managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

4.1 out of 5 stars

84 music managers

5 Star
44%

44% of music managers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
32%

32% of music managers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
15%

15% of music managers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
2%

2% of music managers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
6%

6% of music managers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are music managers making the best use of their abilities?

Former music managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.8/5. Most music managers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a music manager, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

We asked music managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

85 music managers

5 Star
38%

38% of music managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of music managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of music managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of music managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of music managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars