Music producers 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 producers rate their career happiness 4.3 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 1% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy music producers 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
Music producer
4.3
$34k
Lyricist
4.3
$26k
Singer
4.3
$63k
Music artist
4.3
$63k

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

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

Are music producers happy with their salary?

Music producers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.9/5. Music producers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.

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

2.9 out of 5 stars

259 music producers

5 Star
23%

23% of music producers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
11%

11% of music producers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
19%

19% of music producers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
22%

22% of music producers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
24%

24% of music producers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do music producers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, music producers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 4.3/5. Unlike many careers, music producers have little difficulty finding meaning in their work, and it likely constitutes one of the main reasons people become music producers.

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

4.3 out of 5 stars

266 music producers

5 Star
57%

57% of music producers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
23%

23% of music producers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
12%

12% of music producers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
6%

6% of music producers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of music producers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

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

Music producers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.4/5. The majority of music producers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

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

4.4 out of 5 stars

296 music producers

5 Star
58%

58% of music producers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of music producers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
10%

10% of music producers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
3%

3% of music producers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
2%

2% of music producers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a music producer’s work environment?

As a whole, music producers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 4.3/5. A solid majority of music producers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a music producer.

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

4.3 out of 5 stars

297 music producers

5 Star
56%

56% of music producers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of music producers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
15%

15% of music producers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
2%

2% of music producers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of music producers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are music producers making the best use of their abilities?

Former music producers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 4.2/5. Most music producers surveyed find that they manage to use their abilities to their fullest as a music producer, which helps contribute to higher career satisfaction in the long term.

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

4.2 out of 5 stars

298 music producers

5 Star
52%

52% of music producers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
24%

24% of music producers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
15%

15% of music producers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
6%

6% of music producers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
3%

3% of music producers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars