Top five most promising careers in music for non-musicians

When you notice that one of your favorite heavy metal anthems from the decade of big hair and conspicuously stuffed spandex has been turned into Muzak for the elevator of a care home for seniors, you know a day of reckoning is ahead. I awoke at the age of 33 to realize that my adolescent dream of becoming a rock star probably wasn’t going to happen. I can play the drums pretty well, and I dabble with guitar, but I always wanted the spotlight—lead singer. Yet, if you could hear me try to hit a high note (or even one mid-range), you’d swear I was channeling the tortured ghost of a pubescent medieval court jester.

Clearly, not everyone who loves music is destined to become an accomplished performer. Yet it’s an aspiration that isn’t given up easily. That’s because music feeds the soul. It can be more influential than a wine industry lobbyist with a billion dollar budget for political donations. “It’s a special business because the results of it can bring about peace; it can bring about joy,” says John Snyder, director of the Music Industry Studies program at Loyola University and founder of Artists House Music. “So it has significant power,” he says, “and I think that’s why people are drawn to it as performers. But the non-performers have the same vicarious relationship with the future, with the potential to affect people’s lives in a positive way.”

New opportunities for music junkies, performers or not, to make an impact are growing exponentially—limited only by imagination—thanks to the crumbling of the former status quo. “We got tied into the model where everything came from this central authority—the record labels,” says Keith Hatschek, director of the Music Management program at the University of the Pacific and author of How to Get a Job in the Music and Recording Industry. “They provided tour support; they provided promotional monies; they hired a publicist; they got your song on the radio; they called MTV to get your video in rotation,” he says. “And in exchange, they took the lion’s share of all the money.”

With the rise of the Internet and home recording, artists are realizing they don’t need a record company anymore. “The intermediary is becoming less and less crucial,” Hatschek says. “There’s a lot more freedom and flexibility for people to try different approaches.” However, performers that want to have successful, money-making careers still need intelligent, innovative, collaborative people to help them make it all happen. That could be you.

For every successful performing artist there are multitudes of different professionals working behind the scenes. Everybody from producers to lighting designers to makeup artists to sound engineers to administrators to attorneys are necessary to capture the music, grow the fan base, put the shows on and make sure everyone gets paid fairly. And beyond popular music, there are additional career opportunities in the film, games and classical music segments. Just don’t expect to be working the traditional 9 to 5. “The idea of the old salary man that punches the clock is a complete anachronism in the entertainment industry,” Hatschek says, “because all the big companies have scaled down their staff tremendously.”

So which careers in this changing music biz hold the most promise for non-musicians? Which ones can give you the best shot at interaction with compelling artists, advancement potential and financial stability?

The melodically challenged need answers! After all, for some of us, developing our musical aptitude can be as difficult as trying to sell concert tickets for an easy-listening polka band made up of 70-year-old virgins. “If you’re not going to be a player, then you have to be as good as a player at something else,” says Snyder. “It’s going to be the things that the band guys don’t want to do.”

Here’s what I’ve learned are the top five non-performing careers in music, based on current and expected trends: