How to become a musician, singer or composer

Official title: Musicians, singers and composers

Also called: Band leader, Composer, Instrumentalist, Music conductor, Night club musician, Night club singer, Orchestrator, Singer, Street musician, Street singer

Musicians, singers and composers write, arrange, conduct and perform musical compositions.

Main tasks

• Creating melodic, harmonic and rhythmic structures to express ideas and emotions in musical form
• Translating ideas and concepts into standard musical signs and symbols for reproduction and performance
• Adapting or arranging music for particular instrumental or vocal groups, instruments or occasions
• Conducting instrumental or vocal groups
• Selecting music for performances and assigning instrumental parts to musicians
• Playing one or more musical instruments as a soloist or as a member of an orchestra or a musical group
• Singing as a soloist or as a member of a vocal group or other band
• Practising and rehearsing to maintain a high standard of performance

Ways in

• University: Creative Arts & Design degrees, Offered by 21 universities in Hong Kong

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$48,000 a month
• About 1,542,900 people in 2025, and about 1,639,100 projected by 2028. (+6.2%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Film, stage and related directors and producers
• Actors
• Creative and performing artists not elsewhere classified
• Announcers on radio, television and other media
• Dancers and choreographers
• Visual artists

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Questions people ask

How do I become a musician, singer or composer?

Ways in include: Creative Arts & Design degrees.

Do you need a degree to become a musician, singer or composer?

Usually. 85% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a musician, singer or composer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026