Top 10 Career Options for Musicology Majors

So you’ve made it all the way through graduate school as a musicologist. It’s been a few weeks, and the novelty of forcing all your friends to call you “doctor” is starting to wear off. Now it’s time to start thinking about a job. Luckily, there are lots of career options for musicology majors.

Musicology is, of course, the study of music. Whether you’re studying the Western art music of Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms as a historical musicologist, or non-Western music and the accompanying cultures as an ethnomusicologist, your choices to earn a living are varied and fascinating. Here are ten top career options for musicology majors.

– Teaching At A University

This is by far the most common career path. As most musicologists have graduate school under their belts (the major rarely exists at the undergrad level), staying in the academy is often a natural choice to continue the research and thinking most grads are already doing.

– Dealing With Copyright Infringement At A Law Firm

In more and more cases, musicologists find themselves key players in lawsuits about copyright in songs or compositions. You may remember that a musicologist testified in the now-infamous “Blurred Lines” trial, for example. As a recent grad, you can put your training to use to determine whether Robin Thicke is a thief, or just a dude with a bad haircut and poor lyric choices.

– Music Publishing

This is a more positive side of the equation. You can help composers register and exploit (that’s a good thing in this business) their work. Whether it’s sheet music, commercials, or cover versions, you’re helping people get their music out there, and get fairly compensated for it to boot.

– Arts Administration

Many musicology majors end up in the world of arts administration. Often, they work at symphony orchestras, putting their knowledge to work in dealing with repertoire or education.

– Music Historian

If you are passionate about a particular musicological field, whether it’s hip-hop or Armenian duduk music, becoming a music historian is the best way to delve deep. You research, write, and publish on your favorite topic. What could be better?

– Music Librarian

Like a librarian but cooler, music librarians help people research different aspects of music. Librarian jobs as a whole are expected to grow 7% during the decade ending in 2022, making this one of the best career options for musicology majors.

– Musical Director

If, despite all the study, you still can’t leave performance behind, you can combine your passions with a job as a musical director. Whether you’re leading an orchestra, a Broadway pit band, or a touring pop star’s backing group, you get all of the thrill and power of leading a band without having to deal with the paparazzi.

– Freelance Consultant

Musicologists are needed on a short-term basis by many different businesses. Record labels, ad agencies, music publishers, and many other outlets all need expert opinions at times, and you could be just the person to give it to them – for a healthy fee, of course…

– Expert At A Music Streaming Service

Outlets like Pandora, Gracenote, and Shazam need people who can recognize, analyze, and catalog songs. Musicologists are ideal for these positions, and the number of them available will only grow as streaming and curation services get bigger and more numerous.

– Period Expert For Movies And TV

If your premium cable TV drama is set in 1927, you better not have a band play a song that wasn’t written until the following year, or perform an original song in a style that wouldn’t be popular until the 30s. And if your premium cable TV drama is set in 1627, the job becomes that much more difficult. Luckily, musicologists are here to save the day by finding music for TV shows and movies, reviewing choices for continuity, and more.