Film Career · Music
Music Assistant
Music · Varies; AFM covers musicians
- Union
- Varies
- Day rate
- ~$50K–$250K+/yr
- Experience
- 1–4 yrs
What does a Music Assistant do?
A music assistant is the supporting chair in the music department, executing the department head's plan and managing the details that shooting days depend on.
Union coverage for the position varies: afm covers musicians. Like every music role, the job is hired production by production, and repeat work comes from department heads who trust the name on the call sheet.
What does a Music Assistant make?
- This is an entry or assistant chair, toward the lower end of its department's range.
- Music pay is mostly per project: coordinators and editors modest, and supervisors and composers negotiated per film or episode.
- Roughly $50K-$250K+ a year, with marquee credits far above (AFM covers musicians).
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
Government wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the closest federal occupation.
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You understand music and licensing
Soft skills
- You are reliable, eager to learn, and happy to start at the bottom
- You anticipate what the crew needs and stay a step ahead
Career progression
The role advances the way most music careers do: repeat hires from the same department heads, growing responsibility within the craft, and a reputation that travels between productions faster than any resume.
How do you become a Music Assistant?
Entry runs through availability and attitude: departments fill this position from crew lists, referrals, and people already on set who asked for the chance. Day-playing on smaller productions is the fastest way to be seen doing the work.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.