Film Career · Post-Production
Music Supervisor
Post-Production · Not unionized
- Union
- Non-union
- Day rate
- ~$2,500–$5,000/wk
- Experience
- 2–4 yrs
What does a Music Supervisor do?
Music supervisors find and license every existing song in the film, negotiating sync rights against a music budget and clearing every use. They work with the director and editor on placement and with the composer's team on where score ends and songs begin.
What does a Music Supervisor make?
- About $15K-$100K+ flat per feature, or $2,500-$5,000 a week in TV, roughly $80K-$250K+ a year.
- Production budget and sync-licensing scope drive it; marquee film and prestige-TV supervisors earn the top.
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.
On the job
- Pitch songs that serve scenes and survive the budget
- Negotiate sync and master licenses with publishers and labels
- Clear every musical use, on camera and off
- Coordinate the boundary between licensed songs and score
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You know music licensing and how to clear rights
- You can manage a music budget and cue list
Soft skills
- You have broad musical taste
- You match songs to story and negotiate well
Career progression
Supervisors come from label, publishing, and music-clearance backgrounds, or assist established supervisors until they carry projects alone. Credits accumulate into a taste reputation that showrunners and directors hire on.
A typical path, from entry to the top of the craft. Times are rough and vary by market, luck, and how steadily the work comes.
- Music Coordinator· 2-4 yrs
~$50K–$250K+/yr
- Music Supervisoryou are here· peak of the craft
~$80K–$250K+/yr
How do you become a Music Supervisor?
Work anywhere music licensing happens: publishers, labels, clearance houses, or a supervisor's office. Knowing what a song costs and who controls it is the professional core; taste gets you hired only after clearance competence stops projects from getting sued.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.