[Eirik Myhr]

First, it’s been far too long since my last login to this lovely forum. I’ll try to do better!

And to the members here who actually are composers, I want to ask a different question: Do you feel like you get the proper amount of assignments these days to make a living?

I’ll be completely honest, the last couple of years have been kind of rough. I think it’s a combination of several things.

1) We are still feeling the aftermath of Covid. Some projects end up getting cancelled, so there are more «talks about projects that end up leading to nothing», regrettably still filling up valuable time in your calendar.

2) Everything from food to rent to living costs in general is way more expensive than five years ago, yet the admission prices for composed music have stayed more or less the same. This is also related to the fact that projects, if they get funded at all, often get funded with sort of a minimum amount of possible money. So unfortunately, we’re not really in a position to expect a pay raise, most of the time. People still get paid, but often no more than the bare minimum, it seems. This probably applies to everyone within the arts, and not only composers.

3) For me, some projects have simply been more time-consuming than before, meaning room for less projects in total. This is kind of random, though. I am also in my mid 40s now, and really don’t have the drive or energy to work all day and night like I used to in the old days. Not to mention I have a three year old kid, so I seriously can’t. 🙂

4) As for AI, this hasn’t affected me that much, as I mainly compose for theatre and fiction films. For people working a lot with music for commercials or reality TV, they must be feeling it for sure. Luckily, the directors I work with are simply not at all interested in an AI’s «artistic voice», and neither am I.