Great place to start - Piano and Vocal Instructor Music & Arts Employee Review

3.0
Aug 18, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You are free to instruct your lessons your own way. You can also communicate directly to your students and their families to work out schedules and makeups on your own. It's awesome that you don't have to deal with the payments from people. They are put on auto pay and that's that, you get your money. I liked having access to all the books in the store to view new material, and, or, sell to a student for use in lessons.

Cons

They take 1/3 of your pay!!! Such robbery! Most teachers in the new pay system use the store to build a client base and then walk away with the majority of their students so they can earn all they make. Also, the stores have gotten very corporate. They will attempt to schedule students 6 hours straight, back to back, without allowing you a 30 minute break to eat or anything else. I was told "well we assume most days someone will cancel a lesson, and you can take a break then". Awful. Aside from those grips though, it's still a good place to start out.

Explore other reviews about Music & Arts

5.0
May 18, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Perks and hours were balanced

Cons

Commission structure could be better

2.0
May 14, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Teachers and sales employees who actually work in retail locations tend to be passionate & knowledgeable about music. Stores open later in day (11am-8pm weekdays) which is nice if you're a night owl or hate waking up early. Good employee discounts on products.

Cons

Inflexible corporate policies & attempts to standardize procedures across stores in wildly different markets makes it impossible for store-level management & employees to deliver well on expectations of upper management & customers. Store managers who work in store full time have no real authority, influence, or decision-making power, whereas district managers (who visit each location once a month at best) have to pass on orders from even higher level management that may have never even stepped foot in the store. They will start you at as close to legal minimum wage as they can get by location, and even the hourly pay for store managers is absolutely criminal compared to the amount of work & complexity of operations required. Commission structure is also highly flawed.

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