It is now generally accepted that the study of artistic work can be used as a model for the analysis of current transformations in the job market. Flexible, inspired and mobile, “artists” would appear to possess all the qualities of tomorrow’s executive. If however we look at the tiers lower down the professional pyramid of the art world, and in particular at the population of ordinary musicians, we come across individuals whose mode of work and whose socio-cultural codes are closer to those of manual workers and, in particular, of craftworkers. This paper draws on seven years of ethnographical research into the work of ordinary musicians. It presents the first elements of an ongoing research project into the construction of identity at work and the careers of craftworkers in Languedoc.