A growing body of literature contends that as workers use intelligent machines, their work will transform and creativity will emerge as the fundamental function and contribution of human labor. A focus on creatives’ communication strategies elucidates that transformation by surfacing how creatives adopt, reform, and invent the technologies that surround them. Musicians provide an ideal context for such a focus because they (a) use a wide array of technologies in their work, and (b) organise in fluid and precarious networks. Drawing on observations and interviews (N=40), this study investigates the ways musicians’ collaborative practices and professional considerations inform their technology choices. In sum, musicians rely on technologies to help form their identities, persuade collaborators, and enhance and construct their creative vision. This work contributes to theoretical and practical understandings of musical work and creative work more generally.