What Are Your Solo Performance Rates? Above is an example of a solo performers Rate Guide.

Minimum $250 weekday $300 weekend 

Parameters:

• within 1hr travel

• under 3hr performance time

• small pa or less required 

• no new material required 

Variables:

• $50/hr extra travel

• $100 extra hour performance 

• $50 up to 2 custom song arrangements 

• $100 larger set-up/ speech mic etc...

Common Results:

A small PA, 4-hour local weekend gig with two song requests would simply be $450.

A large PA, 3-hour performance on a weekend that is 2-hours away would be $500

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This structure can be created from solo to big bands, studio recording services, song production, teaching, coaching etc. You should have a basic rate guide for each of your main income generating areas.

Then you need to stick to it.  And the more your finances are prepared to roll with the punches the more consistent and confident you can be to sticking to your guide! (More on budgeting refer to ep. 9 “music budgeting, don’t fear the repo”)

The other question that is connected to this topic is:

How much are you (and your services) worth?

We live in a free market society which is great!  It is critical to be allowed to charge what you want, and if your rate guide matches the market well, you will be successful and fulfilled. But sometimes, I’d even say often, we must dance the balance of our wealth of experience and talent and the opportunity’s max rate.  If you over bid the market you will know it because you won’t be working much.

The pandemic tested this for many performing musicians.  Some having to take almost any gig regardless of its parameters due to the low demand and scarcity of opportunity just to pay their bills. This was a great demonstration of why rock n rollers need a large enough emergency fund and have good income diversity to roll when things get rocky. See what I did there?

Other General Negotiation Tactics:

• Stick to your guide and trust yourself.  This even means being willing to walk away.  Money is attracted to confidence.  You take the lowball rate and you’ll end up not being available for the big ticket opportunity.

• Always try to have your client offer the compensation first when it’s a bigger event/opportunity.  

• Never feel rushed to a number.  We aren’t in that kind of business and the pressure typically only blinds your clarity to make good decisions.

A final note;

Revisit your guide once a quarter and make sure it still lines up.  Some times of the year will often be higher minimum rates (higher demand) than others so you’ll want to adjust accordingly.  This guide is only that, a guide. In the end you want to collect the top dollar for your services and each opportunity will present a different way to make that happen.  

Lastly,

This guide does not apply when working on asset building projects like your personal songwriting, music releases, YouTube videos, online instruction courses, books etc...