On Thu Dec 9, at ThursdayDec 9 7:07 PM, John Howell wrote: > At 4:18 PM -0500 12/9/10, Christopher Smith wrote: >> Yeah, I just had a little discussion with a client hiring the orchestra I >> play with. They wanted a local anthem arranged (7 minutes long, fer the love >> of Pete!) for full orchestra and 4 singers, and wanted to pay $300 for it! I >> asked $1000 and told them that it would be twice that (at least) under >> normal conditions, and they delayed a week while having meetings and working >> out financing before they finally came back and agreed. Perhaps they had >> priced it out elsewhere, too, which helped them to accept my bid. Worse >> would have been if they had hired a basement-studio pop guy who had only >> worked with sequencers and rhythm sections before, and who supplied >> sequencer output, untweaked, to the musicians. >> >> I worked out afterward that what I had charged was about the equivalent of >> two musicians' salaries for the concert. There were 60 musicians in the >> orchestra! Not to mention the high-priced guest soloist, the conductor >> certainly didn't absorb it as part of his season's duties, and I was being >> screwed. Funny where they put their priorities. > > Not really. They can get PD music, score and parts, for a little over $100, > and a lot of rentals for no more than $300 (their original offer). As far as > they're concerned that's the going rate. Most people--especially > Board/business people--have no idea what custom arranging is worth, because > they can only compare it with readily available published music. > > The music director should have known better, but may not have been involved. > Part of our job (always!) is education. > > On the other hand, do you really think it's fair to compare your fee with > (union?) scale for musicians?
Your point about what they might think the going rate is, is a good one. Yes, we have to educate our clients. But what was your point about comparing my arranging rate with union (yes) musicians' salaries? I would use that as a point for comparison, yes. I earned $1500 for that gig, and the part that paid $1000 took a heck of a lot more than twice as long as the part that paid $500. Christopher _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
