How Much to Charge!

[GearMan2point0]

Hey guys,

I have these bands I am recording for $25 a song, and I just recently asked myself...what the hell am I doing?

I feel that I should be charging much more, since there is much more work than I realized.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19450618/Keep your friends close, Keep your enemys dead.mp3

There is a clip of my more recent work. How much do you think I should be charging?

 

[dcb]

you really have to know yourself what your worth, man!
if you think producing a full song for 5 days or so is worth 25$....
the song you posted is ok, its definately worth more than that,
though you still have a long way to go (quality wise).
charge by the hour. ask the band for their budget, if its 25$ - theyll get a 10 second song.

DONT LET BANDS DICTACTE WHAT YOUR WORTH !
if they dont wanna pay you more than mcdonalds does - fine !
tell them to gtfo !

 

[tgs]

Start by charging by the hour/day instead, charging per song always seemed like a really weird concept to me.

How much to charge, well... It's always hard and depends on so many things. If you're going to run the studio as a business, keep in mind all taxes and fees. But mainly, try to figure out how much the bands are willing to pay...then add a little, hehe.

Just listened to the clip, think it sounds pretty good!

 

[gabriel g.]

I am charging per song/day.

I dont do more then one song a day in the end, so bands dont come in and say that they can track 8 songs a day....

 

[tgs]

I am charging per song/day.

I dont do more then one song a day in the end, so bands dont come in and say that they can track 8 songs a day....

So why not sticking to charging per day then?

 

[Harley Barley]

25$ a song? holy fuck thats cheap and your stuff sounds pretttty good. do at leasssssssssssssssssssssssssssst 100$ if not more, im starting my first band that im engineer all by myself today and its 100$ a song but depending on how the final product turns out im going to boot my prices up at least 50$

 

[Ermz]

Whatever people will pay. Charge as much as you can while still maintaining the rate of work that you'd like. Test your luck by gradually hiking prices over time, and see whether it sticks.

 

[sk8ersick666]

charge by the hour ALWAYS, it keeps things fair on both ends of the deal, I started by doing $60 per song and it sucked, i did this for like 2 or 3 bands and once I got some people interested I started charging by the hour.

 

[AEL89]

charge by the hour ALWAYS, it keeps things fair on both ends of the deal, I started by doing $60 per song and it sucked, i did this for like 2 or 3 bands and once I got some people interested I started charging by the hour.

I don't necassarily agree with this

 

[angryoldsoundguy]

Whatever people will pay. Charge as much as you can while still maintaining the rate of work that you'd like. Test your luck by gradually hiking prices over time, and see whether it sticks.

+1 to this.

DONT LET BANDS DICTACTE WHAT YOUR WORTH !

-1 to this.

Pricing is always determined by what the market will bear. Value is perceived by your potential clientele, which are bands, not producer/engineers on a forum. Regardless of what people say here, if you can only get people to pay you $25 per song and keep busy, that is just life, though unfortunate.

 

[AdamWathan]

This thread might help you put some stuff into perspective...

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/550984-people-struggling-rates-how-charge.html

 

[dcb]

+1 to this.



-1 to this.

Pricing is always determined by what the market will bear. Value is perceived by your potential clientele, which are bands, not producer/engineers on a forum. Regardless of what people say here, if you can only get people to pay you $25 per song and keep busy, that is just life, though unfortunate.

no offense, but in the real world, pay what you want DOES NOT WORK. never has. if you cant live from your income, your business will die very soon.

if you have bills to pay, you have to know your bottom line profit margin. everything else WILL NOT WORK AND YOUR BUSINESS WILL BE GONE SOONER THAN YOU THINK (basic business studies).

 

[AEL89]

+1 to this.



-1 to this.

Pricing is always determined by what the market will bear. Value is perceived by your potential clientele, which are bands, not producer/engineers on a forum. Regardless of what people say here, if you can only get people to pay you $25 per song and keep busy, that is just life, though unfortunate.

You're destined to fail if you follow this guideline. £25 a track is a joke. £250 is still cheap if you're getting a good product and service. My band spent over £4000 getting 3 tracks produced and it was worth every penny.

 

[dcb]

You're destined to fail if you follow this guideline. £25 a track is a joke. £250 is still cheap if you're getting a good product and service. My band spent over £4000 getting 3 tracks produced and it was worth every penny.

+ 1

 

[GeertSamuel]

I think Adam has got it working nicely with the spreadsheet.
I'm always doing an estimate in advance, allways works in the bands benefit in the end of the run, which, sadly to say, actually shouldn't be the case since you're putting in lots of energy and struggle with (sometimes) annoying/stubborn personalities.

 

[Machinated]

charge what you are worth. $25 is ridiculous. make sure it is worth everyone's time to make sure everyone gets the most out of it.

 

[angryoldsoundguy]

no offense, but in the real world, pay what you want DOES NOT WORK. never has. if you cant live from your income, your business will die very soon.

if you have bills to pay, you have to know your bottom line profit margin. everything else WILL NOT WORK AND YOUR BUSINESS WILL BE GONE SOONER THAN YOU THINK (basic business studies).

charge what you are worth.

I think you misunderstood what I wrote. Obviously, if you are swimming in red ink, you won't keep the doors open for long, without supplemental income from another revenue stream.

However, all value (worth) is perceived by the market. The OP's market is not people on a producing/engineering forum, but bands where the OP lives. Basic economic ideas still apply (generally your pricing should at least be overhead + a living wage and still be competitive with other producers/engineers/studios in the area), though if all you can get is $25 per song, then you decide whether to keep busy recording bands (perhaps in free time after working at a day job) or to quit.

You're destined to fail if you follow this guideline. £25 a track is a joke. £250 is still cheap if you're getting a good product and service. My band spent over £4000 getting 3 tracks produced and it was worth every penny.

As we can see here, the real answer is for the OP to find those clients who have this mindset and believe that the OP's product is worth more than $25 per song. It may take some time of working for cheap/free to establish oneself or it may only take a few hours of marketing via social media to achieve this.

 

[heshian46]

3 years ago I started recording bands charging $30/song. I soon realized how much time and effort it actually took to make these shitty bands sound decent.

Over the last few years I've raised my rates gradually with every project. I've learned new skills each time, and with those skills came more time spent on a project, and more value added to the finished product.

I just recently reached the $150/song mark. I kept my pricing as the "per song" structure because bands seemed to like it, and I was getting alot of business because the bands didn't feel like they were getting nickel and dimed.

However, just recently I decided to change it up and go with a hybrid hourly/per song structure. Im charging $25/hr (or $250/10 hr day) for tracking, and $100/song editing/mixing/mastering. We'll see how this goes over with potential clients. I do have a band coming in this weekend and they're using this new pricing.

Though I know bands are still ripping me off, at least now I have a bit more control of those ass holes that come in and dick around figuring out unfinished songs for 3 hours out the 10 hour day.

 

[DanLights]

I have a per hour fee, but after listening to the project, if possible knowing the level of the musician(s) involved, the length and complexity of the songs, and all other aspects (I like to go very personal, maybe attending rehearsals/shows or at least socializing and hearing any material they have) I try to make an estimate. I already know how long I take on a 4 minute song when editing, programming, and the other parts depend more on the band. If I´m unsure how much the tracking process can take, I try to give the band a daily fee to keep it less "strict" on the hour thing, mainly just to have a bit more relaxed atmosphere during recording, I don´t want to stress them by having to look at their watch all the time.

your hourly/daily fee should depend on you and what you think you´re worth (and the reputation you have built within the scene, if any), but you need to have a minimum. At first I did 10 euros an hour for programming/editing/tracking thinking that in my day job I get paid 8 euros an hour, so I could say it´s kinda worth it, but my wife opened my eyes on this. In a day job in any company, you´re not paying social security, taxes, etc. while in a freelance job such as a recording studio you do (considering you are trying to do it for a living, and that is the main goal of many of us I assume), so you have to consider those 10 euros are actually much less after taxes.

And, you can´t really give a supermarket/flipping burger day job the same worth of recording/mixing/mastering. There´s this story, about a mechanic who got called to a company cause a machine wasn´t working. The guy went there, checked the machine, detailed for a while, until he grabbed his wrench, twisted a screw just a little bit, turned it on and the machine was working again. When asked how much for his services, he said 500 $, and of course the company president was shocked, and demanded him to give him an explanation on why twisting a screw is worth 500$. The mechanic answered "twisting the screw is free, I won´t charge you for that. Knowing which screw to turn, however, is worth 500$."

Just my two cents of course, and it´s not like I´ve been in this business for years

 

[fade_2_black]

I charge by the day for tracking. I charge by the song for mixing and mastering and this is something I can do here and there, rather than getting in the studio for a whole day.

As mentioned many times - do NOT let bands dictate what you're worth. Sure, you might be willing to do some work for cheap simply to get the work, but once you have a product you're proud of and you think is worth good money, start charging good money for it. If it's worth it, people will pay. You'll also find, the bands that can only afford $25 for a song are the kind of bands you will have most difficulty working with - unprofessional, more often than not pretty mediocre gear, poor performance, etc.... ie - difficult to mix. Remember, you can't polish a turd. If you start charging more, you will land more serious bands that have the budget for it, get more money, be able to afford more gear..... The ball just keeps rolling.