Jan 01

Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right?

JazzSpace

Today’s question comes from Pittsburgh jazz artist, Maggie Johnson, who also happens to be the founder of JazzSpace – a foundation created to keep the art of jazz alive in the Pittsburgh scene.

THE QUESTION: Pricing yourself. How do you know you’re doing it right?

THE ANSWER: This is a really excellent question that I think artist struggle with all the time. It’s tough to answer, but someone gave me some great advice two weeks ago:

“Don’t Undervalue Yourself”

So here’s the deal. It can sometimes be hard to know if you are overcharging or undercharging someone for an event.  But consider the following.

READ THIS POST:
Stop! Before you do anything, read this post: “What’s Your Price Point?: Determining Your Booking Fee”

TREAT EACH EVENT DIFFERENTLY
Events range from benefit concerts to private corporate events, weddings, coffeehouse, traditional venues, colleges, and the list goes on and on. Take the type of event into consideration before you send them your booking fee.  A fee that works for a corporate event probably won’t go over at a coffee shop.

ASK YOURSELF
“What is the very minimum I would like to receive”. Don’t take anything below this.  I would like to suggest that you may have to “pay your dues” for a while (maybe even a few years) before you can be picky about the types of shows/payment you receive.

ASK OTHERS
Find a musician friend (or two) that you trust and ask them (in confidence) how much they charge for specific type of events.

REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DOING MORE THAN JUST PLAYING!
Lets say someone offers to pay you $50 for a 30 minute set (just a random number).  Consider the fact that you have to drive 1 hour to get there, 1 hour to get home, arrive 2 hours early for a soundcheck, and you can only tear down after the whole evening is done. That is alot of time!  By the time its all said and done, you’ve probably spent 6 hours of your day and made only $50.  Not fair.

So how do you know you’re doing it right?  Well if you end your day feeling like you’re not selling yourself short and you’re not taking advantage of event bookers, then you’re doing it right.  And most importantly, when you’re not sure what to do, ask someone who has more experience than you.


grassrootsy   |  Making Money   |  01 1st, 2012    | 
  • http://www.jazzspace.com Maggie Johnson

    Thanks for the shout out, Joy! I think your points about treating each event differently and asking folks with more experience (discreetly) are particularly useful. The latter being what I’ve had to do recently. Independent musicians, especially, really have to fend for themselves in this area. Even visual artists have books that are written for them on this topic (which, by the way, seem to include tips that are transferable to music), but if anyone has seen something written specifically for musicians, I’d love to check them out. So, thank you for these most helpful blogs posts!

  • http://www.chubbycarrier.blogspot.com Misty Carrier

    I totally agree with asking other trusted musicians about compensation. Also, booking agents that you’ve worked with in the past can give great information. My husband has had his own band since 1989 and he started booking himself about 10 years into his career. Since he is good friends with his former agent, he finds out how much certain bands get paid. When he’s getting ready to quote a price he asks questions like “who has played your event in the past?”. This is a great way to find out if the event has money based on past performers. It gives you a good starting point if you know that there is money in bucket to go around.
    I also like the point of not undervaluing yourself. I say “bid high”, what if they say “okay”?

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