How much should we charge?

**Sean.thomson** · 01-29-2012, 02:46 PM

Ok, so my band got asked to play a wedding and they're asking how much we would charge for a 2 hour reception. We've never really been in the situation where we could name our price and we're not sure what to charge. What would be a reasonable price for a duo to travel an hour away to play a reception outside on a farm?

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**MtlMom** · 01-29-2012, 03:17 PM

$100 per musician per hour plus .80 per mile traveled.

**Sean.thomson** · 01-29-2012, 08:07 PM

Talked to a professional musician tonight and he said we should say $1,000 and say we're willing to negotiate. The lady mentioned something about $900 but I wasn't sure if that was a music budget or a whole wedding budget. I want to be fair and I don't want to be all like "How much ya got" and make it awkward, but this is pretty much my only line of work right now so I want to try and make as much as possible.

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**Rainer.** · 01-29-2012, 11:38 PM

$1000 sounds right in the ballpark. If you do negotiate, frame it in terms of giving a discount off of the base rate of $1K. Just make sure your client knows the value of live musicians, but if you want to give them a break on price, still let them have a discount.

I'd say "We would charge $1000 as a base rate, but let's talk about your needs and budget."

**MtlMom** · 01-30-2012, 07:02 AM

By the way, I just threw out that number to start the discussion in terms of charging by the hour and including travel in your contract. I'm not a musician, but I'm a pretty savvy business person.

I do know that to get a live band around here you can expect to pay a non-refundable booking fee up front and sign a contract that addresses how much you will charge if they ask you to stay longer than planned.

**Rainer.** · 01-30-2012, 09:04 AM

Oh, yes, and contract is a definite must.

Terms about payment schedule, what happens if they cancel, what happens if you cancel, etc. Also, get in there the line about getting provided some noms.

I haven't seen much in terms of travel charges for anything less than around 100 miles.

I also think something around 30-50% booking deposit around 4-6 months in advance is fair.

**thesteve** · 01-30-2012, 09:14 AM

Just to give some perspective, my friend's 6 piece was paid $1200 to do a wedding and several of the members felt grossly underpaid.

**Thrash** · 01-30-2012, 09:18 AM

We spent around $120 for our musicians.

**Rainer.** · 01-30-2012, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesteve

Just to give some perspective, my friend's 6 piece was paid $1200 to do a wedding and several of the members felt grossly underpaid.

Wow. That's pretty bad.

I think $400 a head for a reception is a baseline. You never want to devalue the work of your fellow professionals, so if you charge high to begin with and negotiate a lower price, frame it in terms of a discount and give them an invoice with the discount noted. It will make sure that your client understands the value of the service you are providing, which is important to the profession as a whole.

**thesteve** · 01-30-2012, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rainer.

Wow. That's pretty bad.

I think $400 a head for a reception is a baseline. You never want to devalue the work of your fellow professionals, so if you charge high to begin with and negotiate a lower price, frame it in terms of a discount and give them an invoice with the discount noted. It will make sure that your client understands the value of the service you are providing, which is important to the profession as a whole.

Yeah. It was a one-shot deal and from what I heard they had to learn a lot of album cuts so it's not even stuff they could transfer in the future.