You are usually part of a longer performance, so you have to be there before it starts and stay until it's done. If the gig is for church, you may have to stay and play for multiple services. If you have to be somewhere for two hours hours to play five minutes in the middle, you can't accept another gig during the entire two hours. You can't practice during that time either, neither is it free time for you to relax. So you can't reasonably be paid just for the five minutes, but should you be paid as much as if you did play for two hours? Would a split in the middle be enough?
Photo from http://4womens.net/blog/abs-women
As a private contractor, so many things go into what I charge for a performance. Just like anything else, it's supply and demand. Working on a musical for three straight weeks is earning me little more than an hour long performance I'm doing on Valentines day. Part of it is the budget of people hiring me and also how much the performance means to me as an "opportunity" or just plain "work."
ReplyDeleteFor standard stuff like weddings, I have a "show up" fee that is the baseline rate from 1 minute to an hour. I charge more depending on how many songs and how much prep I have to do for new song requests.
For studio stuff, I have an hourly rate that is pretty solid.
Thanks for sharing your process Troy! I wonder how low we can afford to go to help out people who hire us when they can't afford much. Happy Valentine's day at your gig, and with your awesome wife!
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