1 Notes
What to charge?
A friend wrote me to as some advice regarding what to charge for a small documentary film. I originally thought I’d post what I wrote but instead I’m reprinting a much clearer (better!) blog posting from Composers Forum by Chris Alpiar
1. NEVER EVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER give away your ownership of the music unless you are being paid great sums of money that make you comfortable to never be able to use those ideas again. We are limited as to how many unique and poignant musical ideas we can come up with in a lifetime and while we often have to do free and cheap work to get established there is no reason to ever give away the copyright. Generally the big features from the studios (like Warner Bros, Paramount, etc) will do work for hire for the composer, but then you are getting a few hundred thousand dollars as your creative fee also. No short film maker or game company exec NEEDS to own your music, thats a load of crap.
2. Find out what their total budget is - this is better for films since I can say that generally 10% of a film budget generally goes to the music portion. That includes ALL costs for any part of the music - licensing songs, score composer, studio/production costs, musicians, conductor, music prep team, etc, etc. Usually composer will end up with like 3 to 5%, depending on a lot of variables
3. Make sure you get on the cue sheets, and make sure they are being filed properly. If you dont get on cue sheets, you will never get any royalties. Make sure you spell your name as it is listed at your PRO/SoundExchange/Harry Fox
4. on games especially, make sure you negotiate some mechanical royalties. For any project really, but since games do not have performance royalties collected by the PROs, the only residual you will get will probably come from mechanicals. This is completely contract driven tho and is the only way to get them (negotiation in contract). Performance royalties will get to you regardless of contracts as long as you are on the cue sheets, but there is none of that with games.
5. Try and understand the amount of work you will need to do and how much you are willing to give for $x.xx. This is something that you will keep learning over the years and get better idea of different types of projects and how much time it will take you. So if you are expected to deliver 30 minutes of completed music, all 1 minute clips that are looped, for instance, then you need to consider how much total time is involved for you and how much you need to live and pay your bills. I like to think of up front money as ‘keep me alive while I do my work’ and not ‘im making cake’ and then the amount I can negotiate for the back end (mechanicals, royalty, etc) is what is my lifetime seed money, maybe eventually I could afford to not work except when I really want to with enough residual income…
6. understand what your terms of working are. One of the first lessons to learn is how many rewrites are you comfortable with if they dont like the product? A lot depends on how much they are paying up front of course, and how difficult/complex the job is for you. But on a $5000 radio jingle, Im not doing more than 2 rewrites. And its up to US to educate the client to understand what is involved and to not do it in a way that they get uneasy to work with you. Your job is to make them feel like its easy and fun to work with you, but also to have respect for you as a business person and to create limits that are clearly stated up front. Getting upset they want a 6th rewrite for a $500 job is only your fault for not being prepared or explaining. Generally I do 1/3 payment up front, 1/3 when they sign off on the creative (their time to ask for rewrites), and 1/3 upon delivery.
7. While we absolutely need to make a living from our music, it never pays to be overly anal about how you discuss money. Be assertive, and direct, but dont insert whiney things or negative energy once you agree. And often the people you are working with arent the money people anyway. In general I try and maintain an attitude that I am independently wealthy and I dont need money, and the first and foremost topic at hand is the creative solution, but at the same time being prepared with my own rate sheets and rules about working conditions that I am very clear about. It goes a long way.
8. Create your rates for different projects in advance, for yourself. I have a big sheet I made of what I want to charge for various things. A per minute rate for things like orchestral arranging, digital realization, composition (orchestra, choir, jazz big band, chamber groups, etc), etc, etc. These rates are for completed ‘per minute of music’ and do not affect the amount of time I spend on it. Generally my rates are from $1000 to $3000 for various things I do per minute. Then you need to create a list of all the jobs you can and are willing to do and put an hourly rate on that. So I bill most everything at $50/hour to $200/hour depending on what it is and how deep my expertise is. The value of this is someone can say hey I need 5 1 minute clips of background music. I can say ok my rate is $1000 per minute of completed music and here are my terms, and 2 weeks to finish the first draft and then the next 1/3 is due and you can talk about how you feel about the product and if we need up to x number of rewrites at that time and then 2 more weeks and I deliver the final tracks for the last 1/3. AT THAT TIME if they want rewrites or something added or something taken away or whatever, then they will know, I do orchestral arranging at $100 per hour, if you want changes that arent part of the agreement it hits my hourly after that.
There is so much more to it and its something that only you can work out and decide for yourself. But hopefully these guidelines will help you get started.
