| Author | Message | ||
     Todd Moritz (Todd) New member Username: Todd Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2002 Rating: N/A |
Anton, First off let me say I've loved your playing since I first heard you when you took over for Steve Jordan on the Letterman show. I'll resist the urge to go further into fan accolades because I know that your time is valuable and the last thing you need is to be answering email from obsessed fans. Anyway, my question is genuine. I've been playing drums for many years. 29 to be exact (I'm 33). I had always hoped to play professionally, but never seemed to be able to make it work. Day jobs, family, life and all that have always sort of been in the way. Now I'm at a point in my life where I really can take the time and effort to make a go of it, at least to see if I can, and I seem to be making some headway. I've recently moved to a new city in the Pacific Northwest, and have fallen into a bit of a scene here. It's a long story, but I'm getting calls for legitimate studio work for the first time in a long time. It's mostly home studio stuff, but these "home" studios are far more sophisticated than most of the places I worked in my teens and twenties, and some of the projects are commercial recordings. A question came up last night when I was offered to do a record for an artist of how much I charge for my services. I was stunned. I've never been offered money for playing out of the blue like that. I'm not going to charge this particular guy because he's a friend of a friend and a good connection, but it got me thinking. I've got more auditions and sessions lined up, but I have no idea what the going rate should be for my time. Do you have any pointers? Hourly? Per track? Should I get an agent/lawyer? Most of the projects are not "A" level stuff, but it's still my performance that they're walking away with, and a lot of it is really good stuff that could lead to potential recording careers for these guys. I've also been asked if I'd be interested in touring, which just opens a whole other can of worms. I'm at a total loss, but in a good way since this is what I've wanted to do my whole life and I seem to be getting the chance, at least on some level. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate any advice you can offer. | ||
| Anton Fig (Anton) Moderator Username: Anton Post Number: 218 Registered: 04-2002 Rating: N/A |
I usually view it as each project on it's own merit - ie if it is for a major record company or a big project, I will try and get one price. If it is a small project that I want to do, I will make allowances for that. Sometimes I use the barter system where I will play on a friends project and he reciprocates on mine. I try and view each situation seperately. You may want to check with the musicians local and see what scale is for recording a three hour session and work from there so that you have some guidline. In the last few years it feels like the business has fragmented into many projects big and small so you have to make allowances for that and not just have one formula - [just my opinion] |
