A guide to hiring one musician, or a whole band.

“Remember… it’s not the Music Personal, it’s the Music Business.” ~ Dan Balmer

When you hire a musician there are a few things to take into consideration.

• Basic costs associated with running a business
• Health/Dental Insurance and other benefits
• Experience and reputation of the musician(s) or band
• The actual number of hours they will work for you vs. the hours they are performing.

The basic costs of being a professional musician include all the costs generally associated with running any small business.

• Self employment tax, Federal tax, State tax and preparer fees
• Portland requires a city business license and payment of Trimet tax
• Instrument, equipment, and business level auto insurance
• Marketing and communications costs plus web site costs.
• Business and or education loan payments etc.

Many musicians, and self-employed people, have to pay for their own health, dental, disability, and life insurance.  These costs alone may represent 20 to 30 percent of his or her gross earnings.

Journeymen level musicians have attained a level of education, expertise and practice equivalent to that of a medical doctor, attorney or other publicly recognized professional. Just as you wouldn’t hire a dentist that works for minimum wage to work in your mouth, you shouldn’t hire a musician at minimum wage and expect a professional performance.

You need to consider the actual number of hours of your musician’s day your performance(s) will consume. A general rule is to accept that you’ve hired a musician to work for you from the time they leave their home until they return home.  Many Journeymen level musicians also have a private practice teaching music lessons for $60 to $200 dollars an hour. Frequently when you hire them for week day or evening performances, they are giving up other income opportunities to work for you.

So when you require your musicians to set up before dinner and then come back to play later, add up the time it will take them to travel back and fourth from their homes or figure the total time between set up and performance.

Also consider the time your musicians spend waiting to perform for you when the unexpected happens.

• Your dinner is running behind because the caterer can’t get all the plates out on time.
• Your keynote speaker is running over their allotted time.
• The oral auction is taking much longer than expected.
• The bride and groom are still in the receiving line.
• My all time favorite is when the power went out at the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz for well over two hours due to a car hitting a sub station.

If you want your musicians to drive more than 20 miles from their home (think city center), you should also pay them 80 cents a mile; round trip. Many of them drive big vehicles loaded down with gear that just don’t get good mileage and/or they are too full of stuff to leave room for car/van pooling.   

The seven basic questions you need to ask before you enter into a contract with musicians.

1. What is the date of the performance and day of the week?
2. What are the start and end times of the performance(s)?
3. How many musicians are you hiring?
4. Where will the performance(s) be held?
5. What is the music for or what style of music do you expect to hear?
6. How do you expect the musician(s) to dress?
7. Will you be feeding the band? (did you tell the caterer?)

Basic rates in the Portland Metro Market for 2012/2013

These rates are per musician and include a basic engagement fee plus an hourly performance fee. These do not reflect “headliner” fees for big name musicians that would be in addition to the fees outlined here. These fees also do not take into consideration dues for those musicians that participate in the Musician’s Union or bandleader or agent fees.

Performing:

• Weekdays/nights: $75 plus $25 per hour
• Weekends: $75 plus $50 per hour

Recording: $100 per day plus $25 per hour

Rehearsals: $25 per hour (minimum 2 hours)

Other Costs:

Tux/black-tie ~ $120 (or going rental fee + plus the cost of picking up and returning a rental or dry cleaning after each gig)
Sound reinforcement ~ minimum of $75 (or going rental fee)
Lights and Staging ~ minimum of $75 (or going rental fee)
Distance Traveled ~ .80 cents per mile per person for distances over 20 miles
Meals ~ $25 to $35 per meal (includes tip)
Booking through an agent (or bandleader’s fee if its a full-time band) ~ add 15%

Examples:

You are hiring a quartet to perform for three hours on a Thursday evening at your home. So $75 (engagement fee) plus $25 per hour (performance fee) for three hours times four musicians. (75+(25x3))x4 = $600.00 Now if you want them all to show up in Tuxes and gowns, add an additional $480 ($120 per tux or gown) to the fee. Your performance fee is $1,080.

You would like a sextet to perform at your wedding reception for four hours on a Saturday night and you want them to bring a microphone and speakers so that your brother in-law can be heard when he does the traditional toast before you cut the cake. The reception is in Salem but your band is from Portland about 50 miles away.

$75 (engagement fee) plus $50 per hour (performance fee) for four hours times six musicians plus $75 for the Public Address system for your brother in-law. ((75+(50x4))x6)+75 = $1,725.00 Your performance fee is $1,725.00 plus the mileage at 100 miles round trip per musician at .80 cents per mile. That’s an additional $480.00 (millage) for a grand total of $2,205.00. Now add 15% for the bandleader/agent who will spend several hours in consultation, communication and preparation for your performance/event and your music fee is $2,535.75 and will likely be rounded down to $2,500.00

You may also want to consider a tip of 10% or more for each of the musicians.

This system is not fool-proof, but it is a great way to get your head around how the process can work for community-based musicians.

A guy calls up the musician’s union to get a quote on hiring a five-piece band for his daughter’s wedding. The representative at the musician’s union quotes $2,000. The man on the phone sounds irritated and asks “for musicians, really? I was expecting a couple hundred bucks”. The representative at the union pauses for a moment then replies. “Tell you what, you call up the plumber’s union and ask them what it would cost to have 5 journeyman plumbers out to your house to work for 5 hours on a Saturday night and I’ll get you a band that will work for half that.” The man on the phone says, “Point taken.”