Do musicians charge by the hour?

Hi there! 

Some musicians may charge by the hour, however we have created packages for our live music services and have had great feedback from our clients in that there's an option to suit everyone's desires, run sheets and budgets. We also offer custom packages to our clients should they want to extend the live music by another hour or two, or skip out on live music throughout the canapés etc. 

Hopefully this helped a little!
Thanks,
Johanna & Jayden 

Hi there!

This depends on the musician. Some musicians may offer per hour rates, and some will offer packages.

Personally, I offer packages that are all inclusive!

Kind regards,

Sofie Bozzetti

I find most wedding music suppliers tend to provide their services in approximate packages. It generally depends on the number of sets and length.

Best bet is to contact us for a precise quote.

To give some insight from the DJ world, it can vary. Some DJs will charge by the hour, and some will charge packages 'for the night'. However, most people will have a requirement for a 'minimum amount of hours'.

Marel

Hi there! 

It really depends on the service. I would be happy to disuss things more with you. PLease feel free to check out the website ; )

https://www.lilyroad.com.au

Hi TendalDzeka,

Speaking as a singer, we generally charge per song or bracket of songs (Ie. 3 x 15minutes over 2 hours). Some musicians will have packages which can make it simpler. 

One thing to keep in mind is how long you want the singer and other musicians to be present, if it's longer than a certain package that has the amount of singing you want, you may be quoted an extra fee just for their time. 

I hope this helps.

As self-employed people, different musicians chose their own ways of charging. I used to have a business helping young musicians starting in their careers. I would produce their first CD, help them land their first contract and so on. My business was called 'Music Designs International'. I operated here in Australia but also in London and Europe where I helped artists negotiate contracts in Luxury hotels, cruise ships and residency based gigs in bars etc. Part of my service was to do the books for musicians and performing artist. What I found was the for the average/basic musician, overhead expenses usually came to about $350 per week AUD. For multi instrumentalists such as myself, this figure is much higher–sometimes over $500-$850 or more per week. In addition to the money cost of staying in the music business, there is the enormous amount of time required to maintain equipment, rehears material, practice ones instruments, make phone calls, blog, upload, download, print posters, arrange advertising and boostings, etc. etc. After all this, I believe it I accurate to say that a customer is not paying for the time of the performance, rather for the time it takes the entertainer to get to ‘the stage’. I once knew a musician who put this info onto his invoice:

$00.00   Performance fee (free of charge)

$450     Overhead expenses, travel time, rehearsal …. Etc

My advice to any musician is not to charge per hour, rather to divide up the hours and costs spent per week and divide that by how many gigs they would ideally do per week. Let’s say a musician does three gigs per week and each gig averages to be ten hours, after travel, preparation, etc. Then that only leaves ten hours per week for marketing, bookkeeping and so on. One can arrive at a figure per ‘call out’ based on these considerations.

Most of the work a musician does is not from the stage. The performance is actually a small part of the overall business.

In my view, an entertainer charging by the hour is doing themselves a great disservice.

Hi

I believe some do as this can give couples a ball park figure to work from

I tend to look at it as a breakdown of costs dependant on venue and location, access to power etc and whether there are different set ups for different parts of the wedding.  Eg  Ceremony - Canapes/Cocktails and Reception.  I am happy to work with couples to discuss their budget and how best we can work together to ensure the best on their special day.

Usually yes, depend on the musician.

They also might have minimum hours charge for weekends and peak season

you will get charged a minimum time or fee, I do this for ceremonies where I sing 2-8 songs but quote for an hour call as it still costs me the same to get there and get home and set up equipment as a longer gig.