Music Video Going Prices

[Sven]

Just curious what people are charging for video's. And I don't mean "it depends on what quality product your going to give them." Just straight up. What are people charging? Thanks.

[ryan brown]

It's impossible to answer that question.

Some are doing them for free; some are working with labels and charging a sh!tload. There's your "straight up" answer, and it's the truth.

-brown

[Sven]

I guess i should have been more specific. I've already done my share of freebees, now i'm trying to step up. Quoting a price is the hardest part of running a business, at least for me. I want to be fair, but also make a living. There is a HUGE, and i mean huge demand for Indie Music video directors in my area. the first week I advertised I got 12 Requests. I was just trying to see what others in my position are charging so I can know how much to quote.

[ZephyrStar]

I guess you could do it a couple of ways...I've not done much of anything freelance, I'm a newbie to working with video, but I want to shoot an indy film, so I'm starting here. I've seen people quote by finished minute of production, say, video is going to be x time long, so here's the price: 150$ a minute finished production...this works well for educational videos at least...

For music videos I'm guessing they'll want nice fast editing, lots of action shots or some special effects...but are limited in what they could pay for the video...you might want to do a "free" consultation with the group to figure out what they're looking for, what camera shots, any effects, what level of complexity do they want, and also you might even ask what their budget is?

Maybe you could then with that information decide what you could give them for their budget, or make a proposal based on what they want. Complex video = several thousand dollars? Again, I have barely any experience here..but I did get paid 150$ a minute for a 10 minute educational DVD, mostly shots of people standing around.

Hope this helps, and I'm anxious to see what replies you get as I would also find this information valuable.

[SilverWolf]

Have you already figured how much you charge a day or an hour ?
If not you have to find that out first. Then the rest is easy since you've already shot music videos before.

Add up all the crew members that you will need. Then the equipment. Then figure how long it will take to shoot then edit. then add it all together

[ryan brown]

$150 per minute? WAY too low for industry standards. If someone absolutely NEEDS a quick quote for something like that, tell them one thousand dollars per minute of finished output (anything under 12-15 minutes or so).

This ALL depends on who you're working with. If you're in with labels, you know you have a much bigger budget to work with. If you're just working with random local bands, then you can assume they don't have a lot to work with.

If a band off the street wanted me to shoot a music video and they were on a very tight budget, I'd tell them I could do a performance only video, in one location, and one day of shooting for somewhere around $2000-$2500. After expenses and, say, 4 days of hard work and editing, you've made a grand. To a somewhat more established band that may be on their way up the ladder, I'd quote between 5k and 10k for a good, low budget music video.

Working with signed bands and a label with a budget? up the quote as far as you think you can, but make sure you do a fantastic job or you won't be seeing any more bands off of that label.

-brown

[Sven]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

[mainstreetprod]

Sven-

Just curious - what method of advertising did you use that got you 12 requests the first week? I am in an area that should have a huge demand (Nashville) but am not seeing it.

Fred

[Sven]

I dropped off my Business cards at all the local music stores I knew off. Being a former musician I knew that this would be the best place to find the artist.s Plus most of the guys in the stores know me. That was it

[Nik Manning]

I would say start with a directing fee and a editing fee and a daily fee. (Directing fee includes 1st day fee)

1.So just to have you as a director it might be $1000-$3000
2. To have you there onset can command another price. Hourly maybe $100
3. Editing fee $100 hr
4. You can package it up and say $5000 I will Direct and Edit for $5000 for 1 day and $7000 for a 2 day shoot.
5. Then they can pay for locations,adtors,props,etc.
6. So when videos end up costing $20,000 most of that money doesn't go to you but you do get paid a good amount.

Basically I would start by charging 3-5k for music videos and make the client pay for locations,actors,props,etc.

[DerrickTempleton]

wow are there actually unsigned bands who would be willing/able to pay that type of money?

[slickrizzo@mac.com]

The way i tackle this issue is by charging the production costs which you can get an idea of what a DVX rents for at your local rental house. For me, the camera rents for about 175/day with sticks. Then i add on lighting, a standard arri kit goes for about 75/day and then any other support on top of that, filters, 35mm adapters, additional lighting and grip equipment are on top of that. once the production costs are set, then i charge for my time. My time has been worth anywhere from 350-650/day depending on the project. So typically my videos are about 750-1000/day of production and a little less per day of post. Your rates may be different but i feel this is the way you have to price yourself and it has worked for me.

-rizzo

[slickrizzo@mac.com]

I need to amend to my reply that those were the deals i will strike with an independent artist. The industry going rates for the skill level i am at are about double what i do for indie artists.

-rizzo

[Zim]

Your not going to get some local band to pay to much since they probably don't have it. I'd charge what you think you are worth for the day. The local bands I know don't have much money. Tell them to provide you with help, their girlfriends etc.

A band with a record company paying for a video won't be looking for video producers on the bulletin board at the music store.

I would talk to each band and see what they can pay and if it is worth your time.

[buijon]

I think Zim is dead on with this. Local bands aren`t making much money at all, especially since they usually have full time jobs plus a band....to slap a $2500 price tag on a video they will likely laugh at you and look for someone that just wants the experience and their name out there, that`ll do it for free. I`d agree that you should sit down with each band and discuss it. Check out other people doing it and their prices too. But you never know, one band could have a rich families lead singer and they`ll pay more, another may be comprised of guys liek Alice in Chains who lived in a crap hole for years with no food or money just trying to make it big. Project yourself as a man of the people and you`ll be rewarded in time.

[troypod]

so many factors. for indie films, videos for indie bands, i have a general rule of thumb: pay me in beer, or, if you are into into it, have them pay you in weed. this is stuff bands already have a lot of on hand.
I do a tonne of corporate and commercials, so in high season, i'm making good money. i budget enough to live on, and then go and find projects i believe in, and basically do them for free. the thing is, it's those free projects that i think i do the best work for.
so to answer your question... don't do projects like that for much, (unless of course they're offering you big cash) because it's all about doing what you love, and keeping your creativity in motion. reserve big quotes and bills for your corporate clients.

[Beat Takeshi]

I like your banner Troy.
Music videos are a great place to try out different creative ideas and the local bands probably would be more than happy to let you practice any in their video. Like was said before, the unsigned bands will be broke to the yolk and signed ones will be using someone attached to the label already. You could probably get $5000-$10,000 off of a local band that does a lot of preformances but you should have plenty of examples for them to look at for creativeness. Preferably videos with a story line and a bunch of cool locations and maybe graphics or effects that make the videos unique. If its just a performance piece with them in the typical closed down warehouse or in a field you could maybe get a couple of hundred off them. Remember that editing music videos that have quick cuts needs alot of footage to cover all the cuts.

I am planning a music video this summer thats pretty elaborate but I'm not charging them anything, I just wanted full creative control.

[Matt Sconce]

I charge from 5000 to 20000. It depends on what they need done and how much time it will take me and Mark to do. The more work, the more money.

[Slimothy]

I think you guys are pretty much way off. I was in a band for a long time and have known hundreds of bands, successful and not successful that have done music videos. If the band is unsigned and actually touring, there is probably no way in hell they're going to be able to afford to spend $4-20,000 on a music video.

I worked on a music video with a band signed by a major label and it barely cost that much. The truth is, a lot of the bigger bands that are signed get favors from people trying to break into the biz by getting a big band under their belt. And by big, I'm not talking about U2. I'm talking about bands on record labels that are making a decent living and touring in a big bus, but are still considered "indie."

The truth is, you need to get a great reel under your belt and THEN you can charge that much. If you don't have a great reel, you may be able to fool a band or two, but it will go down hill. I'm not saying that you should totally destroy the market by offering to do videos for $400, but make sure you're good at what you do first. And like someone said, the bands who are paying $15,000 for a video, aren't having "Slimothy" from dvxuser do their video. They usually have directors who are represented do them.

[Jonathan_Healey]

I did this music video, shot on 16mm, for $14K (all expenses, payments, etc). At the end of the day, we could have used a DVX or HVX with the same results but the label insisted on celluloid. I produced and edited the video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jnNuX7uO60o