Funky Music Tip #11 - 4 Things to Consider When Charging For A Festival Performance

I had a reader recently ask me what price to charge for a festival performance.  This is a multi-layered question that has to be tackled systematically.  There are four questions that should be answered to determine your price:

1. How big is the festival?

You try to gauge your price from what they expect to take in.  If they have large attendance numbers then they can pay a higher price.

2. How long are you going to be away? 

You need to factor in what you need to pay for while you are away and what gigs you could be missing while being away.  This should be factored into your performance fee.

3. How many musicians are you paying for?

Depending on the style of music, difficulty of the music, number of rehearsals, number of sets and the size of the festival you should pay your musicians accordingly and factor that into your fee.

4. What are they going to pay for?

Sometimes festivals get hotel rooms, plane tickets and meals at a discount because the business is a sponsor.  If they can take care of all the above all you need to charge them is your performance fee.

You should give them a rider that has your stage plot and audio requirements as well as your hotel room, meal needs and your transportation needs to and from the performance.

I would ask them what they are going to or willing to take care of and then gauge your price from there. 

Hope this gives you some idea in planning for your festival performance.