Mjazz Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 I've made a lot of (mostly jazz) charts/lead sheets for myself, using Finale. Now I've gotten a few requests to make charts for other people, for pay, either by transcribing from a recording, or making a "pretty" chart from a crappy one, doing transpositions, etc. Just the typical one or two-page jazz lead sheet. I have no idea what to charge for that kind of thing. Any thoughts? Charge by the time it takes? A set amount? Etc. Thanks. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElmerJFudd Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 I've done this from time to time, also for backing tracks for singers. If you're not going to sell the same chart/track to multiple people (ie. have a website where you sell in mass - and would need to acquire licensing and factor that into cost), you have to charge for your time. How much time does it take you to bang out a chart. And what is a musician's time worth. I argue it's worth at least what the going rate is for a lesson, or an hourly gig, and is as valuable to your customer as any other service, be it a plumber or an accountant. So what's your hourly in your part of the country. Does it take you less than an hour? Can you do a transcription and make the chart in a half hour? I'll estimate $25-$100 a chart depending on those factors and what your customer will accept. It's time you spent so they wouldn't have to, so what's that worth to them? Yamaha CP88, Casio PX-560 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyFF Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Depends! How much do you like doing it? How much are you still learning how to do it and want to become more proficient at it? How picky and perfectionistic are you (read: does it take you tons of time to get it done)? If you're building up your skills at this and want to get better, don't charge much and be thankful that someone is paying you to build up your chops at it. If it's a pain, then charge accordingly. If you get more and more business over time, and especially if you don't have much free time, charge an hourly like $20-$30/hr. Personally I'm crap at estimating how much time things will take (I vastly underestimate), and with something as detail oriented as what you're talking about, I'm sure the time flies. Numa Piano X73 /// Kawai ES920 /// Casio CT-X5000 /// Yamaha EW425 Yamaha Melodica and Alto Recorder QSC K8.2 // JBL Eon One Compact // Soundcore Motion Boom Plus Win10 laptop i7 8GB // iPad Pro 9.7" 32GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mjazz Posted March 26, 2016 Author Share Posted March 26, 2016 Thanks ... very helpful. It does seem like it should be based on time spent, subject to some kind of "is this reasonable?" limitation. I'm pretty handy with Finale, but it's easy to get bogged down in details and burn a bunch of time. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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