What Should I Charge (Live Music)?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My friend and I are trying to get our act together. She plays piano & violin, I sing and play flute. We’ve done weddings, ceremonial and cocktail music. Typically, a couple will have us play classical music for the wedding ceremony, then we play an hour or so of jazz, pop & showtunes while people are coming into the reception hall and getting settled in. Generally, this amounts to about 1.5 to 2 hours of music. People happily pay our fee, which maybe indicates that it’s too low…? We now pretty much rehearse weekly, sometimes twice a week, and try to incorporate new songs into our repertoire so customers can have a larger selection of tunes.

Anyway, we’re looking to branch into some lounge-type gigs, like a hotel lounge, for example. I have no idea what to charge, and indeed, I don’t know if we’re charging appropriately for weddings.

I don’t wish to gouge anyone, but I think we should earn a respectible amount in regards to our competition.

Assume that we’re a high-quality, class act and let me know what you think. I’d like to hear from people who might pay for this service as well as gigging musicians.

Thanks!

2

Well, a lot of it varries by region, so I don’t really know what things are like in the Chicago area.

I had a few gigs over in Lake Placid, NY, which is a rich vacation type area. There were two of us, and we ended up with about $800 bucks to split for 3-ish hours at some fancy expensive lodge/restaurant.

Around here playing at restaurants and such we often get about $150-200 for the same amount of time. Private parties pay better, 2-3 hundred for each of us for two hours. But, of course, it all depends on the person/company’s ability to pay.

Weddings, well, I just played a ceremony last month and got $150 for just the ceremony (ie, no playing at the reception or anything like that). If I had to play for a bit at the reception I’d raise the price a bit.