Have your rates risen

No they’re gone down in real value because less people have money, deals are worse, labels are signing less. 44% of houses last year were bought by private equity firms. Trump vs Biden? I vote for the guillotine.

I've bumped my rates up a bit, yes. For both day rate work and per-song mixing. Also billing more for hourly consultation-type stuff. Nobody seems to be batting an eye, honestly. (so far...)

Trying to, but it's difficult when people just don't have the money.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Especially since 2020

I’ve noticed that too…quotes that would have run people off last year are suddenly being accepted.

No, but I used to set my rates with the idea that I only can handle one or two projects per month and I typically got about that.

Now I'm getting more "yes" than I can really do and I 100% attribute that to inflation. So I'm about to bump things up a little bit to get back down to "occupancy" I can handle.

Also my lease just went up by 5%. Pretty conservative all things considered.

Of course there is the oldest trick in the book, quote a very high standard rate, the offer your real rate as a discount.

The problem is and this having an economics background; as a country yes absolutely but for most the overall buying power has decreased.
Example if I bought 10 albums in 2010 and 10 today I have payed more fire the exact same thing, my spending in dollars has gone up my income has probably risen as well but for most that 10 albums would probably be a bigger chunk of their income. Also in the US I’ll bet you would be hard pressed to find a place where sales tax rates haven’t increased.

If you dig deeper you will see pay roles have increased, but on the lower and middle of the pay scale you will see that most haven’t risen that much or kept up with inflation, but at the top you will see huge wage and wealth growth.

I’m corrected now against 2019, but impossible to correct to 2009 when I last previously changed them.

First off - my studio time is FREE.  I tell people that right up front, and it saves all the BS of "my brother in law 25 miles away has a studio and we can work there for free on Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:00PM to 1:00AM - so can I just pay you 1/2 of what your studio rate is?"  I let em know right up front that this incredible studio and selection of gear come at no charge and that usually revs em up.  BUT - I follow up quickly with the agreement that I charge a fair rate for my expertise, experience, ears and talent.  Per HOUR.  I can produce you, help you write your song, arrange your track for horns, orchestra, rhythm section - whatever, play on your tracks, record you, master your tracks.  Whatever you need - I can probably do it.  For what that is worth.  That starts to help them see the value.  But even at that, it's usually the end of the road for most.  Cause we live in a FREE world, and no one wants to pay for anything.

I've been doing that approach with free studio time and charging $85hr (bro/family rates might get down to possibly $65hr for VERY special situations) - for ME - for the last 15-20 years. I don't do project rates - so no flat rates per song, etc.. Since 10 years ago, nobody (well...few) want to pay that. And that's 100% OK with me, cause I don't want to polish their turds.

The professionals - those that are still working and making money - are happy to pay it cause they know what they are getting and they know it's a bargain in comparison to "life" expenses in 2024, and/or working at a clapped out half working, studio without HVAC in the summertime with sub-par gear.

But at this stage, I can't really see RAISING my rates. And for sure they are not getting lowered. Haha.

When anyone asks - I tell em I'm charging the same as I charged 15 years ago, and little less than half what their car dealer is charging for service. That gets em all happy.......until they do the math.

Over the past year I have raised my rates 20-25%. It was necessary as I changed over to a Dante infrastructure that was more expensive for me. I have not encountered that much resistance. I have also started adding on my assistant's fees to the bill instead of paying those out of my fees. That is several hundred dollars per outing. It is necessary because I hire very experienced assistants for big set ups. I need their experience to help me solve any technical issues quickly during the sessions.

Yes, but mostly because I was grossly undercharging while getting the business end of things going. I got too busy, and I had to make the work worthwhile. Still probably undercharging, but at least I feel like I'm being compensated somewhat properly.

Musicians partly do it to themselves, though. You have a demographic that spends years training themselves in their craft, invests thousands in equipment to do the job but will play for free and accept that the bar "can't pay" them even though they are getting $15 a head at the door and have a bar full of people buying drinks.

Also, you are "in it for the right reasons" if you don't charge for your services so you can spend 8 hours a week doing music and 50 hours doing whatever job you hate, but your authenticity is questionable if you try to be realistic and charge a livable rate so music IS what you are doing 60 hours a week.

There is no doubt that there are things going out within our economic system that make sustaining a music career challenging, however it doesn't help things when 8/10 musicians are either financially illiterate or irresponsible and lack the knowledge (or willingness) to advocate for themselves.

I can't tell you how many friends and colleagues say other musicians who are doing well or have nice gear, nice studios, etc... are "lucky" and then spend $200 on weed and booze every weekend while they make $600 a week at a local cafe or pool supply store, all the while wondering why their music career isn't going anywhere.