RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS wrote on Sun, 13 February 2011 21:31 |
How about pros ruining the market. Like the one that comes down here for winter from a cold state and under cuts all the big boys by about 50%???? Gets him work for half the year and ruins the market for our local high end professional providers for the entire year! Some promoters only care about price and you can't do anything about that. Some care about relationships and trust, you can control that. Raise your prices a little higher and when you are asked why your prices are even higher explain that you never want to be the cheapest because the cheapest will alway be worth what they are paid! |
Darius James wrote on Tue, 15 February 2011 09:24 |
My area has a particular bad situation with free-be jobs. People who organize events in the area believe sound and light is something that is 100% donation based. After months of looking at it through objective eyes I have found the source. I know I am going to sound like a monster for saying it but here are my findings. Relay for life is to blame for our down spiral in live sound work.... |
Darius James wrote on Tue, 15 February 2011 12:50 |
Yeah good intentions pay my bills too. |
Kim Guibord wrote on Sun, 13 February 2011 18:07 |
..Just had a previous Client tell me " why would I pay your price when I get it for almost half from this other guy, I did not reply to him... ...I just tell people now...you get what you pay for. |
Kim Guibord wrote on Mon, 21 February 2011 19:05 |
Again you get what you pay for. |
Mike Monte wrote on Tue, 15 February 2011 20:48 |
Amongst my other sound gigs, I provide the sound/lighting production for three yearly "non profit" events in my community. My personal tech services are invoiced as "free" but there is a fee for my gear rental. When the "non-profit" calls just tell them that you'll tech the event for free (an important word) as long as the gear (that you spec) is provided (rented/installed, etc.). You give "your rider" to the promoter and steer him/her to whom to rent from and the promoter will call you back in sticker shock.... Tell the promoter that he can rent the gear from you...for a negotiated price (even 5% less than the local rental house). The gig is yours. Mike M |
RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS wrote on Wed, 23 February 2011 09:43 | ||
I don't know how the laws in your state are but I would do it differently here. You never give away what you do for a living. Charge for your labor and donate/discount the rental portion to a non-profit that you want to support. We have to charge tax on rentals but not on labor. If you charge for labor but discount the rental you are saving the client even more money while maintaining your bottom line. |