photoshoot for a local band

I was just wondering how much do i charge for a local band who requested me to do a photoshoot for them, maybe for their album cover perhaps or posters i dont know. I know i must charge them for hiring me as their photographer even im still a newbie at this but how much?

my options are:
1. Fee + charge for prints
2. Fee + CD(soft copy)

note, this is for a local band its likely they would be on a tight budget.

what do you think is the best step for me? need your expert advice.

Depends on how serious you are about this. If you want to do this the “right” way, you need to know exactly what they are going to use your images for. Advertising, posters, CD cover and how many will be printed will help you determine what to charge. There are calculators on line for these kinds of things, so once you get the above info, you can plug those numbers in and that should give you a fair estimate.

On the other hand I doubt you will get what those calculators come up with. You said yourself this is a local band, more than likely with a tight budget. They probably just want some decent shots so they can throw them on their myspace and maybe a CD cover. So as for a fee, charge what you think your time is worth. Think about how much you make at your job, they may think you are worth $20 an hour for what you do. Do you think that is acceptable, do you think your expertise behind a camera and time editing is worth that much? Maybe it’s more, maybe it’s less. No one on this forum is going to tell you how much to charge, they never have told anyone in the past and I doubt they ever will. So you need to figure it out on your own.

And charge them for a CD, they are a band, they aren’t going to frame these pictures and put them on their walls at home.

It depends how good you are at taking band photos, and what it is they want. You cant do it the "right" way cause then no one's going to hire you (yet)... They will end up being angry and confused... Which happens to alot of photog's. Talk to them, make sure things are clear. I was in your situation once, with a friends band... I'd Charge like 75 bucks. Give them a cd with medium size jpgs (not all). Make sure it stays under 1.5 hrs (about 50 bucks an hr...)...IF they want larger images then you can negotiate depending on what its ..

When you get better at shooting bands then you can start making those "right way" request's and demands...

or you can just charge a professional day rate and put licensing restrictions and not get hired

When we were in a band, we paid to have shots taken for us (a few hundred bucks) by a local photographer. In the end we got all the shots and the rights to use them for whatever we wanted. And we used them for EVERYTHING... posters, album art, myspace, website, promo shots, local/national press, etc.. You can put licensing restrictions on them, but I highly doubt they will be honored. I would suggest setting a price you feel comfortable letign the pictures go for. Give them a disc of images, cash your check, and call it a day!

Shot a lot of bands while working with a record label and you're going to want a flat fee for the day. They're not going to want to have to keep asking you to use the images for different purposes, they're not going to want to pay a royalty (point) system when the images are used, they're not going to want to buy prints, they're going to want total freedom of how to use them (posters, CD's, to send into papers for promo, websites, etc). Price depends on the level of the band, a small local band is broke usually and doesn't have too much to spend - a known one that brings in a crowd has more - and a major of course the label is paying for it.

Haru - they may have prints on there wall, last I talked to Mike of NOFX he had one of my images on his office wall and Al from the Dropkick Murphys on his living room wall. Of course that was awhile ago and sure they've been replaced by now.

Most small bands are just looking for something like a 2 hour shoot for around $200. They usually don't have much money and are not signed. They just want a few cool photos to promote themselves with.

That sounds like a respectable amount for the shoot. I'd give them full use rights for two years. After that, see where you are & where they are.
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