How Much For a 30sec Commercial???

  • Thread starter Thread starter chazba
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chazba

terminally hip
I have been asked by a local business to come up with a 30 second comercial
with original music. I've almost got it ready for submission , wrote the music and lyric, played all the parts etc. It sounds pretty good to me . 25 years ago I wrote several jingles and had some success getting them placed.
My dilemma is that I have no idea what the market is like in these modern times. The project was done on spec, that is, without any agreement as to pricing. How much should I charge the guy??? I ve got about 15 hrs into it at this point, and I'm holding back on the submission 'cause (1) I dont want to give it away (2) I don't want to blow the deal by pricing myself out of the market.
Any thoughts from you guys who are currently active in the jingle scene???


writeonnnnnnn
chazba.
 
how big is the market (where will the commercial be played)
 
Thanks for your response...good question. Market is about 200,000 households. To be played on 2-3 FM outlets.
What do you think???

chazba
 
I always remember these three things:

Good Fast Cheap

It is a fact that you can have 2 out three, never more. So ask yourself, what do they want? Do they want a good product (a really good product?), and do they want it fast? If so, you can ask a fairly big amount of money. If it's not a "done yesterday" thing and they expect decent to good, but not outstanding, than don't ask too much. If that is the case, I'm thinking, 200 bucks tops?
 
I was thinking more near a thousand, so maybe somewhere in between 200 and 1000.
 
Or you could always ask them what they plan to pay you and if it seems reasonable to you, go for it.
 
I would say at least 3,000 bucks. Here is how to find out:

Call a local marketing company, ask em a few questions ( pretend you are looking for a fake business). If you can get em to ballpark a figure, charge half of that. I doubt they will, but you can try, they usually want to talk before they say anything.

In slightly larger markets its thousands of bucks. In the olde days it was thousands just to hire a band. I dont do much of that now, in the past I did a lot. Its a big business and there are a lot of people involved ( who do nothing) who wear suits, so think $$$$.
 
did you search the net, there's also a couple of books out on doing that stuff, but not sure if they have pricing info, i figure they must have something. Maybe a radio station? or facutly at a music college, or another jingle producer, maybe some recording studios, or producers, or engineers, -- oh, go straight to psw and ask there. they'll give you info for sure, and probably a whole lot of other bs, but i'd go there first.
 
I wrote and produced music for a few 30-second spots for the U.S. Mint, and they paid me $500 per.
 
Thanks boys-n-girls for the thoughts. Any specific recommendations for books on the subject??


writeonnnnnnnn

chazba
 
Chazba - Hmmm, there's very little you can find out about this I'm afraid. Composers tend to keep their prices quiet - you won't find a pricelist on their websites as everything is negotiable and depends on the composer's popularity and experience. You have to basically make up a price you think you can get away with. At least that's how I do it.

The last TV ad I did was a couple of years ago - client wanted 'about 10 seconds' of music for his 20 second regional ad. Basically they were bringing a flavour of the Jaques Loussier (spelt wrong I'm sure) Air on a G String jazz cover at the end of the ad. The estate of JL wanted thousands of pounds to use it. So I just recreated the famous bit using some synths and a session double-bass player. In that job I charged £600 (not $). That was probably a little steep for such little work, but the producer was up against it and it was to begin airing within days, so I basically came to his rescue.

If it were me doing your job, I'd probably charge around £500 ($650ish?) for a 30" local radio job. Depending on session musicians needed. Sounds like you've been busting your ass, so make sure you get paid properly. Don't forget this is a buyout (I assume), so they can probably use your music till the end of time if they want. They have to pay for your talent - don't devalue the industry by charging peanuts.

I'm afraid with the constantly changeable nature of the media industry, no book is ever going to tell you what prices to charge.

Halion - good advice.

MadAudio - US Mint? You should've shafted them for as much money as you could get away with!
 
I got $80 for the 30 second one I did...sounds like I got screwed.

Of course, all I did was the original music track.

6
 
And then.......

So the guy sez " Wow..that's really good....well the guys at the station have been doing them basically for free, just to get my business (???) " So I check out what they've been running for him. It's a Garrison Keeler kinda semi-hip chatty 30 second ramble with a mention of the business at the end, no music, just talk. So I say " I thought you wanted a signature piece, like 30 seconds long that you could have them voice over, you know, and change the message whenever you want". So he sez " Yeah but I really cant afford you...you're too good. I didn't know it would be that good " (?????) So I sez " Well OK, I'll come by and pick up the demo." I'm watching $500 fly out the window, but I remember my training as a negotiator, which I haven't used in like 20 years. The guy most willing to walk is gonna win. He sez " look, wynt'cha come over and we'll talk some more" . I'm thinking that this guy had the same training as I did, he's probably gonna try to bait me , cause he is seeing his $500 fly out the window too. By the way, no mention of price yet at this point in the process.
I'll keep you all posted as the negotiating goes on.


writeonnnnn

chazba
 
AW Shittttt

So basically , the deal fell thru. For a number of good reasons.
1. I failed to get a clear info about the price point
Had I known how cheap he was, I wouldn't have started the project

2. I failed to check out what he had in place already, which he liked
I didn't realize that he dug the organic vibe of the station

3. I failed to follow up and CONVINCE him that he really needed my stuff
That's why I never would have made it in the Used Car biz

etc...etc...

There are probably lots of other reasons why it fell thru, I'm only listing the things I could have taken control of.

I'll get it right next time boys-n-girls


writeonnnnnn
chazba
 
That's too bad, a lesson learned I suppose.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water though. Finish the project and submit it to your client with an agreement for future use. He may want to change his tune (literallly) down the line and having something in the can can't hurt.
 
Agent47 said:
MadAudio - US Mint? You should've shafted them for as much money as you could get away with!
Click to expand...
Have you ever tried to carry $1000 in nickels? :eek: :D
 
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