Gig rate data

We're in the process of compiling data from musicians in the US to find out how much they typically charge for various types of gigs. We're hoping that this information will be helpful to you in determining your own rates!

In November 2022, we carried out our first attempt at gathering and processing data. We received 137 responses from 20 states across the US, including 79 responses from the states of NY and NJ.

From the responses whose gigs are primarily in NY and NJ, we were able to calculate the following for those two states:

• The median hourly rate for performances (including weddings, recording, solo recital, ensemble, and theater) is $87.50.
• The median hourly rate for teaching is $70.00.
• Those with a graduate degree charge more on average than those with a bachelor's degree.
• Those who live in NY charge more on average than those who live in NJ.

We did not receive enough meaningful data from other states to perform calculations outside of NY and NJ (yet!).

On analyzing these preliminary results, we realized there were multiple issues with our initial survey, which prevented us from extracting more specific results or factoring in variables such as years of experience and degrees earned. Some of those issues were:

• We received many outlier responses which were far higher than the average, which can possibly be attributed to respondents giving us performance lump sums rather than hourly rates. We discarded those outliers, leaving 52 respondents from NY and NJ.
• With most of the questions allowing short-form written responses, it was difficult to standardize and perform quantitative analysis on the data.
• The survey didn't take into account whether the respondent plays multiple instruments and charges different rates for each.
• The question about degrees earned did not specify whether the degree should be for the instrument in question.

Suffice to say, we learned a lot from our preliminary attempt! Due to these issues with the original survey, we have created a new survey which we hope will give us better data. Please take a moment to fill it out! It should take less than five minutes and your submission is anonymous. When we have enough responses to generate good data, we'll publish our findings on this page!

— Gloria Yin, ed. Emily Duncan