No One Knows What to Charge. Here's Proof.

Help me build a solution.

Hey ya’ll.

I have been thinking about this for years, and I think it is time to say it out loud.

The freelance music market is BROKEN.

Ask 10 musicians what they charge for a wedding gig, private lesson, or string arrangement, and you’ll get 10 different answers.

This frustrated me so much that I had to get to the bottom of it.

I made a survey, received a few submission, and what I found was both deeply validating… and slightly terrifying.

👉 Fill out the 5-minute freelance music survey here (more on why below)

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The “Opaque Market” Problem

I kept hearing 1 thing more than anything else.

"I don’t actually know what to charge."

Even musicians with 10+ years of experience, folks who are killing it, are just guessing.

There’s no map. No central source of truth. No “going rate” we can all refer to with confidence.

Our current system punishes openness and rewards undercharging. It is not a personal failure. It’s a structural one.

My hypothesis is this: musicians do not have access to verifiable, trust-less data surrounding pricing for their services.

Because this data is opaque and secretive, some participants take ths opportunity to charge less for their services. This drives down prices and keeps pricing for services lower than their intrinsic value.

Ultimately, I want to build a database that creates a more efficient, transparent market for freelance musicians.

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What the Data is Saying (So Far)

I’ve only scratched the surface, but here are some early insights from the 21 musicians who’ve filled out the survey so far:

• 100% of them make money from music

• 100% say they’re unsure what to charge

• 85% say they would definitely use a site where musicians anonymously share rates & contract terms

• 76% make a full-time living from music

• 71% have signed a contract or taken a gig they later regretted

And the real gut punch?

Nearly every musician said they feel they’re undervaluing themselves — but they keep doing it anyway… because they’re afraid of losing the gig.

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What They’re Saying

Here’s a small sample of the anonymous pain points musicians shared:

"I try to ask my friends but often feel like I am undercharging so as to NOT lose work to every other musician who undercharges!"

"If I’m hired once but I’m too expensive, will I be used again?"

"Assessing value is hard. There’s no data. Everyone just shrugs."

"I feel confident negotiating… but not confident setting my price."

And my personal favorite:

"Pain? lol."

If you’re nodding while reading this — you are not alone. And that’s exactly the point of this whole project.

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Why This Matters

I want to build a platform where musicians can go to get answers to questions like this. I want this platform to pull back the curtain on pricing, contracts, and deal structures in the freelance world.

But I don’t want to make something irrelevant or lame.

I want to build something that actually helps you earn more, stress less, and stop guessing.

But I can’t do that without your help.

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What You Can Do Right Now

If you’re a professional or aspiring musician, this takes 5 minutes tops:

👉 Click here to fill out the survey

It’s short. It’s designed to help you (and all of us) get smarter.

Also — when you fill it out, you help shape:

• A public-facing tool musicians can use to educate clients on the REAL cost of providing music services

• Industry trend reports based on actual, ever-shifting musician data

• A tool that helps new music graduates make data-driven decisions concerning where they work

• The future of fair pay transparency in music

We deserve better than guesswork and whispers. Let’s fix this together!

— Drew