Official Band Photographer-Advice needed

[langfordcr]

I'm new to the "professional side" of photography. I have a friend in a band who hired me to take promo and concert photos. They love them and want to hire me to be their official band photographer. Right off the bat they want me to come in studio with them to shoot them recording and also design their CD cover. Ongoing I would update promo pics when needed and follow concerts.

So, my question is fee structure. I know I don't need to follow pricing that I've set forth for regular portrait sessions. Should I just come up with an hourly wage plus travel and venue fees? Work travel into the hourly wage? Expect them to pick up meals when a session goes through a meal time? Or something all together different? I really have no idea.

Also, I would think the CD cover design work would be outside the "photography" side of the business pricing wise. What is customary for that sort of thing?

I would appreciate any advice, suggestions, stories from similar experience, etc.

Thanks in advance!
Cindy

[Walkere]

Originally Posted by langfordcr

Also, I would think the CD cover design work would be outside the "photography" side of the business pricing wise. What is customary for that sort of thing?

That's definitely a job for a graphic designer. Now, some photographers have great design skills and can easily move between worlds, but not all. A commercial photographer doesn't design ads; he takes a picture, hands it off to an art director, and let's him find a designer to put together the final advertisement.

That said, if you feel comfortable designing it then do it, and build that time into your fee. If you don't feel comfortable doing it, tell them you're a photographer and not a graphic designer. At that point, it would be best for you to have an idea of what the cover should look like, take the photos, and contract a designer to handle the actual layout.

Right off the bat they want me to come in studio with them to shoot them recording and also design their CD cover. Ongoing I would update promo pics when needed and follow concerts.

I'd start by coming up with an idea of how much you'd charge for each activity: posed/promo pics (i.e. the album cover art), studio recording sessions, and concerts. The first should be more expensive (you may have to rent a studio and/or lights, and there will probably be a significant amount of time in post-production), whereas the other two may be relatively cheaper (which is not to say cheap).

Rather than think hourly, I'd think in terms of half day / full day, and come up with a fee structure there. Set some kind of boundary in terms of travel (25 miles, 50 miles), and state that anything extra would be extra for travel expenses.

With that, you could either agree to charge them per gig, or you could think about drawing up some kind of on-retainer type contract. i.e. in exchange for $xxxx.xx / month, you show up on request at the recording studio / concert, based on what you think the average number of gigs would be per month and with a built in cap. This gives you some guaranteed income, and it might also prevent them from thinking, "Hmm... do we really want to pay $xxx to have her at this concert? Maybe we'll just get the next one."

Anyhow, just some ideas. Good luck,
- Brian