Thread: Stick to your prices/Set times

Hey all! I have good news and some questions.

A while back a venue contacted me about dancing. They wanted an unreasonably long set for unreasonably low pay. I quoted my rates and was scoffed at, but I refused to budge. They opted not to hire me.

The venue called me back the other day, and offered me my full rate per actual set!

Now I usually do a 20-25 minute set in restaurants. They asked me for multiple sets, but instead of two 20s they asked for more, shorter sets, evenly spaced over the same amount of time (length and spacing determined by me). I think this is fantastic, actually, because I don't have to wait for a long time in between sets and it breaks up the night.

Should there be a rate difference? Do you see any potential issues or problems I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Umm... I don't have experience about this because Im a beginner, but my logic tells me that your rate should raise a little bit because you will be more time at the restaurant, is not like before that you make your 20min set, get paid & go home. I don't know, thats my opinion. ;D

More performances per night = more costume changes = a higher rate. Even if you simply change skirts to adjust the overall look you will need additional items. Plus make-up and hair would have need a bit of polish between sets. Additional props may be required. A minimum would be an additional 30%.

Originally Posted by txchic

More performances per night = more costume changes = a higher rate. Even if you simply change skirts to adjust the overall look you will need additional items. Plus make-up and hair would have need a bit of polish between sets. Additional props may be required. A minimum would be an additional 30%.

Completely agree. Even if the total time ends up being the same (and it won't, because they will ask you to wait until the big party is seated, or until more people come, etc) you will need to change your appearance somewhat. That is more wear and tear on your costumes.

But if you have already negotitated your price, they probably won't discuss raising your rates now.

awesome that they're meeting your price, my opinion? $ per set is $ per set, whether it's 10 minutes or 20.......shortening a set doesnt make it cheaper(they assume it does), but it's the same effort regardless of set length, so keep your per set rate the same, or MORE

if you quote $100(for example) per set, that's your rate, period..........especially if it's the rate quoted by other professionals

the biggest issue with 'more' sets, after 2 sets, the audience's eyes glaze over........they stop paying attention, it loses it's impact, and as an unfortunate consequence interest and tips dry up

best to keep to a 1 or 2 set gig, standard sets at the standard rate (higher is better)

Here in DC it's pretty standard that a "show" is a "show" and can't be divided in half. Two shows are two shows, no matter the length.
If they want a shorter show, FINE- but keep in mind that really hardly saves YOU any time at all. ALL your time is in your education, prep work, making CDs, makeup, hair, packing all your gear, getting to the venue. Your time is what they are paying you for- and 5 or 10 minutes less on the dance floor is not going to chip much off of the couple hours you've invested in that show (let alone training)...
If a place wants a shorter show, they still pay the "regular" show rate. If they want two shorter shows, they pay for two regular shows, sometimes with a small discount for the second show.
What they are doing is a very typical "bait and switch" tactic.

Luckily, I told him that I would look everything over and get back to him, so the prices aren't set in stone.

Thanks for all the input. I was sure that there should be an adjustment in rates, but I wasn't sure how to go about it.

Let me just clarify, he did not want me to split one set in half and only pay me for one set total, rather he wanted spaced out short sets and he would pay me for each. I just wasn't sure about how to charge for the time in between and what sort of discount to give for multiple sets in a night. My first post was not clear on that!

Thanks!

Oh, Leyla, that's a relief to hear. :)

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

Oh, Leyla, that's a relief to hear. :)

Hehe, I was reading responses and some of them struck me as a little odd, so I reread my post and was like oh my god, that's not what I mean!

He asked me to do two 10s and wants to pay me well for each set (and by that I mean the rate we are trying to bring standard up to and I'll charge for time spent waiting around), but I would rather do two 15s or 20s than stand around as long in between.

Originally Posted by LeylaFahada

Hehe, I was reading responses and some of them struck me as a little odd, so I reread my post and was like oh my god, that's not what I mean!

He asked me to do two 10s and wants to pay me well for each set (and by that I mean the rate we are trying to bring standard up to and I'll charge for time spent waiting around), but I would rather do two 15s or 20s than stand around as long in between.

I was really glad to hear he wasn't trying to pull a fast one on you. I hear about owners trying to pull that one ALL the time.
I just saw that you're in the DC MD area. The rate for new gigs is $100 (or more) / show. Small discount (at dancer discretion) for the second show if there's not a long wait around time.
This according to agreements about our costs and investments on the local Yahoo pro boards.