We asked about soloists, choristers, orchestral musicians (percussionists/harpists separately), musical directors/conductors, accompanists, orchestral leaders, and section leaders. Below are the results. Some notes:
- The range always starts at £0, for all roles
- By comparison with the last Association of British Orchestras/MU agreement that Making Music was party to, Making Music members often pay more, particularly when engaging entire ensembles, probably through ignorance of the terms of the agreement (17% of respondents were unaware of the agreement, only 5% used it)
- Over 50% of respondents offered additional benefits to the musicians they engaged, from flowers or bottles of wine to food, free tickets etc.
How are rates determined by groups?
Groups will most frequently (86%) decide how much they can spend and then negotiate accordingly. Groups tend to take advice from their conductor or from fixers/agents.
Comments throughout the survey suggest that if professional musicians cannot be engaged for fees the group can afford, groups generally change their programme. What also comes through is that groups appreciate the skill of professional musicians and their need to make a living, and are keen to ‘do the right thing’ where they can.
The overall picture is one of amateur music groups engaging a huge variety of professional musicians in a range of roles, for differing lengths of time, on one-off or regular contracts. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the range of fees is vast, too.
