Live Music Pricing Guide

Thanks for joining me here on the blog!  Today I’m going to answer all of your burning questions about pricing for hiring live musicians for your wedding or other event.  What goes into producing a quote? How should I budget for live music? And of course, how much does it cost? All these questions and more will be answered, so read on!

How much do your services cost?

Well, the answer is, it depends.  I know, not the answer you were looking for, but hopefully I can clear things up a bit here as to why there’s no easy answer! Overall, a quote for 4 musicians for 4 hours will look a lot different than a quote for 1 musician for 1 hour.  So here’s the breakdown!  Our pricing depends on 4 factors: 1. How many musicians do you want to book? 2. How many hours are you going to book for? 3. The location of your event 4. Are you going to need any add-on’s like a sound system? If you don’t know the answer to all of these questions, that’s ok!  I am here to walk you through all of the best options for your event and what will fit best into your budget.  

What is your booking rate?

We book by the hour, not by the song.  So if you need us to play two songs during your wedding ceremony, it will be the same price as 20 songs!  What will change the price is the performance time frame; i.e. the length of time your musicians will be on site.  When you contact us for a quote, make sure you tell us how many hours you need the musicians to be on site in total.  We have a minimum of one hour, so if you’re not sure just start with that!

How do we come up with our rates?

The numbers are definitely not arbitrary!  The main factor is the level of professionalism you are getting with our musicians.  All of our musicians have been training for this profession since they were children.  (I was 6 when I started playing!)  Not to mention we all have Bachelor’s degrees, most of us have Master’s degrees and some of us have Doctorate degrees (!) in performance on our instruments. (Yes, you can get a Doctorate in Music!!)  You are basically paying for people who have dedicated their whole lives to creating a passionate performance at your event!  Additionally, there is a lot of planning that goes on behind the scenes before your wedding or event occurs.  Between client relations, musician schedules, and practicing the music, there are many, many hours of work that we accomplish ahead of the performance!  On the day of our performance, we have to account for travel time to and from your event site, as well as the total time our musicians will spend on site.  

How should we budget for your services?

Budgeting for live music is a very personal decision, but I’m here to give you some guidelines that might make it a little easier.  Our smallest package (one violinist for one hour) starts at $295.  So that is a really good starting point for your budget!  However, most of our clients end up spending between $500-$1,000.  If it’s possible, I’d recommend budgeting for somewhere in the middle.  Most of our clients find that our smallest package is not “enough sound” for what they want.  I am here to help you find the balance between what’s comfortable in your budget and what will sound the best! 

Hopefully that answered most of your pricing questions!  If not, let us know!