Artists working in music and sound are frequently invited to attend rehearsals and workshops in order to give vital feedback to those performing their works. This feedback directly contributes to the success of performances and presentations. Frequently, composers and sound artists are the only musicians in the room that are uncompensated for their time in rehearsal.
In other areas of the arts sector, it is standard practice to compensate artists for this time and effort. For example, CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens) sets rates for professional services that include a fee for “consultation”:
Consultation means the giving of advice, input, or opinions that might be associated with project development, exhibitions, or commissions concerning the artist’s own production, or participation in a consultative process concerned with, for example, policy development in the cultural arena.
Suggested Rates
The CLC encourages organizations and ensembles to include compensation for this work within their budgeting and grant requests, in line with standard arts practices. While there is no composer or sound artist-specific rate, we encourage composers to negotiate the rate of their rehearsal fee.
Other professional fees may act as a starting point for your fee. CARFAC rates for consultation for 2024 are:
Flat rate per half day, under 4 hours $362
Flat rate per day, over 4 hours $638
These fees may instead be used as a basis for hourly rates ($92/hr.) A composer may also suggest being compensated at the rate of the other musicians/performers in the rehearsal – please consult your local musician’s union or the ensemble to confirm these rates.Artists working in music and sound who operate electronic/live musical elements during rehearsals (i.e., spatializing sound; triggering electronics; etc.) should be compensated in line with other performers, using the appropriate musician union rates.