Editor’s Note: Jump to the end of the article for detailed results and more info on interpreting the chart above. To view the full chart, click on the image. 

There are few subjects that will raise the collective blood pressure of professional harpists as much as gig rates. It is a loaded subject—and one that Harp Column readers regularly ask us to cover here in the magazine.

This is Harp Column’s third gig rates survey. Our first survey in 2003 was so well received that we followed it up two years later with a second, more extensive survey in 2005. We were poised to conduct a third survey in 2008 just about the time that the market crashed. We decided to hold off and wait for the fiscal dust to settle.

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Eight years is a long time to wait between surveys, but the leap in technology since 2005 allowed us to nearly triple our sample size—from 134 harpists then to 353 now—by doing away with paper questionnaires in favor of an online survey. We invited just over 1,000 professional harpists (as self-reported in the American Harp Society directory) to take our survey. We also invited harpists on Facebook, Twitter, and harpcolumn.com to take the survey. Of our 353 responses, 92 percent came from our email invitation, 7 percent from our Facebook page, 1 percent from Twitter followers.
We wanted to understand one basic thing from this survey: what are harpists charging for standard services across the country. But thanks to some advanced data analysis by our survey administrator Natalie Durk, we learned a great deal more. Durk is a senior compensation consultant for a major U.S. entertainment and travel company. She also happens to have her undergraduate degree in harp and does some freelancing when she’s not crunching numbers for corporate big wigs. Having one foot in the business world and the other foot in the music world allowed her to cull out some particularly interesting findings from the survey. So without further adieu, the survey says…

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
There are significant differences in gig rates depending on where you live (see sidebar). Harpists in the Northeast, Pacific, and New England regions charge significantly more than other regions. Harpists in the Mountain West charge significantly less than other regions. By state, California, New York, and Illinois reported the highest average prices, while Utah, Minnesota, and Louisiana reported the lowest. (Because Alaska and Hawaii had fewer than five responses, their data was not included in the regional or state numbers. However, it is reflected in the national results). More telling than a state or region differences, though, is whether a harpist works in a major metropolitan market. Harpists working in big cities charge clients approximately 10–15 percent more than those who play in smaller cities or rural areas (see sidebar). Not surprisingly, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C. reported some of the highest average gig rates. And among big cities, Salt Lake City, Denver, Seattle and Minneapolis/St. Paul reported some of the lowest rates—some even falling below the national average.

EDUCATION
In the general population, we know that those with a college education earn significantly more than those without. So we were curious about the relationship between a harpist’s education and what they charge for jobs. We asked survey respondents to tell us their level of education, as well as whether their college degrees were in music versus an unrelated field. What we found were only slightly higher gig rates—10–15 percent higher—among freelancers with a music degree as compared to freelancers with an unrelated degree, and we found virtually no difference in the rates of those with a Master’s degree in music versus those who have a Bachelor’s degree.

DAY JOBS AND INCOME LEVELS
We found some interesting statistics when we looked at harpists’ employment status and income level. Harpists who have a paid job that is unrelated to the harp (about 43 percent of our survey respondents) charge approximately 10 percent less than those harpists who do not have another job. And those who earn the most also charge the most. Harpists who report earning $30,000 or more from harp-related work last year charge significantly more for gigs than harpists who report earning than $30,000. Digging deeper into those numbers, harpists exceeding that $30K threshold in annual harp earnings charge approximately 15–20 percent more for gigs and lessons than other harpists and as much as 30 percent more for jobs like one-hour gigs, funerals, and Christmas Eve services. This is an interesting finding—harpists who earn more do so not by playing more jobs, but by charging more for each job. Also, harpists who report playing more than 30 gigs last year charge significantly more (from 10–30 percent more depending on the job), than harpists who play fewer gigs. (See sidebarfor more about the survey contributors.)

TEACHING RATES
Based on our survey, the differences in lesson rates among harp teachers are attributed largely to where you live. We found the highest lesson rates in the Northeast, Pacific, Southwest, and New England regions, while harp teachers in the Southeast, Great Lakes, Mountain West and Plains charge the least. There was not a significant difference in the teaching rates of harpists with advanced degrees versus harpists with a Bachelor’s degree in music. There was also no significant difference in rates of teachers with many students compared with teachers with only a few students.

COMPARISONS WITH 2005
Since it has been nearly a decade since our last look at harpists’ gig rates, we wanted to see if our rates have kept up with inflation. The good news is that our rates have gone up since our last survey in 2005, increasing approximately 1-2 percent per year, and around 3 percent for lesson fees. The bad news is that gig rates for weddings and background music have increased slower than the U.S. inflation rate over the last eight years. Since 2005, the rate for a wedding ceremony is up 15 percent and the rate for a 2-hour background gig increased 8 percent, while the overall inflation rate for the U.S. increased 20 percent over the same time period.

FACTORS IN SETTING RATES
Understanding the reasoning behind harpists’ rates is complex. We asked respondents to tell us what they consider when setting their gig rates. While we weren’t able to quantify these results in numbers, there were several factors we heard more than others. The most common criteria harpists said they consider when setting their rates are what other harpists in their area charge and what they believe the market will bear. Some harpists cited their costs as the key consideration, while others took into account their level of education, union rates, experience, reputation, or simply “what I feel I’m worth.” There were also a significant number of responses that addressed the downturn in the market in 2008. Many harpists indicated that they lowered fees in response to the recession and have been steadily increasing them since.
What was striking about the responses to this question, though, was how few harpists said they take a business-minded approach to setting their rates. In other freelance businesses, the owner not only considers her client’s price point, but also considers her perspective. She looks at her business expenses, her desired yearly income, the number of jobs she wants to book in that year, and then sets her fees based on how much money she needs to make per gig to cover her expenses and meet her profit goals. But based on our survey responses, harpists’ rates seem to be much more influenced by their colleagues’ rates and the local market, as well as non-fiscal factors—such as the desire to do what they love and be able to share music with others.

UNDERCUTTING
Any time you are discussing gig rates with harpists, the subject of undercutting is the white elephant in the room. So let’s talk about it.
We cannot say definitively who, how, or why some harpists undercut others with their gig rates. And based on the anecdotal evidence we saw in this survey, it is likely that very few harpists actually undercut their competition with malicious intent—however, there are many harpists who undercharge for their services. There are a variety of reasons for this—chief among them is that, for most freelancing harpists, gigging is either not their primary source of income or they are not the primary breadwinner in their household. In short—undercharging harpists don’t need to earn as much as they can, so they don’t charge as much as they can. This becomes a problem when those harpists are in the same market, competing for the same jobs as harpists for whom gigging is their sole source of income. Harpists who earn their entire living playing the harp have to not only earn enough money to cover their business expenses (instrument, maintenance, accessories, transportation, marketing, studio space, etc.), but they also have to turn a profit. They have to pay themselves and hopefully have something left to put towards insurance and retirement. Harpists who do not have to consider these financial factors can simply charge what they want to charge. “I believe I am on the low end for charges in my area,” says one survey respondent. “My personal pleasure in performing plays a big role in my pricing. I believe in the free market and individual choice.” Another harpist notes, “Because I do not rely on income from harp gigs as my primary source of income, all of the rates listed above are flexible depending on whether or not I know the party that is hiring me.”  Another sentiment we heard was a harpist who says, “Playing the harp isn’t just another job to make money, it is something I love which is why I have devoted so much of my life to learn and study it. Therefore, I look at each potential opportunity with an open mind. I have done many volunteer or significantly discounted events because I believe in the cause or am eager for the opportunity to give back to the community in some small and hopefully educational way.” One harpist even notes, “I know my prices are low, but I’m not that great a harpist.”

WHAT’S A HARPIST TO DO?
All of these numbers make for some interesting reading, but they don’t really mean anything unless we can learn something from them. So what’s a harpist to do?

Rate Review: The first thing every harpist can do is take this opportunity to review your gig rates. When was the last time you sat down and really looked at what you are charging? The experts say that business owners should evaluate their pricing at least every six months. So if you haven’t done a rate review lately, now’s the time to do it.

Be business-minded: Harpists must separate what they do as artists from what they do as business owners, which is what every freelancer is—a business owner. Most artists find the business side of music boring, unfulfilling, and not creatively engaging, but a well-managed business will ensure you can make music for the rest of your life and still pay your rent and put food on the table.

Build your career: Careers don’t just happen; careers are built. If you let others dictate the terms of your career by being reactive rather than proactive, you will likely end up with a career that is not what you wanted.

Be an informed part of the harp community: If you are a harpist who doesn’t rely on your instrument to make a living, be mindful of the larger harp community out there when you are gigging. Set your rates how you like—no one should be told what to charge. At the same time, it’s important to understand that all of us—professionals and amateurs, part-timers and full-timers—are working in the same market. If we want a healthy, thriving freelance community where harpists can choose to earn a living playing the harp or simply supplement their primary income with the harp, then we have to be mindful of the the economic and artistic concerns of the entire community.

Accept the free market reality: Our survey heard from many disgruntled professional harpists about the difficulty in making a living due to perceived undercutting by part-time or amateur harpists in their area.

Here’s the thing: it’s a free market. There will always be harpists who undercharge. Yes, they make life more difficult if you’re trying to earn a living, but they don’t make it impossible. Lamenting over the unfairness of it all does no good, and lowering your prices to obscenely low levels just to compete for work will only make you miserable. Instead, accept that this is just the reality of a free market and start selling what you have. Get creative. Network. What others charge is entirely out of your control. No amount of complaining, brow-beating, or education on your part will change that, so focusing your efforts on their rates is futile. Instead, focus your efforts on what you can control—going out and getting new work, convincing clients of the benefits of hiring you, making your services valuable in the eyes of consumers. •

What do harpists charge in different regions and metro areas?

The fees harpists charge vary greatly from region to region. We received fewer than five responses from Alaska and Hawaii, so their regional data was not included. The data from those states is included in the national averages.

 

USA-states-map-outlines

NATIONAL AVERAGE
wedding: $320
1 hour: $247
2 hour: $330
3 hour: $425
funeral: $259
Christmas Eve: $379
Ceremony of Carols: $425
1 hour teaching: $54

NEW ENGLAND
wedding: $336
1 hour: $298
2 hour: $337
3 hour: $417
funeral:$298
Christmas Eve: $372
Ceremony of Carols: $425
1 hour teaching: $58

NORTHEAST
wedding: $341
1 hour: $282
2 hour: $366
3 hour: $464
funeral: $288
Christmas Eve: $458
Ceremony of Carols: $442
1 hour teaching: $60

SOUTHEAST
wedding: $315
1 hour: $230
2 hour: $315
3 hour: $400
funeral: $254
Christmas Eve: $350
Ceremony of Carols: $410
1 hour teaching: $50

GREAT LAKES
wedding: $320
1 hour: $245
2 hour: $332
3 hour: $428
funeral: $246
Christmas Eve: $391
Ceremony of Carols: $425
1 hour teaching: $52

PLAINS
wedding: $322
1 hour: $209
2 hour: $276
3 hour: $356
funeral: $206
Christmas Eve: $300
Ceremony of Carols: $371
1 hour teaching: $41

SOUTHWEST
wedding: $294
1 hour: $249
2 hour: $326
3 hour: $421
funeral: $251
Christmas Eve: $366
Ceremony of Carols: $472
1 hour teaching: $52

MOUNTAIN WEST
wedding: $254
1 hour: $162
2 hour: $257
3 hour: $340
funeral: $198
Christmas Eve: $300
Ceremony of Carols:$334
1 hour teaching: $50

PACIFIC
wedding: $350
1 hour: $249
2 hour: $339
3 hour: $452
funeral: $283
Christmas Eve: $364
Ceremony of Carols: $440
1 hour teaching: $59

Facts about our survey contributors:

353 harpists responded to our National Gig Rates Survey. Read on for more about them…

• 86% of respondents identified themselves as professional harpists, and 13% identified themselves as semi-professional harpists.

• More than half of the respondents have been playing the harp professionally for more than 20 years.

• 56% of respondents play the pedal harp only, 41% play both pedal and lever harp, and 3% play lever harp only.

• Of those who play both pedal and lever harp, 40% charge less for gigs with lever harp (and 60% charge the same amount for a lever harp gig as a pedal harp gig).

• Of those who do charge less for lever harp than for pedal harp gigs, the average discount for a lever harp gig is $71.

• 39% of respondents have a master’s degree in music.

• 33% of respondents play 20 gigs or less per year, and 22% play more than 50 gigs per year.

• 57% of harpists make their entire income from the harp, 26% have a part-time job that is not related to the harp, and 17% have a full-time paid job that is not related to the harp.

• 57% of  “full-time” harpists (those who do not have a paid job that is not related to harp) earn less than $30,000 from harp-related work; 7% earn $50,000 or more.

• 57% of “part-time” harpists (those who have either a full-time or part-time paid job that is not related to the harp) earn less than $10,000 from harp-related work; 6% earn $20,000 or more.

• 49% of harpists state that their gig rates have stayed the same compared to 5 years ago; 42% state that they have increased; and 9% state that they have decreased from 5 years ago.

• 68% of harpists state that they charge for mileage—typically this is only when the gig is beyond a certain distance from the harpist’s home (ex: 25 miles or more) or outside of a metropolitan area.

• 31% of harpists charge extra for performing outdoors.

• Of those who do charge extra for performing outdoors, the median additional charge is $50.

• 73% of respondents teach harp lessons.

• Of those who teach lessons, 31% have fewer than 5 students, and 7% have 20 or more students.