What Are You Paying for When You Hire a Professional Musician?

If you are planning to hire a professional musician, it helps to understand what sits behind the fee. Every professional musician knows the question: “But what is your hourly rate?” It is difficult to answer because the time you see us performing is only a fraction of the work. It may be a 10-minute featured performance, a one-hour set, two sets over an evening or a three-hour stadium concert. The principle is the same. You are not paying only for the time on stage. You are paying for everything it took to make that performance look effortless.

I’m Naomi Tagg, a professional violinist and the founder of SoWhat Entertainment. I have spent more than 30 years performing and more than 20 years working professionally in entertainment, including six years in the UK events industry. My work has taken me across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, Australia and the Indian Ocean islands, both as a performer and through sending SoWhat Entertainment musicians to international events. So when I explain what sits behind a professional musician’s fee, I am speaking from both sides of the stage: as the artist delivering the performance and as the person trusted to make sure the entertainment works.

It usually starts in childhood

For many professional musicians, the work begins years before we earn anything from it. My childhood was filled with lessons, daily practice, orchestras, ensembles, exams, Eisteddfods, masterclasses, rehearsals, music camps, tours and concerts, none of which formed part of the school syllabus.

Parties were missed because of rehearsals and performances. Schoolwork had to be caught up after classes were missed for exams, Eisteddfods and tours. Most evenings, I would arrive home at around 20:00 after school sport and music activities. I would still need to practise (we usually learned more than one instrument), do my homework, eat dinner and tumble into bed before it all began again the next morning. Often, that included another hour of practice before school if an Eisteddfod or competition was looming.

This is not unique to me. It is a familiar childhood for many musicians who eventually reach a professional level.

University does not get easier

At university, I would often arrive at 07:30 and leave at 22:00, when they locked the building. Music students attend classes, write tests and complete assignments like everyone else, but the academic work is only one part of the day. There are also hours of individual practice, orchestral and ensemble rehearsals, performances and preparation. Evenings and weekends are not necessarily downtime. That is when rehearsals, concerts and the gigs that help fund your studies happen.

Music and ballet students are among the most disciplined people on a university campus. The workload is relentless and graduation is really only the beginning.

Playing beautifully is not enough

Once you enter the professional world, you have to create something people will actually want to book. That means developing a performance concept, choosing and arranging the music, producing tracks, rehearsing, buying the right instrument and investing in professional sound equipment. Then you need a name, a look and a brand. Costumes. Photoshoots. Videos. A website. Marketing. Accounting. Insurance. New repertoire. More lessons, rehearsals and equipment. You also need to keep developing the product, because what felt fresh three years ago may already look dated.

And no, we do not do all of this for free because we “just love playing music.” We do love it. That is why we chose such a demanding career. Love is not, however, a recognised form of payment.

The performance begins long before the first note

Before arriving at an event, there have already been emails, quotations, planning, contracts, invoicing, repertoire preparation and practice. On the day, there is getting ready, packing, travelling, unloading, setting up and sound-checking. Then, quite often, waiting. After the performance, everything must be packed up before travelling home again.

The set may be short, but the job rarely is. A brief appearance can consume most of a day, while a performance in another city may take two or three. That is why reducing a professional musician’s fee to an hourly rate makes very little sense. You are paying for the complete service: the preparation, equipment, experience, judgement and ability to deliver when the moment arrives.

A brief word about “exposure”

After more than 30 years as a performer, I cannot point to one unpaid performance that magically transformed my career through “exposure.” Exposure can have value when there is a genuine, specific opportunity attached to it. But it should not be used as a pleasant substitute for allocating a budget to professional entertainment. A musician may choose to donate a performance to a charity, school or cause they care about. That is a contribution, not an invitation to expect their work for free repeatedly.

What do you get when you hire a professional musician?

You are paying for decades of training, thousands of hours of practice, professional equipment, custom music, preparation, administration, travel, sound checks and performance experience. You are paying for someone who can enter an unfamiliar venue, solve problems quickly and quietly, read the room and deliver under pressure. Someone who remains calm and professional when the people organising the event are understandably taking strain.

You are also hiring an independent creative business. There is no paid leave, sick pay or guaranteed next booking. Every professional fee must account for the unseen work and the continued investment in music, equipment, costumes, development and marketing.

The best musicians make all of this invisible. They arrive prepared, play beautifully and make it seem wonderfully simple.

But effortless is not the same as easy. It usually means someone has worked extremely hard for a very long time.

What are you paying for when you book through SoWhat Entertainment?

When you book through SoWhat Entertainment, you are not simply booking whoever happens to be available. Our musicians are among the best in their fields, with many recognised or award-winning for their work, and our DJs are experienced professionals. I have worked in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years and performed for more than 30. That experience helps us handle the inevitable curveballs, understand what an event needs and create an atmosphere that reflects the client or brand properly.

It also means knowing whom we can trust. We have encountered musicians (more than once!) who informed a client that they would come “tomorrow instead” for a wedding taking place that day.

Our musicians are carefully chosen, treated well and valued for what they contribute. Because of that, they take pride in the job. They arrive prepared, look the part and care about how the event turns out. You are not simply paying for someone who can play an instrument. You are paying for the confidence that they will arrive, know what they are doing and make your event better.

The cheapest musician is no bargain if they compromise the event, or fail to arrive at all.

Where art and commerce meet

This is not a post about artists needing businesses to rescue them or give them work. Artists create value of their own. We build careers, audiences, recordings, performances, intellectual property and businesses. The interesting part is what happens when art and commerce meet as equals.

Human beings have made music and art since the earliest recorded civilisations. We use them to celebrate, grieve, remember, connect and make sense of our lives. Music can uplift, energise, relax and comfort us. It can bring a room full of very different people into one shared moment.

It can also give an event or business emotion, identity and cultural relevance. The world’s strongest companies invest in exceptional photographers, filmmakers, designers, composers and performers because they understand that art is not simply decoration added after the “real work” is complete. It is often what makes people notice, feel and remember the work at all.

The right creative work can turn a product launch into a moment, an event into an experience and a campaign into something people remember for years. Professional artists are not asking to be indulged because we chose a difficult calling. We are offering skill, judgement, atmosphere, meaning and impact developed over decades. When commerce respects the value of art, and artists understand the value of what they bring, they are creating something stronger together.