There are two possible outcomes when asking someone to pay you what you're worth:
You gain a collaborator who’s eager to invest in you.
You get rejected by someone who isn't ready to invest in you at this moment.
Both outcomes are wins.
It’s important for me to make a living as a musician. Working with clients can be… tricky. The philosophy that keeps me out of trouble may seem harsh to most people:
I refuse to collaborate on other people’s projects for free.
Why?
First, the energy is unbalanced. What are they giving back? After all, I love giving energy to making a project better, and I love receiving energy in the form of appreciation and payment. It makes sense.
Second, it’s a bit cruel to myself. What does it say about me if I don’t charge appropriately? I care about creating music that carries the story and is appropriate, so it makes sense for me to charge for that.
Third, if I do something for free once, they think I’ll do it for free again. Yuck!
Whenever I meet with a potential client, I am upfront with them by saying I charge what I’m worth, but that I love to talk and hang out. Having good people to interact with makes me a lot happier as a human being.
It’s so sad to see so many wonderful musicians settling for free when they should be paid a lot more.
Music… Is… VALUABLE!!!