..Thanks great job with the blog, today is my first visit here and I've enjoyed reading your posts so far.

Hi,

I'm just curious of how this site works.

I don't see any login or registration anywhere so is this an exclusive site or something?
if so how do I submit my material?

thank you

all the best

Michael Christopher MacDonald
State of Psychosis
Music Technology Mackenzie college 2006

I was annoyedby the fact I could not really tell how much my work costs. So I sat down for a few days and worked on a sophisticated sheet that includes room costs, computer, hardware, software, sound / orchestral libraries, how much I buy them / replace them / update them per year, how much my target wage should be and what social benefits apply in my country (Switzerland). In the end, I get a cost per month, day, or hour. I have to cover this cost with the work. Therefore I calculated how much time I sit in simple projects, complex projects and so on. I also calculated a rough administration, vacation and looking for projects time into the thing.

In the end I have costs on one side, and time I can spend on projects (subtracted time I cannot sit on projects because I'm looking for them or have to do admin stuff). These two numbers must match, which gives me a good foundation for how much I have to charge per hour, day, month or - based on how much time I spend per minute of music - how much I have to charge per minute of music.

If you're interested in having a look at the calculations or adapting the sheet for US, UK, other countries, let me know. I think it provides a pretty transparent and honest view. In the end, we have to cover all the costs with our work and then some additional earnings.

Best regards,
Chris