Creatives Need To Stop Pricing Themselves Out Of Opportunities
As an independent creative myself, I understand why some of you would want to punch me in the throat after reading that headline, but hear me out. We, as artists, are actively being (poorly) replaced by corporate products like ChatGPT and Suno; we can’t make it easy on them by quoting outrageous prices for creative work, especially when it’s another indie artist or creator inquiring about your services. This gives people more of a reason to use a cheaper, shittier option.
Food is a great analogy for this. Everybody should be eating healthy, homemade dishes with organic ingredients free of chemicals and microplastics, but working class people by and large can’t afford that consistently. So, they have no choice but to get fast food or mass-produced frozen meals. As much as you’d like to hire a real, independent creative for a job, if they are overpriced to the extent that you could never afford them, what choice does that leave you other than going with a cheaper, lower-quality, corporate alternative?
It’s difficult to find the line between a creator charging what their time is worth, versus having too much pride to lower their asking price so as to not lose the opportunity. Multiple customers that regularly hire you for $150 gigs is better than holding firm and waiting for a whale to pay you $1,500 for a one-time job. As great as that lump sum is, you make it in this business through steady and reliable work.
This is all to say that I want artists to keep creating, whatever their field is, and make it their career or at least a big part of their career. And to do that, you need to make compromises in order to make this dream of ours sustainable. It is self-defeating to stubbornly charge $800 to make a concert poster when dozens of other talented designers will do it for $100-200. In fact, you quoting such a high price might make that potential customer go, “fuck it, I’m just going to use Claude. These artists are way too expensive.” Would that customer be an asshole? Of course, but they wouldn’t be illogical.
It will no doubt take time, along with trial and error, to find the right number to price your services. But while you are figuring that out, I implore you to keep in mind that if you leave a little meat on the bone and don’t squeeze every last cent out of your client, they might just ask you for more work two weeks later. They might even refer you to a friend. Keep an open mind and keep working.
-J