Pricing an album cover shoot...

All,

I'll thank everyone in advance for their assistance...

I'm interested in finding out what may be a good pricing structure for a client of mine. I met the client at a wedding I

shot in May (He's an R&B vocalist) and he's interested in having me shoot for his comp card and album cover. I've

never priced anything that would be used commercially. How should my work be priced? What should my/his rights

be? He's an R&B vocalist with a smaller circulation (fewer than 10,000 copies, I'd estimate) He's somewhat

accomplished, as he's done ads for McD's, some local voiceovers, and has had a part in Disney's Animal Kingdom in

Florida.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Normally you'd price this in two parts:

One would be the shoot and any post production on the images. That would be based upon your day rate times the amount of time spent on the shoot, plus any costs such as rental equipment, makeup, location fees, travel. Post-production is usually done at a lower rate than your day rate, maybe 50% of the hourly charge.

Next, you show them the images you made and they make their selections. Then you license the usage of the images they want. There are many different terms and limitations of usage that you need to take care about. I don't have any idea what a CD cover sells for, though. Hopefully some others do. Or, you might go to some of the stock websites and see what they'd charge. Try Photoshelter, Alamy, Getty & Corbis (traditional stock sites, not microstock).

Be a little careful that you are finding CD cover illustration pricing. I just looked quickly in an older edition of "Pricing Photography" I have and don't see anything specifically for music CD covers. This a form of packaging and perhaps even point of purchase advertising. They do show CDs, with photo library content and other types. Those are certainly not the same thing and the prices are bound to be quite different.

Hope this helps or some others might have more info.