Jingle Compensation

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:55 am

I'm a retired machinist. I played part time in weekend bands for many years. I've always been a "hobby" recordist, recording simple songs I've written, backing tracks to jam over, etc.
My next door neighbor Harry was a weekend musician for many years also. His day job is Used Car Sales Manager for a very large Chevy dealer here in town.
He had an idea for a Jingle for the dealership. It's a simple, fun, kinda corny polka. He wrote the words and music, and asked me if I'd record it. I said sure. Harry and I performed and sang on the jingle. It took us about 4 hours for everything. I later spent about 2 hours remixing and touching it up. It ran for one minute and seventeen seconds, and I had to edit it down to one minute on the nose.
They really liked it and are going to use it in an advertising campaign. Harry brought the matter of compensation for me up to the dealership, and they agreed, but didn't get into specifics...it was like, "do you need any service on your vehicle?"

Please excuse the ignorance of my question. Like I said, I have a simple computer recording setup in the corner of my basement with Cakewalk software...no iso booths or anything.

No compensation was discussed beforehand. I have no illusions of grandeur, no ton of money or new car...but what would be fair, and leave the door open for future projects with them? Should this first one be on the house?

Arnie

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:40 am

arnieguitar,

don't sell yourself short. Your time and effort is definately worth compensation. Now as to what type and how much...

I playedin a band with a guy that worked or a radio station and he and his wife wrote and sang jingles for many companies. the had a modest, but nicely furnished house, with new carpeting, appliances, and a pool. When I asked him how the well the jingle business paid, he said "look around". He had bartered their services for practically everything in the house and the pool!

6 hours to write record and mix a jingle is not a lot, so I would look for compensation to match the effort. I'd say getting some needed repairs done on the car would be a fair trade.

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:59 am

Don't forget to get it in writing and make sure they allow you the right to use that material in your portfolio. Having your name in any production credits would be nice as well.

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