Why Virtual Production Should Cost So Much

Ok people! Here it is. My personal skinny on why a great virtual production should cost just as much as a live production – if not more.

I’ve heard from several DMCs, “Why are are you charging so much? This costs just as much as your live shows?! Really?”  Yes – Damn straight it does! Pardon the bluntness here, but we are the ones learning all the new tech.  You, as a planner or experience designer, (more than likely) have no idea what it takes to pull off what musicians and broadcast production teams are creating during this twilight zone of a time.

STOP GOUGING YOUR CLIENTS

And aren’t you lucky? All you have to do is find your client the right talent, we do all the work, and you sit back and collect your large sum of money. So please stop asking for a discount.

And we know a lot of DMCs (NOT ALL) are up-charging music by 100%.  Why? Are you rehearsing the bands, drawing up charts, making song lists, working on band timelines, etc.? NO! So, please stop gouging your clients by marking up your music suppliers as much as you do.

‘WAYNE’S WORLD’

Musicians / Bands (who are lucky enough to own a studio space) have been forced to turn our spaces into our very own ‘Wayne’s World’ only with a lot more technical genius backing it all up. Virtual events still require a crew, AV, broadcast producer, and a lot of patience with all the new platforms that are thrown at us for each event. And let me not forget to mention all the new equipment and software each studio needs to buy to make the magic happen.

This ‘pivot’ has been nothing but a massive learning curve that still continues to change day-to-day and we stay on top of it so that live music can continue to happen in a beautiful way for your clients during this very surreal time. You’re welcome!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Let’s please respect the great musicians and AV virtual broadcast production teams.  We are the angels still making your events better than they would ever be without this level of passion and expertise in live music production in a virtual setting.

PRE RECORDING

What about the cost of ‘pre-records’ for your virtual events? Well that costs just as much. Why? Well, the team personally customizes each pre-record by mentioning the client’s name during the video and audio recording the songs. We hype them up, just as we would in a live setting. By saying their name, they feel even more special! So, we can’t and don’t reuse pre-records for other clients. Anyway, that’s cheating. With pre-records we need an audio engineer to mix the tracks and we need a video editor to synch up the audio with the final video. And we still need the AV and broadcast crew.

Yeah … It’s a lot!

You think it should cost less?  Well, you are more than welcome to create your own broadcast studio. Don’t forget you’ll need a lot of freakin’ expensive microphones, cables, stands, mixing board, interface, software, just for starters.  Then you can learn how to connect everything and troubleshoot for days, months and years.

Then you’ll realize it’s just best to hire a crew who knows exactly what they are doing to run the show properly.  And you’ll want to pay them well so they don’t f#$k it up.

Have a beautiful day.