snarekid33 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 On another note, (and this is true of anything in your life), networking is almost the only thing that matters. People don't care who you are unless you make yourself known. Big names already have their own go-to arrangers/composers, and they're probably not going to hire you. Based on your other post I feel like you think marching activities are going to be something to base an entire career around. Unfortunately that's just not true most of the time. You're going to have to branch out into concert rep, education, performance, or even just another career. Tons of people in DCI don't even have a career related to music, which is fine. Yes, very true, thanks for the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BozzlyB Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I write percussion music, for myself. I make precisely $0.00, but the benefits are killer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarekid33 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) I write percussion music, for myself. I make precisely $0.00, but the benefits are killer. That's awesome, I have done that, too. The highest I've been paid for a high school was $1,400 for percussion writing for a fall show.I've been paid less to write a full, original indoor drumline show. I was just curious what else is out there. Edited July 30, 2014 by snarekid33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv4corps Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) Wow I live in the wrong part of the country. Where in the USA, or in the world, do high schools have 12 - 20K to spend on a marching band show design? We are still trying to replace old, broken instruments in my district. I want to work in a school with a budget like that! Woo hoo! Edited July 30, 2014 by luv4corps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snarekid33 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 Wow I live in the wrong part of the country. Where in the USA, or in the world, do high schools have 12K to spend on a marching band show? I want to work in a school with a budget like that! Woo hoo! I am a teacher so maybe I can attend conferences and they'll put me up in a five start hotel with an expense account. Imagine the possibilities... There are a couple of schools in Southern California that I know of that have that budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Wow I live in the wrong part of the country. Where in the USA, or in the world, do high schools have 12 - 20K to spend on a marching band show design? We are still trying to replace old, broken instruments in my district. I want to work in a school with a budget like that! Woo hoo! That $12k - 20k is just for the drill! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actucker Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Lets just go ahead and assume the absolute best designer in the country gets paid 20k per project. That, in and of itself, is absurd, but lets go with that. In order to make nearly a million dollar salary, he'd have to complete 45 projects per year. That means that there are 45 bands out there willing and able to pay 20k for show design. That means he's turning out one of those projects in a little over 8 days, assuming he works every single day of the year. That's an absurd work flow, even for the best of writers. That's not even to mention that the time of the year available to write at that level is limited, since most marching bands won't know their final numbers until May, and will need their shows by August/September. Drum corps and indoor have similar timing demands. That also would mean that this person's name is now on 45 extremely highly funded products in the marching arts. There's a limit on the number of programs that can/will pay that much for design, and if this person is writing for 45 of them, then you'd likely be seeing a ridiculously high percentage of them written by the same person. Considering roughly 100 bands go to BOA, and those are the groups likely to be paying that much, you'd be talking about at least half of finals designed by the same person (and that's probably conservative). There are guys who work a lot, but this person we just described does not exist. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks for the reply. Without mentioning any names for privacy respect, I have heard of drill writers making $900,000 a year. But I am particularly curious about DCI/WGI percussion composers/arrangers. To be specific, does anyone have an an idea how much a top group would pay a single person to compose the front ensemble only, battery only, or both? I know every group is different, but just curious. LOL. Yup, it's true. All those stories about derivatives traders quitting Goldman Sachs so they can write drill for the East Podunk High marching band this fall are totally true. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luv4corps Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 That $12k - 20k is just for the drill! OK so let's itemize the rest of the costs to get at total design costs. Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 OK so let's itemize the rest of the costs to get at total design costs. Anyone? Scary, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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