Today is Tuesday, February 25th, and in this eighth episode we’ll be talking about something very down-to-earth and not particularly poetic, but absolutely central for anyone who wants to make a living from this profession.
That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: today we are talking about money.
I’ll share with you my own personal “cost algorithm”: in other words, all the variables I take into account before preparing a quote for a client.
Let me say straight away that I do not have a private practice. I always work on a project basis, in different institutions.
Ready?
My “number zero” consideration is seniority.
What I charge today is very different from what I charged thirty years ago.
Why?
Well, because today I can present an extensive and varied professional and training background; because my collection of instruments is large and diverse; and because I also have a range of complementary equipment that allows me to produce professional audio and video material, should the client ask me for a multimedia report.
Another element I consider is the relationship between the duration of the project and the number of hours I work each time I go to the institution.
Let me explain.
If an organisation asks me for one hour a week for twelve weeks, my hourly fee will be considerably higher than for a project that lasts a year, where I can agree on at least three hours of work each time I go there.
This same consideration may change if I sense that the team in that particular institution believes in music therapy and is genuinely interested in developing in that direction.
In that case, I may offer a promotional rate to show my goodwill — and then I cross my fingers.
Another factor that affects my fee is the distance from home.
Fuel, motorway tolls, the cost of the toll pass — and it is better to have a business contract, because with the family version you cannot claim anything back — wear and tear on the vehicle, and the time lost travelling are all factors that influence the final price.
Obviously, if I can walk to work, I can keep the fee lower.
Another factor you need to take into account is your tax and social security setup.
In Italy, someone who opens a VAT number under the flat-rate tax regime and pays into the separate INPS social security scheme has different costs from someone who has a VAT number as a psychologist or psychotherapist, with a specific professional pension fund.
And this is different again from someone who works under the ordinary VAT regime.
Whatever your situation, you must not forget the cost of an accountant and the costs involved in issuing electronic invoices.
A few random pieces of advice.
In my experience, it is better to do a small number of well-paid hours in one institution, and then multiply your professional offer in other institutions nearby, rather than asking for the same number of hours from a single institution.
In this way, your cost is distributed across different budgets, and nobody will turn up their nose when you present the bill.
If you work with groups, you can charge a little more than for individual work.
And if your set of instruments is of good quality, you can separate the cost of the music therapy session from the cost of using the instruments.
When you have to travel a long distance, try to optimise the journey by including another institution in the same geographical area on the same day.
Having said all this, how much do I charge per hour?
My fee, including 22% VAT, ranges from a minimum of 25 euros to a maximum of 41 euros per hour.
As always, for the sake of clarity, let me remind you that this is only my own fee. It is not a fee scale proposed by a professional association.
You may find other professionals who charge more, or less, and who use different methods to calculate their price — perhaps because they have other sources of income that supplement what they earn from music therapy.
This brings today’s episode to an end.
We’ll meet again on Tuesday, March 3rd, with another very practical topic:
Repertoire: yes or no in music therapy?