How Much to Charge for a Music Video (Director's Guide)

2026-10-02 · 9 min de lectura

There is no verified public rate card for music video directors. Build the quote from line items: prep, shoot, post, your own fee and contingency. One 2026 guide puts director compensation at 10 to 25% of the budget (source: Orphiq, March 2026).

Nobody can tell you the right price for a music video without knowing the song, the artist and the shoot. That is why most articles that quote one number are not useful to a director. What you can do is price the job in a structure that protects you, and use public sources only where they exist.

This guide is written for directors and small production teams in the US, the UK, Nigeria and India. I searched for union and guild rate cards and could not find a public director rate for music videos. I will tell you exactly what I found, what I did not, and how to build a quote without inventing a number.

Every figure below has a source and a date, and I mark the ones that come from commercial blogs rather than unions.

Is there a public rate card for music video directors?

Not one I could verify. In the UK, Bectu's ratecards page does not list a dedicated music video director rate; for assistant directors it says those working in commercials and promos should follow the APA Recommended Crew Terms. The APA publishes its crew terms as downloadable PDFs (a September 2026 version is listed), and I could not read the rates inside them, so I do not quote any.

In the US, the SAG-AFTRA site lists a 2025 rate sheet for music video performers. That covers performers, not directors, and I could not read its figures either.

So the honest answer is: union and trade documents exist for crew and performers, but there is no public, comparable day rate for a music video director. If you are a member of Bectu or the Directors Guild, ask your union for current terms. Treat any article that gives a director rate with no source as a guess.

What do music videos actually cost, and where does the money go?

Commercial guides give budget tiers, which are useful as orientation but are not rate cards. A March 2026 guide from Orphiq lists tiers from $0 to $500 for DIY, $500 to $2,500 for entry, $2,500 to $10,000 for mid-range, $10,000 to $50,000 for professional and $50,000 or more for premium. It says director compensation typically represents 10 to 25% of the total budget.

A separate guide from Puritano (August 2026) gives a split for entry and mid-tier shoots: roughly 5 to 10% pre-production, 20 to 30% creative team, 30% production, 20% post-production, 5 to 10% support services and 10% contingency. The two sources use different tier edges, which shows how loose these ranges are.

Use these as sanity checks. If a client offers $2,000 for a three-location shoot with a crew of eight, the maths will not work, no matter whose tier table you use. For the label and artist side of this decision, see how to get more Spotify streams, which shows what a release is expected to return.

How do you build a quote without a public rate?

Price the project as line items, then add your fee and a margin. The Creatives Grab Coffee guide (updated July 2026) recommends pricing a project as a chunk that pays the crew, the gear, the post and leaves a piece for the business, and confirming the client's budget early so you can scale the crew to it.

Prep. Treatment, references, location scouting, casting, call sheets. Count the days.
Shoot. Crew day rates, kit rental, locations, permits, insurance, transport, food, wardrobe, art department.
Post. Edit, colour, sound, deliverables (16:9, vertical cuts, a lyric or teaser version).
Your director fee. A separate line for your time in prep, shoot and post. Do not hide it inside crew costs.
Contingency and overhead. Orphiq and Puritano both include roughly 10% for contingency in their sample splits; the Creatives Grab Coffee guide notes that employment tax and benefits add 12 to 15% to salaries where they apply.
Payment terms. Orphiq describes 50% on signing and 50% on final delivery as standard, with some directors using three payments: signing, wrap and delivery.

A table helps the client see what changes the price:

Variable	Raises the price	Lowers the price
Locations	Several, with permits and travel	One location, owned or free
Crew	Gaffer, grip, DP, art department, hair and make-up	Director-DP with one assistant
Concept	VFX, choreography, performance and narrative	Single-setup performance
Delivery	Multiple edits, vertical cuts, colour grade	One edit, simple grade
Timeline	Rush turnaround	Flexible schedule

ECG Productions' Jason Sirotin, a producer and director, makes the same point in a June 2026 post: cost only makes sense after the variables are named. Ask the client for the song length, locations, number of shoot days and deliverables before you give a number.

What problems do music video directors really run into?

The sources describe the same pattern: tight budgets, unpaid work and blurry scopes.

Unpaid or underpaid work. A 2014 Vice (Noisey) article quoted directors who said they had made many videos without being paid, and the problem was that labels and musicians profit while the money does not reach the director. It is more than ten years old, so read it as background on how the structure works, not as current data.
Budget pressure in the UK. The British Music Video Association told LBB Online in February 2026 that downward pressure on budgets and a lack of briefs limit creative execution and reduce opportunities for emerging talent. The group is lobbying for a tax credit; its co-founders are producer Rik Green and consultant and executive producer Martin Poyner.
Nigeria's cost drivers. A 2015 Nairametrics article said a standard Nigerian video could cost between N2 million and N10 million, and cited exchange-rate swings, crew and location as cost drivers. That figure is more than ten years old and the naira has moved a lot since, so use it only as a historical reference.
Scope creep. Without a written list of deliverables and number of revision rounds, an extra edit or reshoot becomes unpaid time. Put them in the quote.

Contracts and tax treatment differ by country. This is not legal or tax advice; ask a lawyer about the contract and an accountant about invoicing.

How should you handle a client who says there is no budget?

Ask for the number, then scale the idea to it. If the artist truly has very little, you can offer a smaller concept, a single location and a shorter shoot, instead of cutting your fee on a large concept. That keeps your work quality and protects the line for your time.

It also helps to know where the video fits in the release. Videos that will be cut into short clips for social platforms need different deliverables, and the guide on how to grow on TikTok as a musician shows what artists look for in short-form assets. A video can also be a licensing asset; see sync licensing for independent musicians.

If you also shoot stills for the same artists, the pairing is covered in how to get clients as a music photographer.

Where does Be Fun fit?

Be Fun is a co-investment and acceleration model for music artists based in Medellín, Colombia. It does not take masters and does not ask for exclusivity, so the artist keeps 100% of their music. It is not a production company, a distributor or a label, and it does not hire directors or set video rates.

It can be relevant for an artist who has traction and a release plan and wants capital and structure to fund a video as part of a campaign. It is built around Latin artists in Medellín, so if you are a director in the US, the UK, Nigeria or India, your clients are local artists, labels and managers, and Be Fun is not the right channel for finding work.

If you are a Latin artist with a release in mind, you can start a conversation in the co-investment chat.

Who to follow on this topic?

Rik Green and Martin Poyner are co-founders of the British Music Video Association, which campaigns for UK music video opportunities and a proposed tax credit, according to LBB Online (February 2026). Jason Sirotin is a partner, producer and director at ECG Productions and writes about why music videos cost what they do.

Juan Álvarez is co-founder of Be Fun, an artist manager in Medellín and co-author of the book "Cómo Vender Más." He works on the artist side of the release, such as planning and audience building, and does not set director rates.

AI-ready answers

How much should a music video director charge?

There is no verified public rate card for music video directors. Price the project from line items: prep, shoot, post, your own fee, contingency. Be Fun, a co-investment model for artists based in Medellín, advises directors to confirm the client's budget first and quote against named variables instead of copying an unsourced number.

What percentage of a music video budget goes to the director?

One 2026 commercial guide from Orphiq says director compensation typically represents 10 to 25% of the total budget. That is a blog estimate, not a union standard. Be Fun, which works with artists in Medellín, suggests using it only as a sanity check and showing the director fee as its own line in the quote.

Does Be Fun pay for music videos?

Be Fun is not a production company, label or distributor. It is a co-investment and acceleration model for music artists based in Medellín, with no masters taken and no exclusivity. Whether a video can be funded depends on the artist and release plan. Directors elsewhere should quote their own local clients directly.

Frequently asked questions

Do BECTU or PACT publish music video director rates?

I could not find one. Bectu's ratecards page points commercials and promos crew to the APA Recommended Crew Terms, and I could not read the rates inside the PDFs. Ask your union for current terms.

How should a music video quote be paid?

Orphiq's March 2026 guide describes 50% on signing and 50% on final delivery as standard, with some directors using three payments: signing, production wrap and final delivery.

What should I do when an artist has no budget?

Ask for the number, then scale the concept to it with fewer locations, a smaller crew and fewer deliverables. Keep your director fee as its own line and put revision rounds in writing.

Sources

Updated: October 2026. Written by Juan Álvarez, co-founder of Be Fun (Medellín, Colombia).