MU Recommended Rates for Musicians

Our ‘recommended pay rates’ are the minimum you should be paid for your work – a guide to your value, an aid to your negotiations, and a basic calculation of how much you need to cover your costs as a musician. Think of it like a living wage that includes things most people don’t pay for, like instruments, equipment and their insurance and care, or things most people don’t have to work out for themselves, such as national insurance. 

• Live performance rates
• Music teaching rates
• Theatre rates
• Session recording rates
• Orchestral rates
• Commissioning, arranger and copyist rates

Rates vary across which part of the industry you work in and what you do. So if you’re not sure how much you should be paid, get in touch with the MU.

How are recommended minimum rates of pay set?

We're often asked how these rates are decided upon. Trade unions like ours have a democratic structure and decisions like these are made by members elected to committees. We have specialist Sections for different industry areas that act like networks, and members can sign up to them.

Each Section, or network, has a Committee which provides experience and intelligence on what’s going on in the industry. They advise us on what the rates should be, and the rates are then confirmed by the Executive Committee, a democratically elected group of members that governs the work of the Union.

It's easy to get involved in the MU's five industry Sections, be part of a network of musicians and have a say on the big issues affecting you. Find out more and get involved.