Fee advice
Fee advice
There really is no average fee. An independent film can have a music budget of $0 and range as high as $200K and still be considered a low budget film. Fees also take into consideration the size of the orchestration involved. Is it all done in the studio with samples and synthesizers or is it going to be done in a bigger studio with several musicians contributing parts? Those costs have to be budgeted. Typically, in a low budget film, the composer is responsible for delivering the master so the recording and musicians fees are part of the composer's project expenses. The composer has to budget those costs and his/her creative fee for the project.
Another important aspect of the fee structure on a low budget film is the aspect of ownership. Does the composer keep the publishing rights to the music created. If the production company is going to own the publishing rights, then that should be accounted for in the project's composer fee (more money to the composer up front). If the composer is going to keep the publishing rights and has a chance to get additional money from any performance rights (collected by BMI/ASCAP/SESAC when the film is broadcast) then this can reduce the upfront composer fee. This is typically a negotiated point at the contract phase.
Anyway, you can see it's hard to standardize fees. Fees are really negotiated and each project is different. There should be some payment however (in my opinion) Film scoring is hard work and you should be compensated for it - even a little bit. At least, do not give anyway any of the music's rights - the publishing - if you're not being paid for the score.
