The Association of Independents in Radio is seeking compensation information from audio professionals in public and private media to help update its rate guides.
The rate guides, last published in 2021, cover jobs such as sound designers, editorial consultants, and mix engineers. Audio professionals, who can remain anonymous, can submit their hourly or day rates, project rates and salary rates through AIR’s website.
Submissions by Aug. 7 will be used for the 2024 update to the rate guides, but the forms will remain online indefinitely. AIR has received 200 submissions and is aiming for 750, according to AIR Program Manager Erin McGregor.
McGregor said the rate guides need to be updated every two to three years. People are also coming into the industry after becoming unemployed, whether by choice or because of layoffs, McGregor added. Those new to freelancing have questions, she said.
“Now is the time, really, because we are seeing a massive influx of once-salaried people in public media and the private audio sector come into this world as freelancers for the first time,” McGregor said.
Current has tracked more than 450 layoffs in public media since March of last year.
AIR’s 2021 rate guides were visited 3,225 times between the first day of this year and July 17, McGregor said. Its salary guide, which is behind a paywall, was visited 1,335 times during the same period.
The rate guides can be useful for freelancers negotiating rates for different types of work so that they’re not making up figures and instead can base their rates on a range, McGregor said.
She added that workers can also use the guides to compare their rates to what others with similar levels of experience are making.
The guides can also be helpful to stations looking to build budgets for a project to know the cost of hiring someone, McGregor said.
Source: AIR launches survey to assess freelance audio professionals’ rates – Current
