# How much to charge for your scripting services?



## azrulsaleh (Aug 16, 2016)

Hi guys. I'm very new to this scripting business so I'm not sure what the expected rate is when scripting for private clients.

Is charging per instrument the norm? Does it vary depending on the complexity of the scripting? Can someone give rough ballpark figures please? Would love to know just so I don't overcharge my client or undercut the rates that you guys may already be charging yours.

For reference sake, I'm attaching an example instrument (via Dropbox) that I recently done for a composer. Since this is a private gig, I had to change all the samples, images and references to the person's name. The instrument has been simplified but the idea is there. How much would you charge for the scripting of this for example?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wivgk5hr4nitno7/Azrul Saleh - Kontakt Instrument Example.zip?dl=0


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## EvilDragon (Aug 17, 2016)

I have a minimum one-time fee limit below which I won't go, no matter how simple the instrument might be. I am hesitant to discuss numberes out in the open, for obvious reasons. I always charge per project, bugfixes are free but more heavy-handed updates would be a new charge.

I would say charge what you think is fair but don't charge so low as to undermine the quality of your work. You know how much your time is valued.


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## d.healey (Aug 17, 2016)

My charges work in a similar way to EvilDragon's.

I charge differently depending on if the project is commercial (going to be resold) or private. In the case of commercial I also take the estimated sale price into account. There are other factors that you should include in your charges too, other tasks that you might be asked to perform like mapping samples, setting up NKIs, integrating factory scripts. I also always take the client's budget into consideration and try to scale my charges to accommodate low budget projects - although this isn't always possible of course, if the client wants a big project on a small budget that's not likely to be a realistic goal.


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## Lindon (Aug 17, 2016)

As Dave and Mario say, it depends on the client/product/circumstance, but there's a rate below which its just not realistic. There are lots of models out there:
1. Fixed fee
2. Monthly fee (basically T&M)
3. Percent age of retail sales
4. Yearly license/product

Are all approaches I've used. So here are some observations about each of these:

1. Fixed Fee - you will need to get a very very tight definition of the functionality required, and not allow any deviation. Almost no client(sample library developer etc.) has enough know how to define all the requirements upfront and then stick to it, so you will have an "discussion" at some point about how additional features will cost more money - this tends to leave the client slightly disappointed....

2. Monthly Fees - nice if you can get it, low risk from your point of view, but again clients want more features and that means more time and that means more money, again clients can be disappointed with this component of the process. 

3. Percentage of Retail Sales - you need to be very careful about how many sales *you* think there will be, everyone is wildly optimistic at the start of the project. In my experience you can usually divide the clients initial sales prediction by 10 or more... 

4. Licensing - Probably my favourite approach these days. I have a bunch of code that can usually be re purposed to meet 80-90% of what the client wants. It gets done quickly and there's residuals but the client can cancel the license(and stop selling the product) if sales fall short of expectations so there's less risk in the long term for them.

Attached is a white-paper I wrote about "the state of the KSP market" in 2015 - it might offer you some insight - I'm sure lots of people/developers will disagree with what it says but its one opinion take from it what you will.


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## azrulsaleh (Aug 18, 2016)

Thanks for the responses everyone.

@EvilDragon pm'ed you

@d.healey If it's a commercial project, do you depend on percentage of sales alone or charge upfront fee as well?

@Lindon Your paper is very insightful! I wasn't even aware option 4 even existed prior to this. Thank you. Curious though on this licensing approach. Will the client have access to the scripting this way? Or do you lock it out from them completely in order to retain the code for yourself?


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## d.healey (Aug 18, 2016)

It varies, but most of the time there is an upfront fee as well. Sometimes I agree to do the work for free under the condition that I can sell the product through my own web store and take my commission from that, I also retain the ownership of the script in this situation.


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## Lindon (Aug 19, 2016)

Well for me Option 4 = client adds sounds, developer provides the "engine" - it's up to you if you want to give them access to the scripts - I dont.

As Dave says there are variants on all these (and others I'm sure) you should check out www.umlautaudio.com (where Mario - EvilDragon to you - is CTO) for a variant.


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## olmerk (Jun 23, 2020)

Hi guys! If you decide to go with percentage of sales - what is the usual numbers you agree on? 5%, 10%, more?


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## d.healey (Jun 23, 2020)

olmerk said:


> Hi guys! If you decide to go with percentage of sales - what is the usual numbers you agree on? 5%, 10%, more?


It depends on the work involved and the sales potential. Sales potential depends on a number of factors such as the clients customer base size, marketing capabilities, previous sales record, etc.


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## Lindon (Jun 24, 2020)

olmerk said:


> Hi guys! If you decide to go with percentage of sales - what is the usual numbers you agree on? 5%, 10%, more?


I've never charged less than 30% of retail... the scripting is at least 30% of the value in a lib.


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## Akarin (Jun 24, 2020)

Having done 20 years or so of contracting as a dev, although not for Kontakt, experience shown me that the easiest was to set a price per day ($1.4k) for a minimum of 10 days and providing the client with deliverables. If I can't deliver in the agreed number of days, I take the hit and give a (also agreed) discount.


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