The most common question in my inbox is not what the video should look like. It is what it costs. And the honest answer is that it depends. That sounds like a dodge, but it is actually the whole point.
So instead of throwing a number at you, let me explain what the price is made of. Once you understand that, you can judge any quote you get, including mine.
Why no number online helps you
Search for music video costs and you either land on articles about Hollywood budgets or on price ranges running from a few hundred to tens of thousands of euros. In Statista's ranking of the most expensive music videos ever made, Michael Jackson's "Scream" from 1995 sits at the top with roughly 12.7 million dollars. Nice number. It tells you nothing about your video.
Almost every artist I work with pays for their video out of their own pocket. No label, no advance. That is exactly why it matters more to know where the money goes than to know some average figure.
What actually drives the price
The biggest factor is shooting days. A second day does not just double the time on set, it pulls post production up with it, because there is more footage to review and cut.
Next comes the number of locations. Every move costs time, travel and setup. Three locations in one day sounds like more video, but in practice it often ends up being less, because everything gets done halfway.
Then there is the size of the team on set. Whether I shoot alone or bring lighting, a camera assistant and someone handling the reels makes a huge visual difference. And finally the workload in post. A clean cut with color grading is a different job from a video where VFX carries entire sequences.
What barely affects the price is the length of the song. A two minute video can take more work than a four minute one.
How to spot a serious quote
A good quote tells you what is included and what is not. How many shooting days, who is on set, what happens in post, how many revision rounds you get and what you receive at the end. If all you see is a number next to the words "music video", you will not know afterwards what you actually agreed on.
Pay attention to what comes after the shoot too. Thumbnail, vertical trailers, reels from set. You need those for the release anyway, and ordering them separately later always costs more.
If a quote sits far below everything else you see, planning is what got cut. And planning is what decides whether a video ends up looking cheap. I wrote about that in detail in my post on why music videos look cheap.
How to spend your budget well
The most common mistake is putting everything into the shoot and leaving nothing for post. Raw footage is not a video. I spent my first years shooting low budget rap videos in Germany, and what I learned is that one strong location, good lighting and clean grading beat four shooting spots in a single day.
If your budget is tight, just say so upfront. Then we plan from the start so the money lands where it shows. I covered what that looks like in my post on music videos on a small budget.
How to get an actual number
I work with a deposit on booking and the remainder before delivery. Under the German small business rule (§19 UStG) no VAT is added on top, so the price in the quote is the price on the invoice. Travel and accommodation outside Erfurt are added based on actual cost.
Got a track and want to know what it costs in pictures? Send me a message with what you have in mind. You get a real number instead of a price range.