There’s no industry standard [for setting up a fee structure]. It all has to do with knowing what your client wants and what they can afford. So it’s tricky, at first, to set your price when you have a Producer come to you and say, “I need you to write some arrangements for me.”
Be fluid and find out how much they have in their budget. The amount will vary depending on the profile of the Producer you’re working with. If you’re working with a very high-profile Producer, obviously that Producer will be dealing with projects that are very well-funded so you can afford to charge a little more on those projects.
On the other end of the scale, if you’re dealing with an independent Producer with very small projects you have to make sure you’re making things affordable. The Producers understand that, too. You just have to learn how to set your price.
Typically there is an Arrangers’ scale with the Musicians Union, and most Arrangers belong to the Musicians Union because they are musicians. It’s propitious that you get to work on the same jobs that you get to arrange. That happens fairly often.
But, quite a lot of Arrangers do not work through the union, so typically it’s like service for hire. You send the Producer an invoice and they pay you. Occasionally, not very often anymore, you can get into a royalty situation, but that’s less than 5% of the time. You get paid your check when you hand in your notes.