The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, (BASCA) has launched a comprehensive survey to gather information on the cost of commissioning live music in the classical concert, electronica and jazz arenas.

Survey

The survey which is being circulated to a wide constituency of composers, publishers and commissioners seeks historical information on fees paid for commissions over the five year period between January 2005 and December 2009.

The purpose of the survey is to look into the cost of commissioning new music for a full spectrum of classical and jazz media, ranging from solo or duo to chamber, choral, electronica, orchestral and big band.

This survey will provide the information which they can draw on to support their fee negotiations with commissionersDavid Bedford

Fee levels

David Bedford, Chairman of BASCA’s Classical and Jazz Executive commented: "Since being forced by the OFT to withdraw BASCA’s well-used Commission Fee Guidelines, composers and publishers have lacked a reference point for setting commission fee levels.

This survey will provide the information which they can draw on to support their fee negotiations with commissioners."

No personal data will be captured by the survey which will be entirely anonymous.

Range of fees

The data collected will be aggregated to the range of fees, the mean point within that range and an average fee for each category.

BASCA Chairman, Sarah Rodgers, added: "This is a really important piece of work and we want as many people as possible who are involved in the process of commissioning to participate in the survey to give it the authenticity and validity it needs.

Hopefully, the online links to the survey will be picked up virally so that there is a widespread response."

Online

The survey can be found online at http:/­/­www.basca.org.uk/­campaigns-
campaigns/campaigns-commissioning-survey and will be live for 90 days.

Categories

Commission Fee Survey categories are:
BRASS BAND (may include solo instruments)
SOLO including Jazz (includes works for harp or keyboard)
DUO including Jazz (two instruments, one of which may be a keyboard)
UNACCOMPANIED CHORAL including Jazz (may include vocal soloist)
SMALL CHAMBER ENSEMBLE including Jazz (3 to 9 players)
ACCOMPANIED CHORAL including Gospel and Jazz
ELECTRONICA (A) Electronic Music as Fixed Media
ELECTRONICA (B) Electronic Music Small Ensemble
ELECTRONICA (C) Electronic Music Large Ensemble
LARGE CHAMBER ENSEMBLE including Jazz (10 to 20 players)
CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (may include solo instruments)
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
SYMPHONIC WIND ENSEMBLE (may include solo instruments)
CHOIR WITH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (may include vocal soloists)
ORCHESTRA WITH ONE OR MORE SOLOISTS
CHORUS AND ORCHESTRA (may include vocal soloists)
JAZZ BIG BAND
JAZZ ORCHESTRA
STAGE WORKS including Opera