Professional Musician Rates in NZ
For nearly a decade, New Zealand’s professional musicians have asked a deceptively simple question:
“What do I charge?”
This uncertainty has caused national ambiguity across venues, studios, and contracts—resulting in underpaid artists, misaligned expectations, and inconsistent industry norms.
The NZ Session Collective has resolved this. We conducted a full-scale economic and historical review—backed by CPI data, wage growth trends, and Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA)—and integrated it with qualitative input from retired musicians, circuit players, pedagogues, and institutional leaders.
What follows is New Zealand’s first formal, modernised rate benchmark for professional musicians—aligned to 2024 conditions, and scalable for global adaptation.
Historical Overview of Musician Rates in New Zealand
Through detailed conversations with circuit musicians, retired professionals, pedagogues, and industry stakeholders—as well as analysis of surveys and market trends—we’ve compiled the following timeline. It forms the foundation for modernising and standardising professional musician pay in New Zealand.
$100—that’s the benchmark New Zealand’s working musicians have leaned on since 2015. Widely adopted by professional musicians at the time, it reflected the market value for live performance and session work. Yet since then, that rate has remained static—despite rising costs, industry growth, and increased competition.
This stagnation has resulted in declining real wages. In response, The NZ Session Collective developed a modernised base rate for 2024 and beyond, grounded in economic data and real market conditions.
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Musicians typically earned $100 per gig—regardless of length—performing in pubs and bars. Many earned a living playing 3–4 shows per week.
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The end of tax deductibility for business dining caused a sharp drop in restaurant-based live music. Many musicians lost income as bookings dried up.
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The scene began recovering. “Fillers”—musicians who covered rehearsals or gigs for others—emerged as a new professional category, helping many sustain income.
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Despite inflation and rising costs, the average per-gig rate remained around $100. Some leaders began negotiating higher pay, but overall compensation lagged behind economic trends.
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The industry gradually shifted toward hourly billing. By early in the decade, $50 per hour was a typical rate, replacing the flat gig fee in many cases.
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By mid-decade, $100 per hour became the informal national rate among circuit musicians. Despite increased competition and cost pressures, this rate has remained largely unchanged—until now.
Key Economic and
Industry-Specific Factors
Our analysis draws from historical data, economic factors,
and real-world trends.
1. Inflation Adjustments
What it is | Inflation tracks rising prices over time, reducing the real value
of money.
Why it matters | Without inflation-based adjustments, musicians lose purchasing power year-on-year.
Our approach | We apply each year’s inflation rate cumulatively to preserve the real value of the 2015 base rate.
Outcome | This ensures the rate keeps pace with general economic conditions and sustains its real-world utility.
2. Year-by-Year Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA)
What it is | COLA tracks the rise in essential living costs — rent, food, healthcare, transport.
Why it matters | Even if inflation is low, basic life expenses can rise sharply.
Our approach | Each year’s COLA is applied to the base rate to reflect real-world affordability for working musicians.
Outcome | Ensures musicians can maintain a consistent standard of living despite market volatility.
3. Wage Growth Alignment
What it is | Wage growth reflects general increases in income across
the economy.
Why it matters | Musicians should not fall behind broader workforce trends.
Our approach | Each year’s average wage growth is factored in alongside inflation and COLA.
Outcome | Aligns musician compensation with national income growth and labour productivity trends.
4. Compound Economic Adjustment
By applying inflation, wage growth, and COLA cumulatively year-by-year, we updated the 2015 $100 NZD per hour benchmark to match 2024 conditions:
2016: $100 × (1 + 0.003) × (1 + 0.0173) × (1 + 0.0073) ≈ $102.78
2017: $102.78 × (1 + 0.0063) × (1 + 0.0165) × (1 + 0.0008) ≈ $105.22
2018: $105.22 × (1 + 0.0185) × (1 + 0.0198) × (1 + 0.0198) ≈ $111.17
2019: $111.17 × (1 + 0.016) × (1 + 0.0223) × (1 + 0.014) ≈ $116.02
2020: $116.02 × (1 + 0.0165) × (1 + 0.0183) × (1 + 0.0125) ≈ $119.95
2021: $119.95 × (1 + 0.017) × (1 + 0.0223) × (1 + 0.0311) ≈ $128.44
2022: $128.44 × (1 + 0.039) × (1 + 0.0365) × (1 + 0.075) ≈ $158.56
2023: $158.56 × (1 + 0.0575) × (1 + 0.042) × (1 + 0.0733) ≈ $169.42
2024 Base Hourly Rate | $170
2024 National base rate
NZ Professional Musicians
Hourly Market Rate
NZD 169.42 | Rounded to NZD 170.00
After a decade of static pay, The NZ Session Collective formally establishes $170.00 NZD per hour as the 2024 national base rate for professional musicians in New Zealand.
This rate is the result of a multi-year economic analysis factoring inflation, wage growth, and cost of living adjustments, and represents a fair, sustainable minimum for performance and session work across genres.
This rate is now integrated as the platform-wide minimum bookings made through The NZ Session Collective.
View our sources and data used.
The NZSC Experience Premium
To reward depth of skill and years of professional development, NZSC applies an experience-based premium to the base hourly rate.
Experience Tiers:
0-3 Years Experience | +0%
4-9 Years Experience | +5%
10-15 Years Experience | +7.5%
16+ Years Experience | +10%
Hourly Earnings with Experience Premium:
0-3 Years Experience (+0%) | $170.00
4-9 Years Experience (+5%) | $178.50
10-15 Years Experience (+7.5%) | $182.75
16+ Years Experience (+10%) | $187.00
Why It Matters
This tiered system reflects the real-world value of professional experience. It rewards reliability, versatility, and musical maturity—all critical factors in high-level
performance work. The experience premium ensures the most seasoned musicians are recognised for the depth of value they bring—while also providing emerging professionals with a clear, transparent pathway forward.
Annual Review
NZSC will update this rate annually to maintain accuracy, integrity, and relevance across the live and studio music sectors in New Zealand.
