Advice for freelancer /contract

M00nface

Hi ju t wanted some advice really. I've been working for a record label for a couple of years now, as a freelancer doing digital cover artwork for their artists. This can usually range from maybe 8-15 artworks a month.

It isn't a full time role as I usually spend one to three days a week (if that) creating working, at the moment I am charging by design, which has worked OK for both of us, but I am wondering if I should ask this company for a permanent or retainer contract, I technically haven't been charging them for any time spent doing revisions and changes as it's just been a "per design" charge. Is it worth asking for a contract and maybe a part time monthly wage instead?

This is the first company I have worked for freelance for this amount of time and I am worried if I approach them for a contract they may no longer decide to work with me..... Any advice would be amazing or perhaps if you've been in a similar situation....thanks.

Annisele

I'm not entirely clear on why you want to make a change. More money? Job security? To change the number of hours you work? To get your client to behave better and say what they want to start with? I'd make different suggestions depending on what you're trying to achieve.

I'm guessing the issue is that you'd have charged more if you'd realised the revisions would take so much time. So maybe you could put your prices up? If you've been doing the work for two years without changing your price it would be entirely reasonable to increase prices now, but that could of course mean they use you less. Or you could perhaps say they get only one free revision, or that revisions are chargeable, or whatever makes sense for you.

Marcon

M00nface said:

Hi ju t wanted some advice really. I've been working for a record label for a couple of years now, as a freelancer doing digital cover artwork for their artists. This can usually range from maybe 8-15 artworks a month.

It isn't a full time role as I usually spend one to three days a week (if that) creating working, at the moment I am charging by design, which has worked OK for both of us, but I am wondering if I should ask this company for a permanent or retainer contract, I technically haven't been charging them for any time spent doing revisions and changes as it's just been a "per design" charge. Is it worth asking for a contract and maybe a part time monthly wage instead?

This is the first company I have worked for freelance for this amount of time and I am worried if I approach them for a contract they may no longer decide to work with me..... Any advice would be amazing or perhaps if you've been in a similar situation....thanks.

Are you saying you don't have any sort of contract at all? If so, that certainly does need to be sorted out to clarify exactly what expectations are on both sides.

What's changed to make you dissatisfied with things, when you say it has 'worked OK for both of us' but now you clearly don't feel that? If you are working on a 'per design' charge then as Annisele says, you need to put some sort of conditions on how many revisions are included in that price. If you don't, there is no incentive for the company to really think about what changes it wants, when they can just go on mind changing and shilly-shallying around because it's a fixed price.

It's hard to see why a company would pay you a retainer, or put you on their payroll as an employee, especially in this type of business. How easily could they replace you? How competitive are your current charges in today's market? What's your relationship like with the company? And, putting it bluntly, how good are you at what you do (and no, you aren't expected to answer that on this site!) - if you lose some or all the work with this company, how easily could find alternative clients?