Ask how a musician gets work in Mexico and you almost always get the same answer: by word of mouth. It's true, and it's also the problem. Referral is the best channel and the one you can control the least.
There are five routes, and each has a different cost and a different ceiling.
The five channels, and the real cost of each
1. Referrals
Cost: none. Ceiling: the size of your circle.
It's the channel with the best closing rate because it arrives with trust built in. And it's the one that doesn't scale: you can't increase it at will, and when the calendar empties there is no lever to pull. It works very well for someone with twenty years in the business, and hardly at all for someone just starting out.
2. Facebook groups
Cost: time. Ceiling: saturation.
It's where a good part of the real events market in Mexico is, especially the wedding groups and event organizer groups by city. It works, but it demands consistency: posting once is useless, and posting the same text everywhere makes the platform flag it as spam.
The bigger problem is that you compete on price there. Whoever searches in a group is usually looking for cheap.
3. Agencies and event organizers
Cost: a percentage that isn't always known. Ceiling: it depends on one relationship.
A good agency provides steady volume and clients who pay well. In exchange, the musician rarely knows how much was charged for them, and if the relationship breaks, the whole channel goes at once.
It's the most comfortable channel and the most fragile, because it rests on a single person.
4. Platforms
Cost: a commission known in advance. Ceiling: how many people use them in your city.
The difference from the agency is transparency: the musician sets their price, collects it in full, and knows exactly what is charged separately. The downside is that they depend on enough demand existing in that city, and that takes time to build.
5. Direct outreach
Cost: a lot of time. Ceiling: high, but slow.
Going to the event venues, the haciendas, the hotels, and the wedding agencies in your city and leaving material. It's the most thankless channel at first and the one that builds relationships that last for years.
Almost no one does it, which is exactly why it works. The first contact rarely closes a gig right away: it serves so that the venue has your material at hand the day a client asks them about live music, and that can take months to pay off.
How much to charge in each channel, and why the number changes
The same musical format isn't charged the same in all five channels, and it's no coincidence. In a Facebook group, where the client compares ten replies on the same post, pressure pushes the price down. With an agency, the musician almost never sets the final price: the agency negotiates with the client and pays the musician an amount that may or may not reflect what was actually charged. On a platform, the musician sets their own rate and collects it in full, so the price tends to come closer to what the market really pays.
To avoid charging below market in any channel, it helps to have as a reference the public ranges from the serenattia live music price index for Mexico, compiled with prices from the press, directories, and providers. Knowing that a mariachi of six to eight musicians charges between MX$2,000 and MX$4,500 per hour on a normal day, or that a versatile wedding group runs from MX$10,000 to MX$50,000 per event, gives a clear floor so you don't accept an offer far below what the same format charges in another channel. If you haven't yet explored the platform channel and you play in Aguascalientes, you can sign up as a musician in Aguascalientes to add that channel to your mix without dropping the others.
What to ask before accepting a new gig
Four questions prevent most problems, whatever channel the client came through: how long the service lasts and what happens if the event runs long, whether travel is paid separately or included in the rate, whether there is a deposit and how much, and what happens if the client cancels a few days before. Accepting a gig without settling these four things in writing is the most common cause of an event ending in a disagreement over what had actually been promised. The template in how to make a contract and charge a deposit solves exactly that point.
What those with a full calendar do
They don't use one: they use three or four at the same time. Referrals as the base, a platform so that people who don't know them can find them, and direct outreach to two or three venues that send them steady work.
A musician who depends on a single channel is one phone call away from an empty calendar, no matter which channel it is. Diversifying doesn't mean being everywhere at once from the first month: it means that when one of the four dries up (the agency breaks the relationship, the Facebook group gets saturated with competition), the other three keep bringing work while the one that failed is rebuilt. To work out how much to charge when work comes through direct outreach or a platform, the guide on how much to charge and how to get events breaks down the calculation in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
Which channel is the fastest for landing your first paid event?
Facebook groups usually deliver results faster than referrals or direct outreach, though at the cost of competing more on price. Referrals take longer to get going but close better in the long run.
How much does an agency charge a musician for getting events?
It varies a lot and is almost never a fixed percentage known in advance, because the agency negotiates the final price with the client. It is the channel where the musician has the least control over how much was actually charged for their work.
Is it worth being in several channels at the same time?
Yes. Those with a full calendar almost always combine three or four channels, not just one, because that keeps them from running out of work when any one of them fails.
How do I know if I'm charging below market?
By comparing your rate against the public ranges by format and city, like the ones the serenattia Index compiles. If your price is well below the typical range for your format, you are probably undercharging.
Does serenattia charge the musician anything for publishing their profile?
No. The musician sets their rate and collects it in full; publishing the profile has no monthly fee or exclusivity. The 10% service fee (minimum MX$200) is paid by the client when booking, not the musician.
Want more events? Publish your profile for free on serenattia: you set your price, there is no monthly fee, and no exclusivity.