Message eight musicians asking for a price for a date. Three will answer, two will first ask you for the venue and the date, and one will give you a number. It is the standard experience of hiring live music in Mexico.
The practice has a name in the trade and in any Facebook group: "DM me" (mándame inbox). And although it looks like a quirk, it has a logic.
What the hidden price protects
From the musician's side, three reasonable things:
- Context. A bare number does not say whether there are seven or eleven members, whether it includes travel or how many hours it covers. The musician fears being dismissed before being able to explain.
- Room to negotiate. If the event is right around the corner and it is a Tuesday, they may offer a lower price. Publishing it takes that flexibility away.
- Competition. If they publish their rate, the one next door sees it and charges ten pesos less.
None of the three is a silly excuse. They are legitimate concerns of someone who makes a living from this.
What it costs
The problem is that all three are solved at the expense of everyone else, and in the long run of the musician too.
For the customer it costs time and breeds distrust. Nobody enjoys chasing eight providers to put together a budget, and opacity reads as if something is being hidden, even when that is not the case.
For the musician just starting out it costs even more: they have nothing to compare against. Without public references, the only way to know whether they are charging well is to get it wrong several times. Most charge too little for years. The serenattia Index of live music prices exists precisely to give that beginner a yardstick that does not depend on learning the hard way.
For the whole profession it costs professionalization. A sector where the price is a secret negotiated case by case is a sector where quality cannot compete against persistence: the one who answers fastest or haggles best wins, not necessarily the one who plays better or delivers more reliably.
The argument that does not hold up
The most repeated one is that publishing the price makes them compete on being cheap. But that already happens: Facebook groups are exactly a price competition, only blind and in private.
When the price is published along with what it includes, the comparison stops being between two numbers and becomes one between two proposals. There, the one who charges more has, for the first time, a place to explain why.
Why "DM me" also costs dearly for the customer who hires well
There is a type of customer who comes out losing more than anyone from the hidden price: the one who does have the budget to pay well, but does not have the time to chase quotes. That customer ends up hiring the first one who responds, not the best, simply because they were the only one who gave a number in time.
The complete checklist of what to ask before hiring any format, so you do not depend on who responds first, is in what a customer checks before hiring music (and what they should check).
The real exception: when quoting in private does make sense
Not everything has to be a public price, and it would be just as dishonest to say so. A large corporate event, with a confidential budget and several providers competing for an annual contract, works differently: there a closed quote is a legitimate part of the company's purchasing process, not a tactic to hide something.
The difference from the "DM me" of a wedding or a birthday is the size of the negotiation and who asks for it. When it is the company that demands confidentiality as part of its process, it is a condition set by the customer. When it is the musician who avoids giving any number without anyone having asked for that, it is the practice this article questions. The quick test to tell one from the other: if nobody asked for confidentiality and there is still no number, it is not a legitimate exception, it is simply the habit of hiding the price.
What changes when it is published
Two things that show up quickly. The first is that conversations get shorter: whoever writes already knows the price, so the chat starts with the date and not with haggling.
The second is less obvious. A public price forces you to define what it includes, and that definition is what prevents most of the misunderstandings in the sector: how many hours, who shows up, whether travel is included. The way to put that agreement in writing, with a deposit and cancellation policy, is detailed in contract and deposit when hiring musicians: what to review before paying.
The visible price is not just a convenience for the customer. It is the fastest way the trade has to stop arguing and start competing on what really matters.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't musicians publish their price directly?
For three reasons that have a logic: they fear a number without context will get them dismissed, they want room to adjust the price on slow dates, and they do not want the competition to see their rate. The cost of those three reasons ends up being paid by the customer, the beginner musician and the whole profession.
Where does the "DM me" practice come from?
From Facebook groups and social networks where live music is requested: asking in private keeps the competition from seeing the price and leaves room to negotiate case by case. It is, in practice, a blind price competition, not an alternative to competing on price.
Does publishing the price make musicians compete only on being cheap?
No more than they already compete in private. When the price is published along with what it includes, the comparison is no longer just the number: the one who charges more can explain why, something that does not exist in a blind negotiation by DM.
Who comes out worst from the hidden price?
The musician who is starting out, because they have no public reference to know whether they are charging well, and the customer with a budget but no time, who ends up hiring the first one who answers instead of comparing complete proposals.
What really changes when a musician publishes their price?
Conversations get shorter because the price stops being negotiated from scratch, and publishing forces you to define exactly what it includes, which avoids misunderstandings about hours, travel and who shows up on the day of the event.
If you already know what to ask, compare musicians with the price in plain view on serenattia. And if you are a musician and want to stop competing blind, publish your profile for free.
Written by Christian López, Head of Operations, serenattia. Last updated: September 2026.