A directory with its rules in the code

What it replaces

Paid, sponsored placement

No paid placement. Nobody can buy a higher spot, and the few spots the studio picks are labelled.

Opaque ranking algorithms

No ranking model. The order is a rule printed above every list.

Rates negotiated gig by gig

Each artist publishes their own rate card, at or above $200.00 an hour. A buyer can't type a different price.

Door polling and merch cuts

Artists are paid their rate whatever the door does, and the platform takes 0% of merch.

Fees added at checkout

Every fee is shown on the quote and in the ticket price before you pay.

Hardcoded

The wage floor and the fees live in code

• Listing floor: $200.00 per musician per hour. The database refuses a rate below it.
• Booking an artist: a 4% fee (at least $5.00), and 3% for verified nonprofits, added for the buyer on top of the rate, never taken from the artist.
• Selling tickets: 1.9% + $0.75 per paid ticket for nonprofits and 2.0% + $0.75 for for-profits, capped at $18.95 a ticket; free tickets pay nothing. Card processing is 2.9% + 30¢.
• Merch: 0%. Merch links go to the artist’s own store; the platform takes no cut and adds no affiliate tag. Tips go to the artist in full.

Deterministic

The same inputs give the same payout

• A quote is the artist’s hourly rate × the length, plus travel if the address is beyond their radius, plus the fee. Nothing else moves it.
• Guarantee Plus, on a booking linked to an organizer’s ticketed listing: 85% of ticket gross above the organizer’s locked expenses plus 15% goes to the artists, 15% to the organizer. It settles the day after the event, charged to the organizer’s saved card.
• Cancellations, held dates and reschedules follow published schedules, not case-by-case decisions.

Non-algorithmic

No ranking model, no paid placement

• Get Artists lists artists who marked your date available first (when you pick one), then in the order you choose:
• Recently updated (the default): the most recently updated profile first. Each card shows its date.
• Completion rate: completed engagements ÷ (completed + artist cancellations). Buyer cancellations never count.
• Star rating: (total stars + 5 × 3) ÷ (number of ratings + 5), from buyers who completed a booking.
• Ties go to the most recently updated profile. The rule in use is printed above every list.
• A few spots outside the lists are chosen by the studio, such as Musicians to watch and featured events. Each is labelled “Picked by Meek Earth Studio · not paid, not ranked”.

Interactive

Artists see itemized costs and decline freely

• Every request shows the artist their rate, the fee the buyer pays and, for organizers, the coverage and deposit terms.
• On Guarantee Plus, the organizer’s expenses are itemized (venue, staffing, marketing, production, other) before the artist accepts.
• Artists accept or decline each request within 72 hours. Declining is never a strike and never lowers their place.

Dynamic

Filters by availability, sorts by latest update

• Pick a date and the artists who marked it available come first. Filter by state, county, city, genre, occasion and kind of set.
• The default order is the most recently updated profile, so an artist who keeps their page current is easy to find.