How Much to Charge for a Feature Verse

A feature verse typically runs $25–$600, with developing artists at the low end and established names at the top. The median asking price across the 28 rap-feature listings on the first page of AirGigs' Rap Artists category was $200 on 3 September 2026, and individual listings there spanned $75 to $1,500.

Methodology and verification. Every price, fee, and policy figure on this page was checked at its linked source on 3 September 2026. The distribution numbers come from a capture of the first page of AirGigs' Rap Artists category taken that day: 28 distinct service listings, each counted once at its headline "Order Now" price, with no exclusions and no estimates added — producing a median of $200, a mean of $294, an interquartile range of $139–$338, and a full range of $75 to $1,500. Marketplace sellers set and change their own prices, so re-check any linked listing before relying on a single figure.

This guide covers what to charge for a feature verse, what moves that number up or down, and what you keep after platform and payment-processing fees. If you have not sold custom work before, scope the request — deliverable, revision limit, and turnaround — before setting a rate.

What determines your feature verse price?

Three factors set a feature verse's price: your audience reach and the promotion attached to it, the writing and recording hours the verse actually consumes, and demand relative to how many verses you can deliver. Those three factors spread the 28 live rap-feature listings on AirGigs' Rap Artists first page across $75 to $1,500 on 3 September 2026.

• Your current reach. Reach is priced explicitly on music marketplaces: an AirGigs rapper who states he has "over 25,000,000 total streams across all music streaming platforms" lists a melodic rap feature at $599 — a price that includes an Instagram story post promoting the finished song — against a stated standard feature price of $700 (AirGigs listing #43630).
• Writing and recording time. Advertised turnaround on active AirGigs rap-feature listings ranges from 2 days on a $350 verse-or-hook listing (AirGigs listing #21794) to 30 days on a $100 lyrical-feature listing (AirGigs listing #33057), so price the full write-record-revise cycle rather than vocal-booth time alone.
• Demand relative to your availability. Requests already arriving through comments or DMs are evidence that you can test the higher end of your range; if you are opening features for the first time, a lower introductory price is the cheaper way to find out.

None of the three marketplaces cited on this page gates a rap-feature listing behind a follower or streaming minimum: AirGigs requires only profile approval and a one-time $20 activation fee (AirGigs Help Center, "How Much Does AirGigs Charge a Seller?", last updated 31 March 2026), SoundBetter's Storefront requires only a $9.99/month or $99/year subscription (SoundBetter Storefront pricing), and FanBell states "Free to start. No subscription required for the beta — you only pay when a fan pays you." (FanBell pricing). Reach affects what buyers will pay, not whether you can list a verse.

Treat your opening rate as a test rather than a permanent commitment. Reassess it once you know how long each verse actually takes and what artists in your genre will pay for the defined deliverable.

What should you charge based on audience size?

Price bands track the live market rather than intuition: on 3 September 2026 the bottom quartile of AirGigs' 28 first-page rap-feature listings asked $75–$135, the middle half asked $150–$300, and the top quartile asked $350–$1,500. Developing artists should start at or below the bottom quartile, established niche artists in the middle half, and regional names above it.

Every price in that table is the headline "Order Now" figure shown on the AirGigs Rap Artists category page on 3 September 2026; the median of the 28 values is $200 and the mean is $294. Mapping those quartiles onto audience size is a FanBell editorial judgement, not a marketplace-published rule — no streaming platform or music marketplace publishes an official reach-to-price table.

The listings behind the bands, with the deliverable, revision limit, and turnaround each seller publishes:

SoundBetter states a per-service average price on each profile rather than a revision limit or turnaround, and the "Rapper" figures span an order of magnitude: $50 per song (SoundBetter profile 739150), $75 per song, and $600 per song (SoundBetter profile 16258).

Developing-artist band ($25–$75). The cheapest documented rap-feature tier on AirGigs is $25 for 8 bars or a chorus alone, stated by a seller whose headline listing price is $100, and the lowest headline price among the 28 first-page AirGigs listings captured on 3 September 2026 was $75.

Established niche band ($75–$200). Half of the 28 AirGigs first-page rap-feature listings captured on 3 September 2026 asked between $139 and $338, $200 and $250 were the two most frequent asking prices at 4 listings each, and $200 is the median of the full set.

Regional / established-name band ($200–$600+). Seven of the 28 AirGigs first-page listings captured on 3 September 2026 asked more than $338, topping out at $1,500, and a rapper who states he has "over 25,000,000 total streams across all music streaming platforms" lists a discounted melodic rap feature at $599 against a stated standard price of $700.

Whichever band you pick, scope the request before you publish a price, so the buyer knows what "feature verse" includes. Several details move the number up or down:

• Included deliverables. Sellers tier deliverables openly: one AirGigs rapper lists $75 for a 16-bar verse, $125 for a 16-bar verse plus chorus, and $175 for a full-length song of two verses and a chorus, with 2 revisions and 3-day delivery. A separate AirGigs listing sets $100 for an 8–16 bar verse that includes ad-libs, ins and outs, tracked-out stems, and 24-bit/48 kHz WAV files, with 3 revisions and 5-day delivery.
• Usage terms. Rights are routinely carved out of the base price: the AirGigs rapper whose 16-bar verse costs $75 states the price "does not include my songwriting or commercial rights" and routes rights buyers to a separate paid offer, and AirGigs seller Cleva Thoughts prices a standard rap feature at $350 but a full song written for sync licensing at $750 with 4 revisions and 10-day delivery — a 114% premium for the broader licence.
• Revision limits. Included revisions vary tenfold between comparable AirGigs listings: 2 revisions on a $350 verse-or-hook listing against 20 revisions on a $200 verse-or-chorus listing, so publish your own limit rather than leaving it implied.
• Turnaround expectations. Advertised delivery windows differ by 15x across the listings above: 2 days on the $350 listing (AirGigs listing #21794) versus 30 days on a $100 lyrical-feature listing. Rush work should cost more than work delivered inside your standard window, especially when it displaces booked projects.

How much do you actually keep after fees?

A feature verse sold direct nets roughly 84–85% of its list price before taxes: a $150 verse returns about $127.35 after a 12% platform fee and Stripe's US online-card rate of 2.9% + 30¢. Two deductions, each published on a primary pricing page, separate the price a buyer pays from the amount reaching your bank.

1. The platform fee is 12%, charged only on a completed sale. FanBell's pricing page states: "Free to start. No subscription required for the beta — you only pay when a fan pays you.".
2. Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ on a US online card. Stripe's own pricing page lists the rate as "2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards," plus 1.5% for international cards and a further 1% if currency conversion is required (Stripe pricing). FanBell "pays out to your bank account through Stripe, the same payments platform used by millions of businesses" (FanBell how it works).

The two charges are calculated independently against the original gross sale price rather than stacked, so the arithmetic is:

Estimated net = gross price − 12% of gross − 2.9% of gross − $0.30.

FanBell's pricing page states that order directly: "The fan pays only the displayed price. FanBell charges a 12% platform fee, and payment-processing fees are deducted separately from creator earnings. Creator earnings = fan payment − platform fee − processing fee.".

Each marketplace takes a different cut of the same verse, and every rate below is published by the platform itself:

The AirGigs $8 minimum commission is the figure that matters most at the bottom of the market: because it is a flat charge, a $25 feature verse sold on AirGigs surrenders 32% of the order to the platform by arithmetic, more than double the platform's own 15% headline rate. That floor effect, plus Stripe's fixed 30¢, is why this guide treats $25 as an editorial floor for an introductory feature rather than recommending anything lower.

These figures are estimates based on each platform's stated rate; your own dashboard shows the actual amount deducted from each payment.

When should you raise your feature verse price?

Raise your feature verse price when requests outpace your available writing and recording time, your audience or press coverage grows, buyers repeatedly request work outside your base scope, or your delivery quality has improved since you set the rate. Sellers advertise the step openly: one AirGigs rapper lists $599 against a stated $700 standard rate.

• Requests are arriving faster than you can write and record. A growing queue indicates that demand exceeds your available time. A higher price can reduce volume while increasing earnings per completed verse.
• Your audience has grown. More streams, followers, press coverage, or engagement can increase the promotional value attached to your feature.
• Buyers repeatedly ask for work outside the base scope. Recurring requests for rewrites, hooks, extra bars, ad-libs, stems, or broader usage indicate that your standard offer may be underpriced or underspecified.
• Your delivery quality has improved. A stronger catalog, better recording quality, and a record of reliable turnaround give buyers more evidence of the value they will receive.
• An earlier price no longer reflects your workload. A rate set six months ago may not account for your current writing time, recording process, demand, or reach.

Moving between an introductory rate and a full rate is normal and openly advertised on these marketplaces: one AirGigs rapper lists a melodic rap feature at $599 while stating his standard feature price is $700, a 16.9% step up. Another posts a warning inside a $100 listing description — "Prices may go up in the future, so get it while you can!" (AirGigs listing #33057).

Whatever number you land on, publish it beside a fixed turnaround and a stated revision limit — as a listed creator service rather than a figure quoted in DMs — so buyers compare your price against a defined result instead of assuming unlimited changes.

Frequently asked questions

Should I charge a flat rate or quote each feature individually?

A flat rate works well for a repeatable offer with a fixed scope, such as one 16-bar verse with a stated turnaround and revision limit. Live AirGigs rap-feature listings show how far "standard" varies: included revisions run from 2 on a $350 listing to 20 on a $200 listing, so publish your own revision limit rather than leaving it implied. Use a custom quote or a separate add-on when a request includes a hook, second verse, rush delivery, extensive rewriting, or broader usage.

Is $25 too low for a feature verse?

Not for a tightly limited deliverable: $25 is the stated price for 8 bars or a chorus alone on an active AirGigs rap-feature listing. It is still $50 below the lowest headline price among the 28 first-page AirGigs rap-feature listings captured on 3 September 2026, which started at $75. Fixed fees also bite hardest there: Stripe's flat 30¢ is 1.2% of a $25 sale but only 0.1% of a $300 sale, and AirGigs' $8 minimum commission consumes 32% of a $25 order.

Should the price include a beat or only the verse?

Most feature offers cover the verse only, with the buyer supplying the beat. An AirGigs seller charging $200 for one verse or one chorus states it plainly on the listing: "if you are not providing an instrumental/beat, a charge will be added for additional instrumental production". If you also supply original production, list it as a separate paid add-on so the buyer can tell the cost of the verse from the cost of the beat.

What should I do if a buyer requests extra bars, a rewrite, or a video appearance?

Price the add-on rather than absorbing it. Sellers on AirGigs handle this by publishing a second listing: the rapper whose standard feature is $350 sells a full song written for sync licensing at $750 — a 114% premium — with 4 revisions and 10-day delivery, and the seller whose 16-bar verse is $75 states the base price "does not include my songwriting or commercial rights" and sends rights buyers to a separate offer. How to write a creator service offer explains how to state those boundaries before purchase.

Ready to set your price and start taking feature verse requests? Create your free FanBell page — it only takes a few minutes to set up.