Rates are the most practically important field on any artist record and the one most reliably recorded in a format that cannot be compared to anything. Every studio has this problem. Most have not noticed, because nobody ever tries to sort the list.
Mixed units break the only question that matters
The question is always who is in budget. Answering it across day rates, hourly rates and per-piece quotes requires assumptions about working hours, scope and revision rounds — assumptions people make silently and differently each time.
So the filter gets skipped
And once you stop filtering by rate, you are choosing artists by memory and vibe, then discovering the budget problem during negotiation, which is the most expensive possible place to discover it.
Currency adds a second layer
A euro day rate quoted eighteen months ago is not the same number today, and nobody records the date they saw it. The rate field ends up holding a value with an unknown unit and an unknown age, which is technically data.
Old numbers are still useful
Provided you know they are old. A rate from last year plus a date is triage material. A rate from last year with no date is a trap that looks like information.
Normalise once, at capture
Convert to a single basis — USD per hour works for most people — the moment the number is recorded, and keep the original alongside it. The filter then works, the shortlist sorts, and the budget conversation happens before the pitch instead of during it.
It is an opening position, not a promise
Normalised rates exist to narrow a list, not to hold anyone to a number they published for a different kind of job. Use them for triage, then ask properly.