Bulk Pricing Update: Short Files Now Cost Less in Bulk
BrassTranscripts bulk pricing now classifies each file by duration and applies a separate short-file rate alongside the existing long-file rate. Short recordings (15 minutes or less) now cost $2.50 per file at the smallest batch size down to $1.25 per file at 250+ files — the same volume discount track applied to a lower base. Long recordings (16 minutes or longer) keep the $6.00 to $3.00 schedule that was already in place. Both rates drop together across the seven batch-size tiers.
Before this change, a 5-minute voicemail in a 1-5 file batch cost $6.00 — the same as a 90-minute deposition. Customers with short recordings worked around this by uploading short clips through the single-file flow at $2.50 each and using bulk only for long files. That arbitrage is now unnecessary: bulk pricing matches single-file pricing for short recordings at the smallest batch size, and beats single-file pricing for short recordings from 6 files onward.
Quick Navigation
- What Changed
- The New Dual-Rate Schedule
- Who Saves Money With This Change
- Worked Examples
- What Did Not Change
- Why We Made This Change
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Changed
BrassTranscripts bulk pricing now reads each file's actual audio duration and assigns a short-file or long-file base rate before applying the batch-size volume discount. Short files (≤15 min) get a $2.50 base; long files (16+ min) get a $6.00 base. The volume discount ratio is identical for both — the same seven batch-size tiers reduce both rates by the same percentage at each step.
Previously, bulk pricing used a single flat rate per file regardless of duration. A 3-minute clip and a 90-minute recording in the same batch paid the same per-file price. That penalized customers with short audio because the bulk entry rate ($6.00 at 1-5 files) matched the long-file single-file rate, not the short-file single-file rate ($2.50).
The new model removes that penalty. Bulk now reads the actual audio length of each completed file and bills it against the appropriate base rate. The dashboard shows each file's individual price next to its filename, and the batch total is the sum of all per-file prices.
The New Dual-Rate Schedule
BrassTranscripts bulk pricing now publishes two columns: a short-file rate for recordings 15 minutes or shorter, and a long-file rate for recordings 16 minutes or longer. Both rates drop together across the same seven volume tiers — short recordings range from $2.50 down to $1.25 per file, and long recordings range from $6.00 down to $3.00 per file.
| Files in batch | Short rate (≤15 min) | Long rate (16+ min) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | $2.50 / file | $6.00 / file |
| 6-10 | $2.08 / file | $5.00 / file |
| 11-15 | $1.98 / file | $4.75 / file |
| 16-49 | $1.88 / file | $4.50 / file |
| 50-99 | $1.67 / file | $4.00 / file |
| 100-249 | $1.46 / file | $3.50 / file |
| 250+ | $1.25 / file | $3.00 / file |
The short-file rate equals the long-file rate multiplied by the ratio of the single-file base rates (250 / 600 ≈ 0.417). That keeps a single source of truth — the long-file rate sets the tier, and the short-file rate derives from it. Customers running long-recording batches see no change; customers running short-recording or mixed batches see real savings.
Each file in a batch is priced individually based on its duration. A batch with 10 short clips and 5 long recordings at the 11-15 file tier ($4.75 long / $1.98 short) totals (10 × $1.98) + (5 × $4.75) = $19.80 + $23.75 = $43.55, compared to the previous flat $4.75 × 15 = $71.25. The same batch of 10 short and 5 long files now saves $27.70.
Who Saves Money With This Change
This change saves money for any customer whose bulk batches contain files 15 minutes or shorter. The bigger the share of short files in the batch and the larger the batch, the bigger the savings. Long-only batches see no price change. Nobody pays more.
Customers who benefit most:
- Sales teams and call centers recording 5-15 minute customer calls or QA reviews. A batch of 50 ten-minute calls drops from $200 (old flat $4 rate) to $83.50 (new $1.67 short rate at 50-99 tier) — a $116.50 reduction on a single batch.
- Solo lawyers and paralegals with short hearing clips, voicemails, or quick phone consultations mixed with longer depositions. Each short clip now bills at the short-file rate instead of the long-file rate.
- Researchers and journalists with short field interviews, quick pull quotes, or follow-up clips averaging under 15 minutes.
- Podcast producers with short trailer clips, intro segments, or promotional snippets alongside full episodes.
- Anyone who previously routed short files through single-file uploads to avoid the flat bulk rate — the dashboard now handles short files at the right price.
Customers with batches dominated by long recordings (depositions averaging 45-90 minutes, full meeting recordings, conference sessions) see no price change. The long-file column matches what they paid before.
Worked Examples
The dollar impact of the change depends on batch size, the share of short files, and the resulting volume tier. Three worked examples cover the common patterns.
Example 1 — Small mixed batch (4 files at 1-5 tier)
Three 20-minute meeting recordings and one 3-minute voicemail summary.
| Old flat rate | New dual rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 × long files | 3 × $6.00 = $18.00 | 3 × $6.00 = $18.00 |
| 1 × short file | 1 × $6.00 = $6.00 | 1 × $2.50 = $2.50 |
| Total | $24.00 | $20.50 |
Savings: $3.50 (15%). The short file now bills at the short-file rate even at the smallest batch size.
Example 2 — Mid-size mixed batch (21 files at 16-49 tier)
Fifteen 45-minute depositions and six 10-minute client phone screens.
| Old flat rate | New dual rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 × long files | 15 × $4.50 = $67.50 | 15 × $4.50 = $67.50 |
| 6 × short files | 6 × $4.50 = $27.00 | 6 × $1.88 = $11.28 |
| Total | $94.50 | $78.78 |
Savings: $15.72 (17%). Long-file pricing is unchanged; the savings come entirely from repricing the short files.
Example 3 — Large mostly-short batch (100 files at 100-249 tier)
Eighty 8-minute customer service calls and twenty 30-minute QA reviews.
| Old flat rate | New dual rate | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 × long files | 20 × $3.50 = $70.00 | 20 × $3.50 = $70.00 |
| 80 × short files | 80 × $3.50 = $280.00 | 80 × $1.46 = $116.80 |
| Total | $350.00 | $186.80 |
Savings: $163.20 (47%). At high volume with a mostly-short batch, the savings are substantial.
For batches dominated by long recordings, the savings are zero — that's by design. The change is a price reduction for short files, not a discount on long files.
What Did Not Change
BrassTranscripts kept every long-file rate exactly as it was: $6.00 per file at 1-5 batch size, $5.00 at 6-10, $4.75 at 11-15, $4.50 at 16-49, $4.00 at 50-99, $3.50 at 100-249, and $3.00 at 250+. The seven volume tiers, the no-minimum batch size, automatic speaker identification, silent file detection, duplicate filename detection, the dashboard workflow, and the LemonSqueezy checkout are all unchanged.
What stayed the same:
- Per-file specs: 450MB file size limit, 11 supported audio and video formats (MP3, MP4, M4A, AAC, WAV, FLAC, OGG, Opus, WebM, MPEG, MPGA)
- Account file limits: 100 files per account by default, increases to 200 after first payment, then +100 per subsequent payment
- Speaker identification: Every file in every batch includes automatic speaker labels at no extra cost
- Silent file detection: Recordings with no detected speech are flagged and excluded from billing automatically
- Duplicate detection: Files with identical names get an amber warning before processing starts
- Concurrent processing: All files in a batch process simultaneously, not sequentially
- Output format: TXT files with speaker labels (configurable to standard or fully timestamped at project setup)
- Retention: Transcripts available for download for 10 days after payment
- Long-file pricing: $6.00 to $3.00 per file across the seven tiers — exactly what it was before
The single-file service is unchanged: $2.50 for files 1-15 minutes and $6.00 flat for files 16+ minutes (any length). Single-file pricing already used duration to set the base rate; bulk pricing now matches that logic across all seven tiers.
Why We Made This Change
BrassTranscripts made this change because the previous flat bulk rate penalized customers with short files — the bulk entry rate ($6.00 at 1-5 files) matched the long-file single-file rate, not the short-file single-file rate ($2.50). Customers worked around this by uploading short clips through the single-file flow and using bulk only for long files. That arbitrage was a sign the pricing model wasn't matching customer needs.
The old single-rate bulk model was inherited from when our bulk service launched for a paralegal with 102 legal recordings — at that scale, almost every file was a long recording, so a single rate worked. As the bulk dashboard became self-service, smaller and more varied batches started showing up: sales teams with short customer calls, researchers with quick follow-up interviews, paralegals with short hearing clips. For those customers, the flat bulk rate was the wrong shape.
The duration-aware model fixes the shape without changing the volume-discount logic. The same seven batch-size tiers still apply the same percentage discount. The only difference is which base rate the discount applies to. That keeps the model simple — one tier table, two columns — while pricing each file at the rate it should have had all along.
Related Posts
- Bulk Pricing Update: $6 Entry, No Minimum File Count — April 2026 update that introduced the 7-tier no-minimum schedule (now extended with dual rates)
- Bulk Audio Transcription: Multiple Files at Once — Complete bulk service overview, supported formats, and dashboard walkthrough
- Law Firms: When Is Bulk Transcription Worth It? — Breakeven calculator updated for dual-rate bulk pricing
- How 102 Legal Audio Files Built Our Bulk Service — The case that started the bulk product
- Transcription Pricing — Full pricing reference (single-file and bulk)
Frequently Asked Questions
What changed about bulk pricing in May 2026?
BrassTranscripts bulk pricing now classifies each file by audio duration before applying the volume discount. Files 15 minutes or shorter bill at $2.50 per file (1-5 batch) down to $1.25 per file (250+ batch). Files 16 minutes or longer keep the same $6.00 down to $3.00 schedule as before. Both rates drop together across the seven batch-size tiers.
How is a file classified as short or long?
BrassTranscripts classifies a file as short when its audio duration is 15 minutes or less and as long when it is 16 minutes or more. Duration is measured from the actual audio after upload, not from the filename or estimated length. A file at exactly 15:00 is short; a file at 15:01 is long. This matches the single-file pricing tier boundary already in use.
Does this change affect long recordings like depositions or conferences?
No. Long recordings (16 minutes and longer) keep the exact same bulk pricing schedule as before: $6.00 per file at 1-5 files, scaling down to $3.00 per file at 250+ files. Customers running batches of long recordings see no price change. The update only adds a cheaper track for short recordings — it does not raise prices on anything.
When does bulk now beat single-file pricing for short recordings?
Short recordings (under 15 minutes) cost $2.50 in single-file mode and also $2.50 in bulk at 1-5 files. From 6 files onward, bulk is cheaper than single-file for short recordings: $2.08 per file at 6-10, $1.98 at 11-15, $1.88 at 16-49, $1.67 at 50-99, $1.46 at 100-249, and $1.25 at 250+. A batch of 30 short clips that would cost $75 single-file costs $56.40 in bulk.
Do I need to do anything as an existing bulk customer?
No. The new pricing applies automatically to your next checkout. Each file's price is shown on the bulk dashboard before payment so you can verify the total. Past batches are not retroactively repriced. The change is a price reduction for customers with short files; long-file pricing is unchanged.
What happens if my file is exactly 15 minutes long?
A file at exactly 15:00 (900 seconds) is classified as a short file and bills at the short-file rate. A file at 15:01 or longer is classified as long and bills at the long-file rate. This matches the boundary used by single-file pricing.
Can I still get the old flat per-file rate if I prefer it?
No. The new model applies to every bulk batch automatically. The change is a price reduction overall — short files cost less, long files cost the same — so there's no scenario where the old flat rate would be cheaper for any batch composition.
If you have a batch of recordings ready to transcribe — whether they're short clips, long recordings, or a mix — sign up at brasstranscripts.com/bulk/signup and the new dual-rate pricing applies automatically at checkout. The bulk transcription guide walks through the complete signup-to-download workflow.