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How Much to Charge for a Magic Show?

by Merchant of Magic 14 Comments

 

Analyzing financial data

Analyzing financial data

Would you like to make a living out of performing your magic? If you are going to do that.. You need to decide how much to charge for a magic show. 

Most people that learn magic tricks, do so for the fun of it. It’s a wonderful, rewarding hobby. You may, however, be planning to earn a small income as a magician or even turning your obsession into a career and become a professional magician. If you do decide to start performing magic for money, there is some important information you should think about first:

Will you be Professional or Semi Professional?

The vast majority of working magicians earn an income from magic on a part-time basis. They have a current employer and supplement their wages by doing magic in the evenings and weekends. As the weekends tend to be the most popular time for social events that require a magician, semi professional magicians can fill their diary quite nicely through the year, and still maintain a full time job. The aim is often to build their reputation over time before being able to move into doing magic full-time.  There are several advantages to starting off semi-pro:

 

  • There is little financial risk.
  • You can maintain your current lifestyle.
  • Income from magic doesn’t have to be used for living expenses.
  • Time can be taken to build and develop your act and reputation above the average magician.
  • You can perform when you want to, not because you have to.

 What type of magic act will you perform?

This isn’t about the types of magic tricks you perform or your performing persona. You need to look at your act as a product. What type of product will it be?

  • Will you directly market your services yourself, or focus on working with an agent?
  • Where will you market yourself, only local, or are you happy to travel?
  • Will you work alone, or will you be using an assistant?
  • Do you intend to have a secondary income doing film or TV work (Perhaps as a consultant)?

Who will your customers be?

Understanding your customers is essential for determining both the product you will offer and the fee you can charge.

  • Will you be aiming at companies and venues, of focusing mainly on private individuals with wedding and party events?
  • What level of affluence does your target/local area have?
  • What is the persona of your average client? Professional/family/retired etc.

What is the competition doing?

It’s important to understand what level of fee’s your competition has achieved in your local area. Getting some quotes from other magicians will help, but take the advice of fellow magicians with a pinch of salt, as they tend to exaggerate. Getting quotes from local entertainment agencies tends to be more reliable. Bare in mind, that in any area there will be magicians charging at the top of their ‘payment ceiling’ and others who are underselling themselves. Never try to be the cheapest, it tends to work against you over the long term. The aim is to be in the middle or towards the top of the fee structure in your area as quickly as possible.

When can you work?

If you are performing semi-professionally, and holding down a day job, you may have to limit your gigs to the weekend, or only take bookings that start later in the evening. Even then, if you have a family, it’s essential to spare time for them too. If you intend to make your full time living from magic, you will need to be able to commit to working evenings and weekends. It’s great having your days free, but your friends and family may not think the same.  It’s very important to discuss the implications of being a magician with your family, and to have their support.

How much money would you like and how much do you need? 

The first step in setting a professional fee, is to determine how much money you NEED. This is quite different from how much money you WANT.

Make a list of all your outgoings. Get your last 12 months bank statements and note down the total that went out of the account each month. It’s important to use a year worth of bank statements as some expenses are annual. Group the debts into categories so you see exactly how much you spend on the following on average each month:

  • Rent or mortgage
  • Utilities and services
  • Average monthly spend on food
  • Clothing
  • Travel
  • Loan or card repayments
  • Club memberships
  • Insurance
  • Pension and monthly savings
  • Car payments such as tax and insurance

Now use the statements to calculate how much money you spend on entertainment and small impulse purchases.

You should now have two figures. The first is for your essential fixed expenses. This much money HAS to be earned each month just to live at your current comfort level. The second figure is your leisure or fun money. This second figure is not as fixed as the first and can fluctuate over time. Think of it as your ‘buffer zone’.

Once you have these figures, if you add them together, it will give you the total amount of money you need to earn each month to continue your current lifestyle. This figure is very important for the next step.

How much you NEED to charge.

Nobody is the same. We all have different commitments, responsibilities and interests. A young single person can have much more disposable income whilst earning far less than a person who has a mortgage and needs to support a large family. The old saying ‘It’s not how much you earn that’s important, it’s how much you spend’ is very true. That makes it hard to give any examples of income, as we are all different. In this discussion, I assume the average monthly income in the UK, so simply correct these figures to fit your own income needs and commitments that you calculated by looking at your bank statements over the last 12 months. The average household income in the UK is currently £2000 per month, so I will use that figure as a baseline.

The most important question of all.

How many gigs will I need to do each week and how much do I need to charge for each gig, to bring in an income equal or greater amount than my expenditure?

Let me introduce you to a great website that is free to use: Your Rate

Your Rate is a website that asks just three questions:

  • How much money you need to earn every month
  • How many hours you can work each week
  • How many weeks of holiday you intend to take.

Fill those in and get an hourly rate to charge. Your Rate calculates this for you, and builds in how much you should include for savings and how much is needed to pay your tax on the earnings you make. Because tax rates vary by country, and it is allowing for savings, it multiplies the actual rate needed by 2 to give the final total.

As a magician you are going to use it in a slightly different way. In your mind, change ‘How many hours do you want to work per week?’ to ‘how many gigs do you want to do each week’.

Let’s say the average close-up magician does 3 gigs every week and has 2 weeks holiday. What fee would he need to charge each gig to earn him an income of £2000 per month with taxes and savings covered.

Calculating a magicians fee

To earn £2000 per month the magician should charge £347 per gig, doing 3 gigs per week and having a 2 week holiday each year. This included taxes and savings built in.

Let’s say the magician averages 2 gigs per week. What fee would he need to charge per gig to make the UK average income of £2000 per month after tax and savings.

How much should a magician charge for perfroming magic tricks?

To earn £2000 after tax and savings, a magician should charge around £500 per booking and do 2 shows per week.

Let’s look at a different type of magician. Children’s shows start from around £100-£200 per show.

charging £150 for a magic show

If a children’s magician charges £150 per show and does 7 shows every week (with a 2 week holiday), it will bring in an income of £2000 per month after taxes and savings.

You can use the Your Rate website to enter your own figures and play with the results.

DO THIS: Use Your Rate to see how many gigs you would need to do, with your area average fee per gig to earn the income you made over the last 12 months. See if the fee you would need to charge is viable for your reputation, the number of gigs you think you can average over a year and the fee’s your competition are charging.

Filed Under: how to do magic tricks, magic advice, performing for the public, Questions and Answers Tagged With: beginners, magic business, marketing, performing for the public, performing magic

Comments

  1. Alan Innes says

    November 30, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Good advice and I would add that you should check your contact of employment to see if you are allowed to have a second job.

    Also, you might have to “opt-out” of the working time regulations if your day job already has you working up to 48hrs a week.

    Reply
  2. The Merchant of Magic says

    November 30, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    Good Advice Alan, thanks.

    Reply
  3. Unknown says

    December 4, 2012 at 7:29 pm

    Just a word of warning from an accountant. I’m not sure exactly what calculations that rate website is using. It appears to be providing an after tax income, but there is no clear indication as to which countries tax legislations that it is applying. A gross salary of £52,000 would provide you with a net income significantly greater than 26K.
    It’s also worth noting that the article has assumed a required household income of 24k, and from this we have derived the number of working hours, but do consider that most households consist of more than 1 breadwinner.

    Cheers

    N

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      December 4, 2012 at 7:35 pm

      Good points N.

      The calculator multiplies the actual rate needed by 2 to give the final total as there is no way to allow for different countries tax and also to build in savings and costs of business etc etc. It’s only a rough guide.

      Thanks for contributing

      Reply
  4. Tom London says

    January 22, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    I think choosing your price is tricky at first and this is a great way to help determine it. However I think that the main question after finding your price is ‘how much work must I do a month to reach my salary goals?’ Considering the hardest part of being a magician is getting the work in the first place.

    A great way to turn this around to use it as motivation is to:
    1. Divide your ‘desired’ yearly salary by your average fee = Number of gigs you must do a year.
    2. Divide this figure by 12 = The number of gigs you must do in a month.
    3. Divide the original figure by 52 = The number of gigs you must do in a week (minus x weeks for holidays).

    Equation:
    (Desired Salary ÷ Average Fee) ÷ 52
    I hope this helps you all work out how many gigs you need to get in order to reach your desired salary as a semi or professional magician.

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 25, 2013 at 5:27 pm

      Great post Tom! Thanks

      Reply
  5. DavidF says

    February 25, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    Long long ago, when first started in the business I was given some very sound advice. My mentor said, “Make sure you do a very good act and charge accordingly but never accept a £10 booking even if you are desperate for work.” I never took a £10 booking, and there were many times when i was sorely tempted, because you only had to do it once and bookers would have said “I need a headliner but I cant book him because he is a £10 act”. It is often a matter of trust and credibility so now in 2013 ask yourself this. On the basis that the entertainer can make or break MY FUNCTION, would I really trust someone who only wants £100 for the night? So if your act can elevate your clients function, whatever that might be, charge enough for them to think, “He must be good, he charges £xxx!” Do a good show and the say on the night that “He wasn’t cheap but by golly, he was good” A week later they will have forgotten what it cost and only remember that it was good.

    Reply
    • The Merchant of Magic says

      February 25, 2013 at 5:27 pm

      Thanks for posting David. We couldn’t agree more!

      Reply

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