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Advice and Support for Magicians

Magicians Agents – Why They are Needed and How to Get One

by Dominic Reyes Leave a Comment

Magicians Agents

Are Magicians Agents Essential for Success?

By James Nathan

With the internet taking over the world, it has been said that there is really no need for magicians agents these days. If anything, I think that the opposite is true. Read most magician's websites and it is easy to think that they are all world champions. Yes, magicians have to be positive about their own skills, and everyone is going to rave about themselves – but for clients looking to book an entertainer, they feel re-assured by working with an agent. It’s a quality control issue.

Big companies invariably will only work through agents, so if you want the most lucrative jobs, you really need to be on their books. Not only do they have top clients, they also know what to charge.

Agents have working relationships with companies for years – they know what the price structure is – and they can get the best price for the performer – even after their commission has been deducted. Also they advise the client on what is the best act for them – this is all part of the service they provide.

Professionalism is paramount and if you are working through an agent, you are already considered to be of a certain standard.

If you perform a stand-up magic act, then you basically have to work through agents. Cruise ship companies, large hotel groups, holiday centres and large corporates all work closely with agents to book their entertainers.

Finding the best magicians agents can be tricky, and knowling how to approach them is a skill in and of itself. Many magicians use the Special Agents Directory which compiles hundreds of the best UK agents who work with many of the best clients in the UK and beyond. The ebook also includes many international agents who book acts cabaret & speciality acts from the UK.

You can learn several tips for finding a magicians agent and the best way to approach them for work in this post: How to find and use magicians agents

If you are a close-up magician, or perform any type of speciality act, it's worth searching Google and making a list of agents to approach. If you prefer to have the leg work done for you, and identify the best agents that are most responsive to magic acts, then the Secret Agents Directory is a very good source for magicians agents who could use your services.

 

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks, magic advice, Marketing for Magicians Tagged With: agents, Marketing for Magicians

How Much To Hire a Magician – Setting a Price

by Merchant of Magic 4 Comments

How Much To Hire a MagicianWe asked a range of magicians on Facebook: ‘How much to hire a magician for 2 hours of close-up magic?’

You can see the results just there on the left. Quite varied responses and a range of prices.

What does this tell us?

There are magicians for everyone’s budget. Just as there are singers that work for £50 and a free meal, and singers that charge thousands per show. There can often be  a range of prices because there is always a range of clients with different needs and budgets.

 

The important question is: Where YOU want to sit on this scale!

 

 

Looking deeper at the results.

Several of the cheapest and also the most expensive ‘votes’ came from people who don’t actually perform. These may be only aspirations, but can still be useful data about the perceived value of a close-up magician.

What Agencies report.

We asked some of the most popular entertainment agencies what average fees they were charging to supply close up magicians.

Generally agencies will determine the clients budget and then seek out a magician from their trusted database of performers that are willing to work within the clients budget.

The most common prices for a close-up magician performing 2 hours at a private party or wedding in the South of England were £350-£500 with the magician receiving around £250-£400 from the agent.

Many agencies also have a list of ‘up and coming’ or part-time magicians that are prepared to take work at around £200. These tend to be used as part of overall entertainment packages or for events with limited budgets.

These fees excluded restaurant residency fees, which came in at £80-£150 per evening.

‘Higher end’ close up magicians ranged around £600-£800 per 2 hour booking.

Finally, TV celebrity magicians were much higher than this, leading into ‘celebrity appearance’ fees dependent on their current popularity.

Fee’s outside of the South of England tended to be slightly cheaper.

What we learn from this:

Like any type of product, there are as many different prices as there are types of customers and events. We can look at it a bit like Apple iOS Vs Android in the smart phone market. The android platform aims to reach as many people as possible across the whole spectrum of product prices. Because of this, it is on many more devices and has the largest market share. IOS is much more expensive and has a lower market share but has the largest share of the markets profits. A magician can be very busy, but their income relates to the fee level they charge and the market they target, more than the amount of gigs they need to maintain their required income.

Setting a low price will mean you are within the price range of most gigs agents are seeking. However, It will put you in a crowded market with a lot of competition from part-time magicians happy to work for low fees.

You may get plenty of work from this approach.  However, you may become stuck in a low fee cycle:

The low fee cycle.

When a magician starts out, he or she can often pitch their fee lower than it should be. Chances are they are part-time, and income from gigs is just fun money for them. If they are good, they build up a reputation and get regular work from agents. They meet other magicians from time to time, who are also working for a similar low fee. It’s rare they work with magicians charging more as they tend only to work with other magicians doing corporate parties arranged by the same agent as a package. They may also do restaurant gigs, at a much lower fee.

When private bookings come in, they quote at the fee level they normally get from agents as that’s what they feel the standard fee level should be.

As a result of this, they stay in a low fee cycle. Charging the same fees year after year, and receiving lots of regular work.

Outside the low fee cycle.

Other magicians start the same way. If they are good, they get busy. Once they find their work diary filling consistently, they start to increase their fees.

Increasing their fees can mean that they stop getting work from some agents. That’s quite scary, and there’s a temptation at that point, to return to the low fee cycle.

Pushing past this and moving away from ‘whole of market’ agents, can lift them to a more selective client base. This does result in fewer bookings, but a larger income over the course of the year.

Sitting on the fence.

Many magicians attempt to work within both markets. The magicians have a main persona and brand, which is pitched to premium clients, but they will also work for  ‘whole of market’ agents, under a different name. A second brand can permit a magician to fill his or her diary gaps  with lower paid work. This can work very well, providing that care is taken to keep the brands distinct and that preference are given to the premium brand on key working dates.

DO THIS:

How long have you been quoting the same fee to agents and clients? Have you been increasing your fee every year by at least 3%-5% to cover inflation?  If you haven’t, you are taking a pay cut every year as the value of your income naturally decreases. Do you find that fear of no longer being competitive and losing work is stopping you maintaining your income level?

Consider increasing the fee you charge by £50 from today. If a client wants you, £50 probably isn’t enough to break a deal, but over a year the increase is considerable to your bottom line. If a £50 increase threatens the deal, the client is probably only shopping on price rather than quality, and someone else will almost always be cheaper. Do you really want to be, simply the ‘cheapest option’?

As your diary fills to an acceptable level, increase the fee you quote in small jumps. Continue to increase your fee until your new inquiries begin to level off. Adjust your fee to just below that level until you find your work level starts increasing again, then repeat the process. Remember, as you increase your fee, it’s OK to take a few less bookings for a larger fee. You will still maintain the same monthly income. As you do this, notice how your client base starts to change, and as a result, the referral bookings that come in will reflect a new market.

 NEXT: How magicians overcome price objections

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Filed Under: how to do magic tricks Tagged With: agents, magic business, marketing

How to Arrive at a Magic Gig – Dominic Reyes

by Merchant of Magic Leave a Comment

Here’s some useful advice about how to arrive at a magic gig professionally when you start a magic show:

‘I attended a lot of events over December arranged via agents. One of the things that surprised me was watching the other magicians arrive at the event. They dumped their bags into a corner and jump right into the crowd. At first I thought, this client must be a regular booking for them, but talking to them afterwards, it seems this was not the case. They simply felt that it was professional to show the client that they didn’t need any setting up and were being ‘professional’.

It’s my personal opinion that this is a BIG MISTAKE. I explain why in this short video.’ – Dominic Reyes

Prefer to read about it instead? Click here for a blog post about the core message for magicians in the video

 

 

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Filed Under: Card Magic Tricks Tagged With: agents, Approach, beginners, performing for the public, podcasts, showmanship, video, Video Podcast

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