Here’s a short post to kick off the new year.
Short because musician, Danny Barnes has done all the heavy lifting.
Danny Barnes plays a ferociously twangy banjo with nasal lyrics that draw heavily from folk music traditions, but he also ventures forth to fuse traditional roots with the progressive sound of rock, jazz, and electronic music.
To learn how to make a living performing magic, read his post: How to Make a Living Playing Music. (Just substitute the word “magician” for “musician” and you’ll realize his ideas still apply.) My thanks to Mr. Barnes for sharing his wisdom.
To Mr. Barnes’s 29 theses I would add this observation (this time from magician Billy McComb) that consistency is more important than brilliance. That is, no one wants to hire a performer who is brilliant one night but mediocre the next — because they can never be sure which performer is going to show up when they hire them, and furthermore erratic performances make it impossible to determine what fee would be fair compensation. Billy contends, and I concur, that you’ll have more success if you are consistent and you consistently deliver good value for the money.
And one more thought.
Before I launched into this business, I asked performers of all stripes if it was possible to make a living pursuing this decidedly off-beat profession. In exchange for my query, I receive a lot of quizzical looks and indeterminate answers.
I realize now that the question (as asked) was not one that could be answered, because I hadn’t thought through enough of the details.
To ask if it’s possible to make a living performing magic is akin to asking, “Do you think I could make a living selling some “thing” to some people?”
Of course there’s no way to answer to that question, except to ask a lot of other questions. What “thing” do you intend to sell? To whom will you sell it? How much does it cost to produce this “thing?” Of what value is this “thing” to your prospective clients? Do they have the money necessary to afford this “thing?” How many people are in the market for this “thing?” How will people find out about this “thing” you are offering?
Oh, and if you reply, “What I’m selling is a magic show,” then you need to dig much deeper. Remember the person who goes to the hardware store to buy a drill doesn’t want a drill — what they want are the holes.
