talkmagic.co.uk

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well.

For a couple of months I've been busking with magic. It's been going well. I've been learning a lot about performance, timing and audience control. The only thing is, I've been getting commissions, or at least I've been getting queries (can you do parties, etc?). When it comes down to my fee the figure I've been giving out to people has been between £24 - £40 / hour, depending on how confident I've been feeling and how receptive I thought the audience were.

I got a commission to work at a pub for a charity do. The gig is just over a week. The landlord of the pub has told me there will be lots of other publicans present so the potential for future work could be high.

I am certain I will get job offers. I tend to only use 3 or 4 effects (Sinful, Saw, ACR, 2CM, a couple of routines using Beyond ESP deck and a couple of other card tricks) but I do them very well and a combo of ACR, Saw and Sinful (in that order, usually) will prompt job offers.

So, my question is, what should I charge these landlords. This question is mainly directed at those people who have had experience in these matters. How high will they go? How much should the fee reflect my belief in my abilities? My current thinking is £40 per hour as four gigs a week will cover my living costs, allow me to invest in the business (ha! what a strange thing to say!) and give me a little spending money. I am looking to earn my living from doing magic, so I need to charge enough to do that without scaring people off.

Hope you can be of assistance.

Best wishes
Gary

For landlords I charge what a person eating a three course meal at their establishment would pay. Then I usually stipulate that it is a 2 hour minimum. Nobody working solely for pubs and restaurants is going to get rich. It's the private parties and wedding receptions that will make you the lion's share of your money. For private parties and weddings you need to be charging something with three figures in it at least.

See the pubs as a good way of getting yourself known and earning a few bob as well. See the private parties and weddings as your main bread and butter.

Landlords: At LEAST £60 per hour (that was the going rate for Karaoke gigs about 5 years back )

Private parties....assuning you have an hour or two's worth of unique stuff, if you're 'static' and not strolling: Between £70 - £100 per hour

I think you will find it hard to pin down a price of how much someone who makes their living from this.
What I would do though is to think about this in a business fashion as if you were making your living from this.
Say for example you were doing this full time and had 4 x 2 hour events a week on average (which is alot...ALOT of bookings).
That is 32 hours a month. At £40 an hour that is only £1280 a month minus tax, travel, insurance and equipment costs etc.
That doesn't leave alot at all.

Your best is to work out systematically how much you wish to earn and work it out from there.
As a part timer myself I would at least double what you are charging right now but in the end its upto you

And here's the BAD NEWS

Don't forget to cost in what you will have to put aside for the dreaded Tax Man. If they catch you working without paying tax then it will be hard to get them off your back!

Other than that, I hope that it goes well.

dat8962 wrote:And here's the BAD NEWS

Don't forget to cost in what you will have to put aside for the dreaded Tax Man. If they catch you working without paying tax then it will be hard to get them off your back!

Other than that, I hope that it goes well.

That reminds me must do my tax return

Like people have said before, bars and restaurants are a good way to promote yourself. I get about half the amount I would charge if I was doing a wedding!