Has anyone here actually work as a full time professional magician? How much do you actually get paid from doing so...

And when you're offering yourself to work at certain place, how much you can ask for per hour? I'm sure it's not RM5 or RM10 per hour... because I read in Penguin Magic forum and they said you should ask for 10x the amount ($5).

So I'm wondering, how much does an hour of a magician's time worth? Haha.

Thats really depending on what kind of Magic you're going to be doing.
Close-up show? Walk around or table hopping? Stage?
I can't really quote you pricings for Malaysia
but in Australia it normally goes for about RM600 a night for table hopping
A Close-up show would go anywhere from rm600-900 for say....40 minute set.
Stage shows would fetch a lot more obviously

You have to factor in all your costs and transport fees and props and such.
I would say it will be rather tight in Malaysia because everyone is so cheap.
But I may be wrong.

What's table hopping? You mean walking from a table to another and perform magic? Something like walk around?

Haha, well basically I'm close-up walk-around magician... not into stage yet, but am interested in the future.

You're wrong,

I find its quite offensive to say "everyone is so cheap in Malaysia".

You might want to restructure the sentence.

I dont think so.
A Half hour stage show can range anywhere from RM700 to RM1000, or even more. The company I work for paid around that range for magic entertainment for our annual dinner. And this is in Penang, it will be much higher in KL.

Private kids bday parties may be lower, but not necessarily. :)

By stage show, I mean illusions and stuff.
That kind of thing should easily fetch rm1500 upwards for a half hour show.
And when I say 'cheap' I mean in relative terms to western countries.
It's a mix of people not willing to pay as much as the performers deserve and performers not charging as much as they should in Malaysia.
Selling yourself and your magic at a low price is what I deem as cheap.

I understand that Amane
Offering very low pay just to get some shows
I've seen those kind of people
But some magicians can fetch relatively high pay too from shows

So i think better not phrase it in general that malaysians are cheap, but rather,
U can say 'some of them' though.

Ps: Ken, Rm 5, Rm 10 ,or even rm 5~10 x 10, its still very low for a semi-professional/ professional

that's for sure. even waiter get higher pay... :D

Right, my bad

I guess... it depends how good u are as well...

I mean if you can really perform super good and really have good showmanship and all... u can earn big bucks... no worries and customers will give good testimonies abt u.

But if u are just starting out and just want to get some exposure to performing to strangers or a group of people.... maybe it is wise to start low first. How low? well... whatever u are happy with really... the main thing is u get the experience... not the money. As u get better, u naturally would demand more...

The more they pay u, the more u have to deliver... can u do it? ask urself that question first. Are there other magicians out there that could easily take your place?

Exactly ! Completely agree with Brendan . I used to do my stage show for charity , I can get experience and attention while the audience gets to enjoy . Its a win-win situation . Like Brendan said , pay is not really THAT important . Experience is what you want .

Anyway , go out there and perform . Get more experience . Experience comes first , pay comes second , IMO .

Good luck Ken! :)


Kenny

Just to clarify, when I said this, 'stage show' meant stand up, parlor type shows, i.e ropes, silks, cards, canes etc (no boxes, chainsaws and quickchanges), can be done to music or patter. :)


There are many professional magicians in this forum. Hope some of them may shed some light on this topic.

Not to say that Malaysians not willing to pay
You need to do a marketing research then decide how you wanna charge...
You don't simply hamtam a price...

Anyway, I did a close up show for RM 500 just for 15 minutes only
I'm not sure with KL but in Penang, RM 500 for 15 minutes is freaking high...

True yet not very true...

True and very true tim...

There will never be anyone out there that can take your place...
Unless that's not your place...

[EDITED]
Hey sam 15 minutes for RM500 is friggin' high !
I charge 20 minutes for RM250 !
But maybe east Malaysia's market is not that large yet ...

You rock B) lol

You can set yourself 2 minimum pay for your gigs.

1 is agent price
1 is without agent price

Normally, agent/middle man/event company will take a portion of your pay. So the pay will be relatively lower if dealing directly with customer.

Also some agent/middle man/event company can guarantee you repeat shows for say at least 1 show per week. It all really depends how much you set your price and think how much you really worth.

I know some clowns in KL really spoiling the market charging RM100 for baloons sculpting and magic for 2 hours.

Sadly, there are a lot of people doing this. I always see these really bad magicians performing at events, and when I ask them their rates, it's usually less than RM500 for a whole night.

I give out rather high quotes for my performances. Even though I don't get as many shows as the cheaper magicians, I do this because I want to keep a sense of exclusivity for my shows. And in a way, I get to choose the shows that I want to do.

hi all , after i read this post and those reply.i do really have lot lot question mark keep on appearing * pop * POP *pop* :P

maybe some of them really don't know how much should charge so they just make it as rm 100 or so....
or that fellow happy with how much he getting .. then some 1 say he/she spoiled the market...

so do we really gonna set a standard price out for them? like min how much for a 20 minutes or 1 hour show?

Sadly, this is going to be impossible to control. People tend to undercut the competition (but not always, I'm just generalising here), for the sake of getting the job. Magical Entertainment, like most services are harder to do costing. its not like I buy something at RM1 and sell at RM2 kinda thing. Marketing, quality of service, the type of event (can't charge the same for a Company dinner and a 6 year old's bday party right?), everything comes into play.

RM100?!?? Are you kidding me!!

Magic is quite easily accesible nowdays, so, sadly it kinda degrades the art.

Yin Howe, the worse it yet to come...

Hey guys,

Let's do some Econs over here.

Mc D paid their worker in Aussie - 15aud per hour which equal to RM45 per hour in MYS.
Government pay Rubbish Collector in Aussie - 38aud per hour which equal to RM118 per hour.

I guess is pretty unfair to compare rate in Aussie and Malaysia and conclude that Malaysia Magicians are generally cheap.
So if that is the case I guess most of our parents are SO FREAKING CHEAP as a rubbish collector over here are more well paid compare to some Manager and CEO in Malaysia. (oh yes I am in Aussie now)
:lol:


Different market fetch a different price.
Demand and Supply.

Some cheapskate company want cheapskate magician.
They will pay peanut.

Some demand for quality.
They will go for quality one and pay high price.

Just like a pair of Nike and a pair of Nikki in Pasar Malam.

There will not be the "best" price or the minimum.
It is all depend on the market and what they are looking for and what you can provide.

Isaac

Yeah man , I encountered that problem before . The friggin' company wanted to hire me to do a commercial show for 2 hours , guess how much is the pay ?

RM60 for 2 hours ...................................... needless to say , I rejected the offer .

The x10 was actually in USD... got this boy asked for $5 per hour and another forumer said he should ask 10x that amount. Haha.

Yea, that's why I'm wondering how much is it actually. Because considering part time job, RM50 per hour is... I don't know. :P

Yea I know about that. I just want a rough idea on how much can a professional magician makes. Of course for now, I'm doing free shows. I can't charge anyone yet, as I'm not skillful enough to give a mind-blowing performance.

Hehe...

Ok, I shall give you a rough idea...
Some professional magicians make RM 8,500 till RM 10,000 over more But some make around RM 2,000 - 3,500 a month...
Some perform 6-8 shows a month they can hit around RM 8,500 - 10,000
but some only RM 2,000 - 3,500...

You are heading the wrong path dude...
You will hardly improve with free shows...

Why..? Because free ma...
Who are they to give you a real and sincere feed back..?
What else they wanna ask for..? Come on it's a free show...
Given a free show still wanna cakap banyak lagi..!

Then you get a standard feed back
"Thank you for your generousity"
"Good job, take care, good bye"
"Your magic very good lo, see you during the next election"
"Though you didn't ask for it but here is some token of appreciation, remember to vote for B*N*, thank you thank you..." :P

Just my 2 cents...

You're taking this the wrong way
Doing free shows reduces your professionalism....
If you want to do a show for Charity, the correct way is to charge for your show, then donate the earnings to charity.
It's different than doing a free show.....

Yes. If its for charity, it should be like a fund raising activity

I did my very first virgin show in church. Collecting money for each individual for each trick performed to them.
They bought coupon and they spend the coupon for magic.
Thats for charity.

Huh? :huh:

Really? I didn't know that... Hmm... I thought that I'm not capable of charging people yet.... Alright, thanks for correcting me. ;)

Now... can I know where to begin doing charged shows? I mean, how can I start out charging people for my show? Because I don't know when and where people need my service...

edit: alright, charity is a good place... anymore? Because I don't know when there will be charity..

which leads me to another question.

How do I know how much can/should I charge? Hence the thread.. -_-

That's why I declined the request from the Company I work for to perform.. FOR FREE, as staff performance!

Sometimes ppl take for granted that you perform for free... but they do not know that u need to prepare the props,practice and even buy new stuff for the show, my suggestions is that once a while you can do magic for charity so that u will gain the experience and the publicity. and also to see the reactions to your tricks and when u have gain enough experience u can start to ask for payments... as for payments dun go and charge too low as that will show that you are not experience enough.

Guess what, some random staff in my college call me today for a show in my college for the Open day, a day where students after high school are coming to register themselves..

It just happen to fall on my birthday.. 22nd of March.. eh hemm..

Any idea how much should i get paid ?

Every magician has a price tag. You can charge a fee that you think you are worth. Again you must take into consideration that you will get booked while quoting that fee and not to scare the hell out of your client/agent.

If you are serious magician and want repeated bookings, knowing a few card tricks, coin tricks etc will not make you one. You will end up as a demonstrator instead of an entertainer. So practise your effects well, be entertaining in order to get repeated shows and also give justice to this wonderful art.

The fee for magician is associated with the living standard of that country. In certain third world country, the average fee for a 30 minute stage show cost about RM100.00. An Aussie magician once told me that their average kid show of 45 minute is about A$200.00 and they have to travel 100 - 200 km away. There are also young inexperienced magician who are desperate for shows and their fee can be as low as A$50.00 - A$80.00.

So the fee is quite subjective. Some may like to brag about how high their fee is. If you are an angler, you know what I mean.

For those who does close up, go into this link and enjoy my demo video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCatUyoJHA0

Uncle Bob
Singapore

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but it is one I feel is essential.

I think pricing should work, not based on other countries, but one that is based on the circumstances surrounding the work.

The best way to start out is either by working the streets (yes it does give good practice, but you need to be prepared for some brutal comments) and some free shows. I know that some of the magicians here are against free shows, but everyone has to start out somewhere, and free shows aren't a bad idea, since you get an actual audience.

I'm currently in the UK, where there are actually a decent number of magicians, both professional and hobbyists, who do free shows, charging nothing more than travel costs. Some do it because of their kindness, e.g. for children at local hospitals. It is also an area for working professionals to test out their new ideas, as it is not a paying audience, or for the magician, especially the hobbyist, to get more exposure and experience performing. Both parties benefit.

As I said earlier on, it depends on the situation. My normal pricing is about £75-120 for an hour. If it is for a corporate event, it will be near the higher range. If it is a for a private party, it will be near £75. Sometimes, I even halve my price because it really is a small private party, just for an hour, and you can see that the people watching really enjoy magic (as I see their reactions from watching me perform at an event, where they first watch me perform). So it is for the sake of letting more people enjoy magic that I perform for less. However, do make it clear that you are charging less than what you usually charge. Be honest and open with them. Say you are only doing this once, as a taster and next time they'll have to pay the full price.

I've even seen a professional magician, from charging his full price to a private customer, to dropping it over the years, as they become good friends and hire him repeatedly.

Also, to see how much you are worth, ask other magicians (ones whom you can trust, obviously) how much do they think you are worth as well.

As I've said earlier, whatever I've said/done is in a UK context. Things might be different in Malaysia, e.g. the mindset of those hiring etc.

Anyway, can anyone give a rough estimate of how much a professional close-up magician would charge an hour? Both for a private function and for a corporate event (assuming they are being priced differently). Many thanks.