Luggage, set-up, dismantling, sound check, technology (a good headset microphone can easily cost €1,500), lighting, an assistant and a car or bus. The show lasts a maximum of 45 to 60 minutes. So if the event starts without major delays and the show takes place on time, which is rarely the case, the artist can calculate 2-3 hours on site (without travelling). Of course, there is still preparation and follow-up work, training, etc., but more on that later.

Prices for close-up magic/ table magic

With table magic, or close-up magic, the artist usually has less luggage, there is no big set-up, no sound check and no sound system has to be provided. However, the level of preparation is also high here, as the artist performs magic at a large number of tables and hopefully not just with a pack of cards. The professional close-up magician performs a variety of effects with coins, poker chips, playing cards, borrowed objects, levitating objects, etc...

In short:

- A superstar demands a lot of money

- A top professional between €1,000 and €4,000

- A good amateur magician between €400 and €1,500

- A mediocre amateur should not perform for a fee at all, but should humbly perform in front of a patient audience (preferably family members), or even better, keep practicing until they get it right!

Why so much money for a few hours of "work"?

If there are to continue to be professional magicians, every magician (who must have practised for at least 10,000 hours to be really good) will have to accept fees of around €1,500, and people are happy to pay often and many regular customers pay several times.

One mistake you shouldn't make is to relate the fee to the pure performance time and argue with the hourly rate. The pure performance time accounts for less than 1 % of the total time that the magician needs for the entire business. As with any other business model, this includes preparation, practising, bookkeeping, marketing, taxes, website, controlling, rent for work and rehearsal rooms, storage space, etc., as well as other expenses. There are also expenses for seminars, coaching, workshops, the magic tricks themselves and all the equipment.

A show cannot be exchanged and can rarely be viewed in advance. You book a lifetime of training that has developed into a holistic entertainment programme.

All the open stages, the performances with hat money that I've done just to gain practice and experience are also investments that flow into the fee.

The quote from J. Ruskin summarises the content quite precisely.

"There is hardly anything in this world that someone could not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who are only guided by price become the fair prey of such machinations. It is unwise to pay too much, but it is even worse to pay too little. If you pay too much, you lose some money. That's all. If, on the other hand, you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, as the purchased item cannot fulfil its intended purpose. The law of economics forbids getting a lot of value for little money. If you accept the lowest offer, you have to add something for the risk you are taking. And if you do that, you will have enough money to pay for something better. "

Text, based on https://www.chrishill.de/2023/04/07/was-kostet-eigentlich-ein-zauberkuenstler/