Too Much Consumerism in Magic

[TrueToLife]

Dear Community,

In recent times I've become more and more troubled by the level of consumerism in magic today. How many magician's do you know for being performers as opposed to creator's of magic "products". How many products do you think go on the market each year as opposed to how many live magic shows are produced? And most importantly, how much money do you think is made with the performance of magic as opposed to money made by selling secrets?

If I'm wrong, please let me know, but I believe that the answer to all of those questions indicates that there is much more emphasis placed on selling and buying tricks than there is on creating art and performing magic for lay audiences.

It disturbs me that if you have something original and good, one of the first things a magic acquaintance says is something like "Wow, you should market that."

It saddens me that there is so much time spent on creating a product that will sell well because magician's can't figure it out, or that it improve on some aspect of a method, and it looks cool, than on crafting an act that will fill lay people with wonder.

So, I'm disturbed and saddened by there being more creator's than performers. Who cares? Well, I believe you should care, because these issues have the potential to hurt the hard working performers and even the casual performer.

I don't care about magic dvds getting pirated an eighth as much as I care about the fact that they were for sale in the first place.

I know we've all got to learn somehow, but I think the HUGE market is making the information too easily available.

We've all heard the scenario of a magician performing an effect superbly, only to have a spectator Google search a description of the trick and they've found an exposure video and thus the magic is lost.

I think that the magic dies way before they see how its done. I think it dies when they see a link to an online magic store, and a product demo. They look and they find "www.penguinmagic.com" "theory11.com" "***********.com" or "Geekmagic.com"

At this point its not an issue of "Oh, now I know how he does it!" It becomes an issue of "Oh... Its just something you buy."

Even, just stumbling upon one of these websites and looking for five minutes can change someone's perspective of magic being something mysterious and exotic to being "Something you buy."

What are your thoughts on this? And do you agree that the market is devaluing the performance sector of magic?

[Eoin Lavery]

I do not completely agree with this. I believe that selling magic has got people involved in magic a lot more and in the future we will see a huge increase in the number of professional magicians. Whilst some magicians may think of marketing when they first invent a trick, they really do have to make a living somehow, they dedicate their lives to this and if they just gave away tricks for free then more people would be performing those tricks and after a while they would get bored of that trick, and also some gimmicks require extensive manufacturing which costs a lot. Selling magic provides magic to a lot more people of younger generations.

I remember one time walking into International Magic in London, and a kid was at the counter performing a trick for the owner, a trick which he bought the week before. I thought that was a great moment, to see such a young kid performing some great coin magic, i could tell by the look on the owners face, he got another person hooked on magic.

[haroldross]

This is a difficult subject that is difficult to discuss- it's so easy to throw the baby out with the bath water.

It is so easy to learn how a magic trick is done- YouTube, magic instruction sites and the many Torrent sites. Magic is an art and there is more to it than the technical trick. Music is also an art and there is probably not very many people out there that would buy my music. Family members are actually embarrassed when I play one of my recordings for someone outside the family.

There are many magic companies that are out their and a great deal of them are not there for anything but to make a fast buck. How about $40.00 for 2 paper clips- with the right amount of hype- you can sell hundreds.

Most professional magi that I am familiar with rarely market their current effects. Those that do market their current effects usually place a high price tag on them so that no just anybody will run out and get one. A good example of this is 'Sleeve Star.'

I am glad that there are the many magic shops out there. The more exposure people get to magic, the better off we magicians will be. Even the 'Masked Magician' has had a positive effect on the world of magic. Magic as an art has to constantly be growing and changing. Houdini was a great escape artist but people didn't just copy his effects, they strove to make them better. I personally am driven by the competition. I want to be the best in my field. You may never get to see one of my shows but many will.

My greatest resource for magic are the old books that I have acquired through the years such as Tarbell's Course, Mark Wilson's Course In Magic, and A Practical Treatise On Modern Magic by John Northern Hilliard. GREATER MAGIC A Practical Treatise on Modern Magic 1938 | eBay It's not cheap! It is an investment with great returns.

I am more a consumer of magic products that a creator of magic products. Many of the props and gimmicks I use are modifications or variations of available products. I don't have time to design many of my gimmicks. I would rather put my effort into my performance and message that I am trying to get across.

I use the invisible deck and I know that many people know the mechanics of that effect but I still continue to get great responses from it. An effect is much more than just doing it. David Berglas illustrated this one night by making a piano disappear and then making a coin disappear. Guess which one had the audience amazed more? The coin disappearing. He did very little build up for the disappearing piano but did a great build up and performance for making the coin disappear. The audience was floored by the coin disappearing. A simple trick right out of Bobo's book, yet in the hands of a master magician, it was a killer effect.

I apologize if these thoughts come out like the rantings of a mad man, maybe I am one.

[Misjief]

I love this topic...

I am a hypnotist and a prop maker (rather then a magic performer per say)...
There is so much more to magic then simply knowing the mechanics behind the trick. At this point I think you would be very hard pressed to show me a trick where as I wouldn't have any idea as to how it is done, as I am fairly well informed anymore. However, that said I don't think I could actually accomplish the trick to a level that I would be satisfied with. KNOWING the how is the smallest part of the trick yet that is the part everyone focuses on. If you want to talk about true misdirection in magic, I would have to say that is it. There are as many arm chair magicians as there are arm chair athletes. No only do they know what to do and how to do it but they can do it with their fat asses sitting in a chair while drinking a beer!

I originally spent a lot of money in the magic store recreating the magic kit I had as a kid. At the time I had no idea how hokey most of the tricks behind the counter were, and the few times the classics like the thumb tip or the cup and balls came up so did my nose. I naively thought it was the gimmick that made the magic rather then the skill and talent of the performer. In the right hands (and with the right attitude) any trick can be a work of wonder, usually the simpler the better. I guess what I am saying is the flood of stuff being sold while it is being sold to a wide market ... It is a independent market of itself well outside the true performer's market. You can spend 100s on flashy DVDs or 5 or 10 bucks on a classic book of magic that will provide a real foundation should you put some effort into it. The real tricks are available for a dime (and some serious effort) while the crap is sold for an arm and a leg.

{Don't get me wrong there are some effects well worth the big money being asked of them but by and large they are the exceptions to the rule. I originally thought Tarbells course was expensive and now think it is a steal. Funny how time changes one's perception. }

Unfortunately there is a lot misinformation out there, and people making money on it. As long as somebody is buying it there will be someone there to sell it. It is up to the individual to decide what and where he wants to take it. Too many people believe the NEXT TRICK will fill the bill and meet the hype said of it, right out of the box no effort necessary.

Just my opinion.

-misj-

[David24]

As told Misjief "As long as somebody is buying it there will be someone there to sell it".
The true is that Magic is actually a good market for some.
Everydays there are new magic tricks, videos, books to sell, but how many of them will affect your magic?
How many of them have a real interrest other than really good adverstising?
And how many tricks that you buy will you perform?
Yeah, there's a market for armchair magicians, and a good one.
Most performers haven't time to check magic website for the last trick, and they just try to improve what they do more than showing the "last" upcoming effect. Honestly most spectators don't mind to see the last effect that has been publish, they just want to see good magic and just a double lift can do that!
I think that the magic market is changing.
We can find many low price trick(with good and garbage), some high price tricks(with also good and garbage.Yeah,high price doesn't mean necessary really good), and now a category that grow up "underground magic". Some magicians don't advertise what they sell, they do it hand by hand, to avoid piracy, and honestly the real deal is often there, but it's only on the hands of some.
Some magicians publish also their work to protect it and avoid that someone else steal the idea.(well it's what they tell)

At this point its not an issue of "Oh, now I know how he does it!" It becomes an issue of "Oh... Its just something you buy."

I don't agree on this point, maybe the real question could be:
"what are you selling to your spectators?"
a ) a trick?
b) a magic moment?
If you're response is (b) then I'm sure few will tell you that it's just somethhing you can buy.