How much have you be paid for a performance?

[monkiatzu]

ina big club near me, they charge 500 AU$ for a 1 hour show?
i think 200 for half hour
so its ok

[Diabolo88]

Diabolo88, as your friendly neighbor country man. I say that's ok.
Seems like a normal salary for me. Though, i think you should have outfit
(even a simple one, not anything too fancy) for your next show. It sounds pretty
much at first but then again you drove there for 3 hours and made a completely
new show for that gig.

Some people will pay you that or more, easily. But about half of the people will be
ready to pay like third of that sum. Sounds like you got i nice fish for your first paid
performance. But it isn't really that much compared to some sums i've heard of or
got a few times. Those would be robbery.  I would probably ask for little less to get more
gigs at first. But it's your choice in the end. You're not a thief.

If you meet me in person, as for a few selling tips. I have one or two really good ones.

Thanks so much for the helpful advice, it is very weird trying to "sell" yourself when it´s all new but feels good to hear that it wasn´t too much (the people who paid were happy so guess it can´t be bad).

See you in Finland 2010 (or maybe earlier) to learn some of those selfpromoting tips from you

I would probably ask for little less to get more
gigs at first.

Yeah I told them they could pay me just a little money and I´d be happy anyway, but they set up the whole thing, contacted me and made the offer for the pay so I was never really involved in any discussion about it. A third of that sum like you say sounds like big money too so that seems fair.




OK, so would anyone know about how much is fair for TV? It seems like a bit more work but I don´t know for sure yet?
 
I got an email from SVT (the governmentcontrolled network) and they wanted a show in some kidsprogram later in the fall. It is going pretty fast seeing as that would only be my 3rd performance, so any help/tips at all is appreciated.
Would it be OK to say to them that they could make the first offer or is that not professional? They didn´t really give any details yet for the length of the show, or how many times or the travel at all (they only told me they wanted a performance) so what to tell/ask them? And would kids between 10-15 or somewhere in that agegroup really understand technical diabolo (unless they aren´t into it already)?

Edit: NVM my last question, the time of filming was during school so I passed on that.

[Adamer15]

I preform at my school
I don't really get money but i got to start my own juggling lesson (Takes out 2 lessons of my daily schedule )

And sometimes i use the excuse "I'm practicing for the show" To get out of class xD

[Diabolo88]

I preform at my school
I don't really get money but i got to start my own juggling lesson (Takes out 2 lessons of my daily schedule )

And sometimes i use the excuse "I'm practicing for the show" To get out of class xD

That is brilliant, not only do you get out of class but you also get more people to practice/pass with. Do you actually get any good interest from people or are they just goofing around with your props?

[mrpink]

Asking how much to charge for a gig is kind of like asking how much you shuld pay for a car. The answer is of cause that it depends on what car it is.
Steven Ragatz (cirque du solei and juggling veteran) has written a very good article on the subject
http://www.performers.net/library/sr-fee.html

2000 sek may seem a lot for a 10 minute show, but you are not just selling 10 minutes of your time. As you said you spent the entire day geting to and from the market and 2 days putting the routine together. And i dare say you have spent over a tousand hours practicing to be able to perform the stuff in your show, they pay for that as well. More time than most people have spent on their university degree.

A client is usually prepared to spend good money to be sure they get a good act, if the show sucks their events going to look bad, if the show rocks, their event rock! There is always people around who would like to do fire poi for some smallchange and a bottle of lamp oil. But hiring them is out of the question for most serious clients. If you have a good act they will pay to get you.

if the market paid you 2000 and both they and you are happy about the sum the price was rigth. Its enough monney to make you look like a pro and not so expensive that it scares the organizers away.

How much to ask also depends a lot on the costumer, if its a show for kids in a school go for your minimum rate, if its a corporate event fleece the buggers as much as possible. Some gigs you can do for free if you think its a cool purpose (charity etc) but always tell them what the show really costs.

Asking and getting the rigth fee is important, if you charge too much they will not call you next year, if you ask to little you will never earn enough to do it for real.
But if you find a good balance and both you and the costumer feel that they got more than they bargined for you are on the rigth path.

You do amazing stuff not many people can do any of the tricks you are telling about and completly dropfree... thats really cool! So now you stop practicing new tricks for a whike and put your energy on developing your show instead, you are already more than good enough at tech stuff.
If you spend a tenth of the time you put into your technical skill on geting a solid act i dont think you ever have to get get a normal job.
Good luck man

[Niclas]

You do amazing stuff not many people can do any of the tricks you are telling about and completly dropfree... thats really cool! So now you stop practicing new tricks for a whike and put your energy on developing your show instead, you are already more than good enough at tech stuff.
If you spend a tenth of the time you put into your technical skill on geting a solid act i dont think you ever have to get get a normal job.
Good luck man

Who are you talking about,diabolo88?

[mrpink]

yupp i was thinking about diabolo88 when i wrote the reply, but i think the advice is good for many other diaboloers at this forum as well who want to make a living with their arts.
A coupple of years ago the tricks that seem commonplace here today was cutting edge worldclass. And even if it takes a lot more to impress us diabolo players here today, the broad audience has no clue of whats going on here.
There aint that manny diabolo artists around (compared with other kind of jugglers) and I think there is place for many more.
I think that if you can do 3 diabolos solid, you got more tech skill than you actually need to make it as a performer. But it takes a lot of work to develop a good act, and its not all about the tricks. I say put more energy on developing your acts and a little bit less on your tech skills.
This is my opinion and im sure everyone dosnt agree with me.

[Dracodragon]

The most has been $370 us dollars for a 2.5 hour session of teaching and performing for a corporate event. But I usually charge 125 for a kids party which is one hour of both teaching and performing. Prices will probably rise when I go to college in then next few weeks. I think its a fair price for now but am not entirely sure if its too much or too little. Like Steve Ragatz said in his article, Im just going with the flow and my customers responses. What do you all think?

[Diabolo88]

Asking how much to charge for a gig is kind of like asking how much you shuld pay for a car. The answer is of cause that it depends on what car it is.
Steven Ragatz (cirque du solei and juggling veteran) has written a very good article on the subject
http://www.performers.net/library/sr-fee.html

Great article, thank you very much for linking to it.

if the market paid you 2000 and both they and you are happy about the sum the price was rigth. Its enough monney to make you look like a pro and not so expensive that it scares the organizers away.

How much to ask also depends a lot on the costumer, if its a show for kids in a school go for your minimum rate, if its a corporate event fleece the buggers as much as possible. Some gigs you can do for free if you think its a cool purpose (charity etc) but always tell them what the show really costs.

Again, thank you so much for the tips. I am happy with the pay and so were the organizers (the people who were hosts were magicians so I guess they knew the techlevel somewhat and suggested the price after that).

How much to ask also depends a lot on the costumer, if its a show for kids in a school go for your minimum rate, if its a corporate event fleece the buggers as much as possible. Some gigs you can do for free if you think its a cool purpose (charity etc) but always tell them what the show really costs.

I did actually do a show for an elementaryschool in my town but that was a worse experience. It was longer (also dropless) with harder stuff because it was indoors...yet the kids were just screaming and talking the entire time and teachers didn´t care about either the routine or the kids. After it was finished someone yelled "do 4"...so I picked up a 4th and got about 15 catches, but no collect (don´t practice 4 though so that was pretty good for me). At that point everything felt SO good it was over...until some yelled for 5. It is a major anticlimax when you have to verbally explain 5 is beyond you after a routine . For that show + an hour of teaching afterwards I got paid a box of chocolates.

It just feels so unnatural to have as a job when it´s normally what you do for fun. As a gymnasiumstudent I get 1050 SEK from the school every month but then you also have rent, without a parttimejob I would not afford props and string :'(. It´s probably just that feeling of "weird" and all the stagefreight I need to get over to start earning money on diabolo.

But I usually charge 125 for a kids party which is one hour of both teaching and performing.

To get 125 USD for an hour sounds very good, and if you teach you can also avoid the kids getting bored ofcourse. Maybe you know if it´s too much or too little depending on how fun it is or what other expenses you get (like needing to use more string and props for the kids to be teached)? If you will be at college that equals more homework and in turn makes your sparetime more precious correct? Maybe these are factors to be taken into account?

But it takes a lot of work to develop a good act, and its not all about the tricks. I say put more energy on developing your acts and a little bit less on your tech skills.
This is my opinion and im sure everyone dosnt agree with me.

I like this tip very much so I work on my stagefreight and contact with the crowd alone in practice. Having autism though this is a BIG step for me to take, so it will take lots of work, that is why working on techstuff feels often more satisfying. If your goal is to make money it is probably easier to do if you have good crowdinteraction and then your skills are secondary...but that just doesn´t feel good in the back of my mind.

[Einherjer]

I recently got 500kr (5-6kr = 1 Dollar) for a 5 min performance. Though i did spend a couple of hours training for it.

[Mark BMC]

Gay pride sat/sun event. Performed saturday in constant rain, organisers decide to cancel sunday due to weather. Sunday proceeds to be amazing sunshine.

I go to a free party called Groove on the green, have a go on a power kite on the beach, go for a pint with the organisers then have a campfire/bbq/drinking session till the early hours all with the other performers and still get paid the 250 quid for the day.

Actually having to diabolo for your money is for hobbyists.

[bombmistro]

dang you all make me feel silly (although i am not much into preforming officially) i got 6 bucks for an impromptu show where i jokingly said yes i will do it but you have to pay me, i was talking to an ex-pro jugglers (contact, poi, balls clubs, little diabolo) and he said after watching me play around for a little bit take nothing less than $100. do it for that much or don't ask for money. so i did i stood outside in the sunny San Diego weather for 4-5 hours welcoming people to the CFHMF (community for healthy mind forum) as well as a lunch show on the stage and in the grass and then taught to a couple of the local teens (got a good giggle out of that) so i could have asked for like $400-$500 (i think) but it was a good cause so i couldn't, does theoretical money count? because if it does i win

[Mark BMC]

Well done on getting paid!

It is a strange thing getting paid for what you enjoy doing. You just have to be honest with yourself in terms of what you think your worth and then stick to your guns.

For instance I'm often asked if I know any other jugglers for gigs. What i think about before reccommending is

-are the reliable
-are the insured
- are thy presentable and have attractive equipment
- have they a decent level of technical ability


Probably in that order.

[Folkert]

I was once asked to do a show in Dubai, they would pay the flight and hotel etc and i would get £1500 for the weekend... My parents didn't let me because i'm too young

[kurrygrodan]

I was once asked to do a show in Dubai, they would pay the flight and hotel etc and i would get £1500 for the weekend... My parents didn't let me because i'm too young

poor you

[Mark BMC]

Folkert

blimey! who offered you that gig!? pm me their details! I'm half as good but twice as available.