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Matt Adams Special user Harvest, AL 827 Posts |
Anyone know anything about the college market? Care to share booking techniques, pricing structure, etc? I'd love to look at doing more college shows, but I have no idea who I'm supposed to be pitching my show to. From what I understand, there's plenty of money to be had, but talking directly to students isn't likely the way to get it...
Website: www.MattAdamsMinistries.com
Instagram: @mattadamsministries Facebook: www.facebook.com/mattadamsministries |
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tacrowl Inner circle Maryland 1633 Posts |
Matt -
Spend some time looking around http://www.naca.org/Pages/Home.aspx Check out the conventions, the guides, see who the players in the market are, what agencies work the colleges and learn about the market before you jump in. There is money to be made there, but it isn't instant and if you go just for the money - you are liable to be disappointed. Good luck! Tom |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
Do exactly the opposite of everything I did.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Christophercarter Regular user 132 Posts |
Tom's advice is good, but I sent you a pm to offer more details.
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Matt Adams Special user Harvest, AL 827 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-03-13 18:09, tacrowl wrote: Awesome. I love practical stuff. Looking into it now. Didn't have a clue where to start. Thanks!
Website: www.MattAdamsMinistries.com
Instagram: @mattadamsministries Facebook: www.facebook.com/mattadamsministries |
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Jerskin Inner circle 2496 Posts |
Danny Doyle made me laugh.
GrEg oTtO
MUNDUS VULT DECIPI |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
Problem is I was being serious!
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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Jerskin Inner circle 2496 Posts |
That's why it made me laugh.
GrEg oTtO
MUNDUS VULT DECIPI |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
Yes it is now. At the time not so much.
I will tell you the biggest mistake I made was I should have never been in the market in the first place. Was absolutely not ready on stage and quite frankly off stage. Financially I had no chance to make it. On stage my show might have been average. I wish I had enough sense to see it at the time.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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MichaelKent Special user 560 Posts |
I get about 3 emails a month asking this exact question. The college market makes up 80-100 of the shows that I do every year. I'll tell you what I've been telling everyone else. If you're serious about the college market, it's important to know a few things.
a) You're not going to make any decent money for quite awhile. It takes years of being a continuous presence in the market (and building name recognition through having a QUALITY show). Some of my entertainer friends estimate it realistically takes about $10-20k and 3-4 years before you're going to see any profits that are that impressive. Entertainers who say "I just want to supplement my income by doing a few college shows here and there" often end up disappointed. b) This is NOT a good market to cut your teeth in. There are many magicians entering the market because they've been told it's easy money and ripe for the picking. As a result, I've seen lots of folks come into the market before they're ready and what happens is they either give themselves a bad name with colleges by doing a show that's not quite there yet, or sending materials to agents that show they're not ready. Beware of the impression you're making. People have long memories. c) The market is currently FLOODED with magicians. More than I've ever seen in the 10 years I've been doing colleges. I've seen professionals in other markets come to try to enter the college market and be severely disappointed. If you want to stand out, you either need to have an act that is different than what everyone else is doing (do some research and find out who the other acts in the market are) or have some heat to your name due to television, etc. |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10603 Posts |
This is some of the best advice posted here in a while. I would have said the same thing. It's even harder if you're trying to be self-represented. I always follow up the question of "how" to the person that asked about it with my question of "why"?
I've found very few do it for the right reason, but rather the popular misconceptions. Although I do not have an accurate figure I would venture to say 95% of entertainers that try to tap into this market fail or give up, for a variety of reasons. |
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Christophercarter Regular user 132 Posts |
Mindpro, now I'm curious. What's the right reason? (I have my own ideas on this topic, but I'm interested to hear yours.)
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10603 Posts |
What I meant by that is that there seems to be a lot of entertainers and for whatever reason many magicians that seem to want to break into the college market for only the sole reason of what they perceive to be "higher paying bookings". In other words for the money only, with little understanding of the market itself and all that it entails - working with college audiences, traveling, planes, rental cars, and lodging, co-op bookings, routing, the misconception that all performances are for huge sell-out audiences (when all of us that have worked the market have had gigs where only seven people have shown up), showcases, student buyers, the politics, the entire NACA/APCA playing field, and on and on...
It just seems that, like the corporate market, there are many that have heard it is a better paying market, when in reality while that may be true there is much more to it than that. If someone truly wants to work the college market with a true understanding of all it entails, and how the market can be used in a business sense in many beneficial ways other than just monetary that can be part of a well-charted business plan, utilizing this demographic for many other reasons and benefits. This is more of what I was referring to, a larger or perhaps more complete picture. I also think it's a market that many rush into prematurely without a clear understanding, which is why many never cut it. Especially the local birthday party or school magician that thinks this is the next step up. |
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Dannydoyle Eternal Order 21245 Posts |
Most enter markets completely unprepared.
Danny Doyle
<BR>Semper Occultus <BR>In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act....George Orwell |
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tacrowl Inner circle Maryland 1633 Posts |
Quote:
On 2013-03-15 01:08, Mindpro wrote: You had seven people? I wish I had that kind of drawing power - I had three... |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10603 Posts |
Well...that;s because I was in the same town at the same time with my drawing power.
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BrianMillerMagic Inner circle CT 2050 Posts |
I've been getting this question messaged/emailed to me in various forms a lot lately, and Michael Kent gave exactly the response I would give. Here's a copy/paste of an answer I've given lately:
***** Let me start off by telling you that the college market is SATURATED with magicians right now. It's one of the most competitive markets for a magician at the moment. Some things you should know about doing colleges: 1) It's not as glamorous as it sounds. Most shows are in the corner of a crappy room or dining hall performing to people who aren't paying attention; 2) You're going to spend a lot of time driving and in hotels alone; 3) It will significantly hamper your ability to hold down a regular schedule of local clientele, and you definitely can't "get started on colleges" while holding down a part time job (no agency will work around your schedule). ***** Additionally, I agree with Michael that it can take at least 3 years and you'll easily need to sink $20k cash dedicated to breaking into the market. MindPro - my smallest crowd so far was 9! But at least it was only an 8 hour round trip for that one... |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 10603 Posts |
As I said, you really need to be doing it for the right reasons. To utilize the college market as part of a bigger business plan or picture, to be able to sacrifice other markets if you plan to work colleges seriously and to use it as a means to something (a bigger picture, an end, backend-lol, to create a long-term-planned customer-base and following, etc...) and then be able to monetize it.
Magicians have always been over-saturated in the college market, so have hypnotists. My bit of advice is to be sure you are college-market-ready before you even think of entering it. Your show must be polished and top of the line professional, your promo materials should reflect this, you will travel 23 hours just for the one hour of performance time, and you must commit to the market (both in effort and financially, as well as sacrifice) for a few years to even begin to see some progress, and be ready to play the game with all of the inner-politics that exist (in my opinion much more than most consumer or corporate markets). Most simply do not have this level of commitment. If you don't mind me asking Christopher, where you are perspectives and ideas on this? |
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TheDean Inner circle Reno, Nevada 2164 Posts |
BRILLIANT POSTS and TRUTH-TELLING SHARES! A-W-E-S-O-M-E!
Dean Hankey, *M.D. - The Dean of Success Solutions!
Serving & Supporting YOU and Your Success! "Book More Shows... Make More Money... SERVE MORE PEOPLE! - Not Necessarily In That Order…" (*Marketing Doctor) |
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ThatsJustWrong! Special user My flying monkeys are perched on 629 Posts |
Money? Exciting travel? Am I the only one who does colleges to chat up Co-Eds? Are we still allowed to call them that?
Joe Leo
All entertainers can benefit from some help from an experienced stage director. How about you? www.MisfitMysteries.com |
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