Okay, I've been ranting a little here and a little there about exposure ever since I got here, and I thought I'd collect all my thoughts in one place just so people know where I stand.
There are two entirely different aspects of magic, the artistic aspect and the business aspect. These are constantly at war with one another.
As an artist, you should help other artists; you should ensure that they can get tools and techniques readily, that the tools are not too expensive, that the techniques are well-taught and reliable.
As a professional, you have to make your living doing this. When lots of people can do what you do, that means you're going to have to work harder for jobs that pay less, because there will just be too many of you.
So what you have to balance here is that you want your fellow artists to be supported, but you don't want the whole world to be your fellow artists. Since your fellow artists all start out indistinguishable from the rest of the world, these are contradictory goals.
What makes magic particularly different is that it actually came from ripoff artists. We're con men. We say "I'm going to do this," and then we don't. We do something else. We make it look like we did that, but really, we just lied to you. We are in the business of lying and cheating.
The third part of that little trinity is "stealing". Some of us branch out into that, too. It's okay to lie. It's okay to cheat. It must also be okay to steal.
And there is no other business where it is this easy to steal.
If I put a famous magician's name on a box with an invisible thread reel in it, add a half-sheet of typed instructions, and give it a fancy name... people will buy it. (A lot of ITRs end up in the hands of people who are simply unqualified to use them, enthusiastically sold by a shopkeep who drops Criss Angel's or David Blaine's name - as if simply owning the gear will make you a pro.) And if it cost $50, I would want to know that what I actually get is just an ITR and some instructions. Even if the ITR is worth every penny of that $50 (and many are), maybe I'm already the proud owner of a similarly high-quality ITR. Why do I need another one? If I don't own one, maybe I don't want my first one to cost $50, and I'd prefer to experiment with a $10 cheap variety to see what I think.
There are times that it's fair to conceal your gimmick, or even just your secret method, and that's fine. But when it's not fair, when you buy the trick and you feel just plain ripped off, don't people need to know that? And, as many people have said, don't they deserve to know why?
It's not an ethical thing. You can't sell a trick on the open market to anyone with $30 and still keep it a secret. If it's important that the purchasers are ethical, join (or start) a magic society with a code of ethics you like and only sell it to members of that society. The IBM does exactly this. Want your trick secret among pros? Go to an exclusive convention and sell your trick there. You can even charge more.
One of the reasons I've never bought a trick is that nobody will tell me whether a particular trick is a ripoff. There are ten tricks sitting on the shelf. Which one should I get? I don't want to waste a bunch of money on crap. What if I'm a kid, and I can't afford all of them? I can afford one today, and it has to be the only thing I get for the next month. Which one should I buy?
If you won't help me, you're not my friend. You're not my fellow artist. You're just another giggling jerk who thinks it's funny when bad things happen to other people. And if you don't think that sucks, I can't trust you.
Trust isn't just about keeping secrets. It's also about exposing the charlatans and cheats among us. Whenever you say "I always stand up for people in this group", there's all these people who suck and they get a free ride. That's why Houdini made a point of exposing fake spiritualists. You have to draw the line in such a way that only the ethical, artistic professionals are protected; if you don't, then you get to share all the guilt of the unethical hacks and thieves.
There are two entirely different aspects of magic, the artistic aspect and the business aspect. These are constantly at war with one another.
As an artist, you should help other artists; you should ensure that they can get tools and techniques readily, that the tools are not too expensive, that the techniques are well-taught and reliable.
As a professional, you have to make your living doing this. When lots of people can do what you do, that means you're going to have to work harder for jobs that pay less, because there will just be too many of you.
So what you have to balance here is that you want your fellow artists to be supported, but you don't want the whole world to be your fellow artists. Since your fellow artists all start out indistinguishable from the rest of the world, these are contradictory goals.
What makes magic particularly different is that it actually came from ripoff artists. We're con men. We say "I'm going to do this," and then we don't. We do something else. We make it look like we did that, but really, we just lied to you. We are in the business of lying and cheating.
The third part of that little trinity is "stealing". Some of us branch out into that, too. It's okay to lie. It's okay to cheat. It must also be okay to steal.
And there is no other business where it is this easy to steal.
If I put a famous magician's name on a box with an invisible thread reel in it, add a half-sheet of typed instructions, and give it a fancy name... people will buy it. (A lot of ITRs end up in the hands of people who are simply unqualified to use them, enthusiastically sold by a shopkeep who drops Criss Angel's or David Blaine's name - as if simply owning the gear will make you a pro.) And if it cost $50, I would want to know that what I actually get is just an ITR and some instructions. Even if the ITR is worth every penny of that $50 (and many are), maybe I'm already the proud owner of a similarly high-quality ITR. Why do I need another one? If I don't own one, maybe I don't want my first one to cost $50, and I'd prefer to experiment with a $10 cheap variety to see what I think.
There are times that it's fair to conceal your gimmick, or even just your secret method, and that's fine. But when it's not fair, when you buy the trick and you feel just plain ripped off, don't people need to know that? And, as many people have said, don't they deserve to know why?
It's not an ethical thing. You can't sell a trick on the open market to anyone with $30 and still keep it a secret. If it's important that the purchasers are ethical, join (or start) a magic society with a code of ethics you like and only sell it to members of that society. The IBM does exactly this. Want your trick secret among pros? Go to an exclusive convention and sell your trick there. You can even charge more.
One of the reasons I've never bought a trick is that nobody will tell me whether a particular trick is a ripoff. There are ten tricks sitting on the shelf. Which one should I get? I don't want to waste a bunch of money on crap. What if I'm a kid, and I can't afford all of them? I can afford one today, and it has to be the only thing I get for the next month. Which one should I buy?
If you won't help me, you're not my friend. You're not my fellow artist. You're just another giggling jerk who thinks it's funny when bad things happen to other people. And if you don't think that sucks, I can't trust you.
Trust isn't just about keeping secrets. It's also about exposing the charlatans and cheats among us. Whenever you say "I always stand up for people in this group", there's all these people who suck and they get a free ride. That's why Houdini made a point of exposing fake spiritualists. You have to draw the line in such a way that only the ethical, artistic professionals are protected; if you don't, then you get to share all the guilt of the unethical hacks and thieves.
