Wouldn’t it be interesting if, in the music industry, there was a core group of writers who were constantly churning out tunes and then selling them to all the music groups, world wide? Even more interesting, what if those songs that they were churning out were nothing more than small tweaks here and there, with a slightly different arrangement, but mostly the same thing that had already been done, over and over.

And, if these groups that were buying up these songs were all performing the same stuff for their audiences, how long would it take for audiences to get sick of hearing the same song, just sung by a different group? How would this effect the music industry, do you think?

In all fairness, there are certain songs that are covered by different groups. Some songs can be found covered a half a dozen times over the years by different groups. Generally, these songs are classics and the group that is remaking the song is doing much of a tribute because that particular song touched them at some time in their lives. The difference is that these songs are generally covered 8 years or more after the original is released, but they are not distributed to hundreds of groups who will all have them on their albums in the next few weeks.

That’s what we see in the magic industry though, isn’t it? A high profile professional takes a trick that uses a double lift, changes it to a triple lift, finds a reason for that extra card to be used and suddenly a new trick is born. A result of the fact that these “creators” have respected names is that every magician will be rabid to pick that trick up, usually sold as a single release, often accompanied by a DVD and sold for 30 to 50 dollars.

Further complicating this travesty is that these high profile professionals are considered off limits for criticism. Just suggesting that “so and so’s” new trick is substandard or an outright rip off is akin to jealousy. Much like screaming “racism” stops any real discussion of several important social issues of our day, screaming “jealousy” immediately shuts down any in depth or valid discussion about this very real problem within our industry.

I feel that it is important to note that I am not suggesting that these professionals quit releasing their material. Quite the contrary, in fact. I don’t have the personal creativity to develop the quality material that many of these professionals release for general consumption, so I think it’s only fair that I pay the price of admission, as it were. My complaint is that they sell what amounts to a small tweak of something that is already available and immediately bill it as the next greatest thing to come about on the market or they change the patter line of an established and marketed effect, giving them license to then remarket that trick under their own name.

Tricks that used to be released as part of a periodical are now marketed on their own. Because of the angle of marketing today, that generally means that a DVD accompanies that trick. This is, of course, a result of the large portion of magicians who are not “book compatible” but rather are “visual learners.” What that means is that a trick we would have purchased only few years ago for a ten dollar bill is now being sold at triple that price. This doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me.

As an example, let’s use Jiggernaut, the effect made popular by Mark Jenest. If you are not familiar with this effect then let me explain it. In a nut shell, it is a cup and ball effect using a bar room jigger with an olive as a ball and wine corks for the final loads. In other words, it is a classic single cup and ball effect.

I bought this trick (about) ten years ago. The reason that I bought it is because Mr. Jenest’s creative thinking and unique idea of using a jigger for the cup and olive for the ball was worth shelling out the money. I paid in the area of $15.00 for it and was happy with my purchase. In fact, I believe that it was my duty to pay for it because I didn’t have the creativity to come up with it on my own. That’s only fair if I want to perform using a jigger and olive since I did not come up with the idea on my own and would never have thought of it without first seeing the Jenest trick.

So far, so good.

Now, however, if you want to purchase the trick, it’s going to cost you $40.00 (or, if you go to Penguin Magic, you’ll see that they boast a savings to their customers of five cents, because they have it for $39.95 - no joke, they actually show you your savings right there on the page). Why this massive price discrepancy in only a decade? Because now it comes with a video CD (not even a DVD). It’s the same equipment, the same trick, the same everything but you have no choice; you must buy the whole shebang, VCD and all.

I’m sorry, but I see this as nothing short of greed. I am against theft of intellectual property, but this is a horse of a completely different color. Why should anyone have to pay $40.00 to do a cup and ball routine with a jigger and an olive? This is something that only a few years ago we would have been likely to find in the pages of “Apocalypse” (Lorayne) or in an issue of Genii.

I’m honestly not trying to pick on Mr. Jenest. Over the years I’ve gotten a great deal enjoyment out of presenting my own take on Jiggernaut and my audiences have also enjoyed the entertainment. Unfortunately, it makes for a good illustration of what I’m ranting about at this time.

As I sit here, I wish that I could come up with a good ending to this column, some kind of words of wisdom or some solution to what is an out of control problem in magic today. I can’t, though, so I guess I’ll leave you with:

Thank you for reading and take care.

Mike