The professionals

I was talking to a venue owner the other day and it seems she has been involved with Second Life about two year, and opened her own music venue last June. We talked about a lot of things, and then she mentioned how she didn’t like dealing with artist that had managers. This got me think about the whole music professional scene in Second Life.

I understand the need for artist, listener and venues to connect the music provider with the music receiver. But how did management pop its ugly head up?

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with professional managers in real life. If not for my erstwhile business manager I would be asking you if you wanted fries with you big Mac. But there is a whole substratum in Second Life that seems both utterly superfluous and utterly entrenched.

Now let me say at the outset any criticisms leveled here are not directed toward music venue operators. Thank God for them. They shell out their hard earned cash at the end of the month and if you enjoy live music you should be a supporter of the venues you visit.

But what of those sinister lurking shadows at Free Star Bay show case with group tags that read, “fill in the blank productions”. Like sharks circling a sinking ship they seek out the gullible. What service do they provide and can’t be handled easily by the performer/venue operator? How many groups do we need to get Spam from? What value does promotion serve?

As far as I can tell, any promotional effort is pointless. The simple fact that entertainment is easy to find means that in most cases, people do plan their day around SL events. I don’t think people read my calendar and then plan to be online at 6PM Wednesday. I think it’s more likely they either get a notice while online, or see my name listed in the events schedule.

While promotion might prove valuable in establishing a brand, most Second Life music scene professionals/management types are too naive to even understand the concept of branding. None of those claming to be movers and shakers seems to have any kind of business skill set at all. But… they don’t have to. They are not providing a service they are playing a role.

I’ve recently been getting group invites to something called “Kat’s Konnection Korner”. I didn’t ask to be invited and no one I know recommended my inclusion in the group. The group sets up an “Audition environment”, for performers and Venue owners (also the sharks that make up the management community). While this sounds like a good idea the fellow bugging me got my name off the events listings… so… it seems I’m already getting booked and don’t need to be part of his group. He didn’t make that association, but I did. After telling him I was not interested and rejecting the group invite, he just invited me again.

But I’m sure others will join. And the bogus management company will have full roster of dreamers. The “Virtual record company” will have music hopefuls sending in note cards. The Second Life Radio stations and magazines will have butt loads of submissions. The end result of all this activity is just… well pointless effort.

The paradigm remains intact.

Venue owners book acts, Artists play the shows, and people come and listen.

While there is room for growth, the paradigm is just about set in stone. The fact the max capacity for visitors to most Sims is 40 avatars; there is not much room. I’ve already played a few show that have hit the limit.


To sum it up…

Venue operaters, yes.
Artists, yes.
Listeners, yes.
Productions/Management/Radio/Magazine/Record companies… not so much.

People involved in this stuff should consider becoming Second Life Firemen. They would be just as useless as they are now.