Thinking aloud, where do I go from here?

Okay, I’m looking at my situation and wondering what is next. Seems the beachhead each artist must establish is a fan base. I’ve seemed to have gotten that foothold firmly established. But I’ve been thinking… what it next?

As I ponder the Second Life music career paradigm, as it exists now, it seems to revolve around developing a following so you can pry a few Lindens out of a venue operator in fees. During my brief involvement with management, I was told to play less shows to maximize my draw at the shows I do play.

Allow me a moment to explain the logic behind that because I know at first glance it sounds a bit crazy. If you play a show at 1 PM and draw 20 avatars, and then play a show at 3 PM for 20 more avatars, in theory, if you only played one show at 2 PM, you would have played for 40 avatars. That would mean the venue would have been “Maxed Out” and the venue operator would have gotten their monies worth.

While this does work at a certain levels, it does ignore a whole fist full of “X factors”, like not all venue operators pay a fee for a draw, some pay because they feel it just compensation for the artist time. And “Real Fans” attend every show they can. And some people just come to a show because they are bored look at the live events listings and end up at a show. Frankly, the X factors are almost incalculable. The limited availability /maximized draw mindset works kind of like bees can fly but they aren’t aerodynamic.

Now I bring all this up to point out where I’m diverging from the norm. My goal is not to fill a venue up 5-8 times a week and wrestle a few Lindens from some well-meaning venue owner. My goal is to get my music in front of as many listeners as possible. As a matter of fact, stating my goals might be a good idea.

To provide the best music I can for my supporters, both listeners and venues. Job one.

To grow as an artist, maintain my dynamic. Keep looking toward the next transcendent step.

To develop a bigger group membership in the Zorch Nation, and maximize traffic at the web site and perhaps the blog.

To promote the distribution of recorded music.

While not in any particular order, those are my cardinal points. On a less direct and or personal level, I might add nurturing the budding original music scene in Second life. I feel I should mention I’m not talking about some abstract all encompassing, in quotation marks, “Original Music Scene”, but rather a loose knit, informal confederation of artist I respect.

So where do I go from here? I’m thinking about branching out time slot wise. I’m currently playing one morning show. The attendance is pretty good and I seem to e playing for new people. There is not much going on in the morning and it could be simply I’m one of the few events going on at that time. Regardless of the reason why, if it furthers my agenda I’m going to use it. I might look in to playing more morning shows.

Of course I could play more evening/night shows, but that might prove to be less fruitful. Lots of shows go on at night, and many of the BIG ACTS play exclusivity at night. I’m also aware that later show times mean a different audience. When I play mornings and afternoons, I’m playing for the Euro/UK people. I seem to do well with them because they seem more open to original music. While some Americans are very open to original music, it seems most want to hear passionless performances of songs they know. They seem very content to listen to the Karaoke types.

I guess I’m saying there is still ground to be broken. All it takes is lots of hard work. At this point I feel like I’m not taking the path less taken, but rather, walking off in the woods. Nobody is really trying to do what I’m trying to do. Make deep inroads into a larger audience simply to promote music, and not to improve my marketability in the eyes venue owners. While money does work into the equation at some point, it’s never the primary factor in what I do. It’s always first and foremost about the music.