Venues

Yeah I’ve talked about fees, so isn’t it right to talk about venues as well?

I’m a big fan of music venues; they give me a place to do what I do. Some of my most beloved friends are venue owner/operators. When the venue does its job, and I do my job, everybody has a good time. I sometimes comment if you want to find out where the good venues are… follow me.

However, I on occasion do play new venues, and every time I do I’m rather apprehensive. The simple fact of the matter is a poorly run venue can cause you to play a poor show.

What are the venue operator’s responsibilities for the show?

Promotion. This is one of the biggest gaffs I see. And I’m not saying because they promote the show poorly, the simple fact is many operators don’t promote the show at all.

Many of these venues book artist for tips only, then do little to insure the artist get as big a draw as possible. They seem to depend on the artist support group showing up and filling the venue.

When venue operators fail to list the show in “Live Music Events” they do everybody a disservice. The artist works hard getting his name out and the simple fact is, not everybody that would attend the show is in the artist support group. Some people rely on the events listing to find shows they want to attend.

The show I played Saturday didn’t list the event. They didn’t even send a message to their own group until 15 minutes into the show. They did not send out notices to any of the music related groups.

They did nothing to promote the show.

Not only did they make the show as invisible as possible. The Land Mark put you at the front of the building when the show was on the back porch. Took people a few songs to just find the stage.

The show was well attended, but this is due to the size of my support group and the time of day. It was even profitable. Mostly due to the fact one of the attendees bought a bunch of MP3 collections. I even added a few more Zorch Nation Members… so the good guys win again.

But in spite of the results, the venue failed to do its job. Promotion is job one. How many more people would have shown up if the event were listed?

Next job… get the stream running.

Seems simple enough. But how many times have you been to an event where it seems nobody knew how to change the stream? And of course, the artist doesn’t have permission. Stream issues generate stress and stress affects the quality of the show.

Group tag, group tag, who’s got the group tag?

Another snag is acquiring a group tag in order to rez your tip jar. I hate showing up early to set up an empty stage and then end up spending my time seeking somebody who can invite me to the group simply to rez my gear.

Now I’m not saying all venues mess these things up. All the venues I play regularly get them spot on every time and that is why I LOVE them so very much. But every time I play a new venue I’m rolling the dice. Will these guys do their job right? Or will I be mega pissed, mega hassles and still put on the best show I can muster up?

Do you remember that new venue I mentioned falling in love with? A part of that is simply because I’ve never had to ask them for ANYTHING. They were prepared, knew what I needed and offered it to me before I had the chance to ask. They got my stream info and kept me informed of anything I might need to know.

Basically, they did everything they could to allow me to do my job the best I could, and because of that, I play excellent shows there.

When a venue supports my music, I support that venue plain and simple. Do you want to know the best venues in Second life????

Follow me.