Theory vs. Practice

Probably the biggest impediment to growth in the Second Life music scene is its fascination with theory.

In theory, we are all one big happy musical family. In practice we aren’t.

In theory, venue operators make a return on their investment. In practice they don’t.

In theory, MP3 should sell. In most cases they do not.

In theory the music scene is about to blow up “BIG TIME ™”. In practice it might blow up, but not in a good way.

There is some fantasy that the next MEGA event will turn the corner, when in practice, it just caters to those already interested in the Second Life music scene.

Let’s talk about what has transpired and really get a perspective of what the big picture might actually be.

The big happy family? If this were in anyway true, my Un-career would be over. I’ve pissed off a few that entertain the fantasy they are lynchpins in the Second life music pantheon, and still manage to play more gigs then is healthy for me.

In practice, the music scene is both fragmented, and quite contentious. When I was banished from the music scene by one faction, it only caused me to be embraced by another faction.

Is this a bad thing? Hell no. Imagine how fucking boring things would be if an artist had to appease the centralized tastemakers. Everyone would sound like “The Popular kids” and there would be no room for actual artist.

Venues turning a profit? Not commonly viable in the current state of affairs. First off, artist demanding a fee do significant harm to venues seeking to break even. I suspect the lions share of good venues operate simply because they enjoy music and want to be involved with it. God bless them they volunteer to pay the freight for the whole music scene.

MP3 sale for Second Life artist? Most do not do well at all. I’ve heard on fellow boast he sold 23 MP3s that month. That month I hosted 550 MP3 downloads.

Now I feel I should comment, I feel that MP3 sales make a better economic bedrock for the original artist then the reliance of fees or even tips. The day I released “Shades of Blue” I made 100 $ US in one show. The vast majority of that money was from MP3 sales.

What am I doing right? Why do MP3 sales work for me?

Well part of it is the quality of my music. People like it, they want to own it.

Frequency of releases. I put out a collection every season. I can do this because I’m prolific, and most cannot.

I play original music 99.99% of the time. Every show is promotion for “My music”. People attending my shows are interested for the most part in “My music”.

What are other artist doing wrong?

Reliance on third party vendors. There are Virtual CDs that some are promoting, that revolve around keeping the transaction “In World”. This is a huge error in my estimation. The less your distribution interacts with the Second Life client the better.

Playing covers. Many artists are under the impression they must play covers to work. You will probably get a bigger audience faster playing covers then original music. BUT… you become just another lounge singer. You big audience will tolerate your originals, but they are really waiting patiently for you to crank up another cover. They are there for entertainment; you are more like a jukebox then an artist.

Lack of good songs. I’ve seen some songwriters that have one or two good songs and a bunch of piffle they have also written. Bigger quality catalogs sell more MP3s.

And finally…

The music scene in Second Life is about to blow up? There are a lot of people devoted to believing this. But they fail to take into account the fact that Second life over all is a very small thing on a planet with billions of people on it, and in the tiny world of Second Life, music is more of a footnote then a major factor.

To illustrate this, allow me to suggest more people know what “Xcite” refers to then know any of the names on the LAME music award nominee list.

Some will pout and say, “Hey Von jon got a record deal from playing on Second Life”. Yeah and now Von jon is a household name. Oh wait… he’s not. He is a phenomenal blues player and scored a record deal with an “Indie” company. He’s a niche artist that got signed to a niche label.

I get a handful of recording contract offered to me each year. Most are scams trying to make a few bucks off my talent or gullibility.

The biggest impediment to the Second Life music explosion is the fact it’s not ready to go BOOM just yet. The music for the most part is hit or miss. Maybe I should say hit, or miss, miss, miss, miss. Few involved with “Moving and Shaking” understand even the most fundamental principals of marketing. It is no wonder things linger in the imagination end of the success pool.

However, I do see glimmers of life. Something that might someday make an impact. These are pockets of organically grown communities that are growing in sophistication every day.

The major hamstring to the whole shebang is people in general have gone from thinking in the box to thinking in the coffin. Stuff that doesn’t work is used over and over again, with the unshakable belief that someday it will pay off.

When communities committed to good music finally manifest themselves, I’m inclined to think we will be prepared to make more profound inroads to the general population of the tiny world of Second Life.

When the music scene is more about music and less about fees, return on investment, and hijacking authority to establish orthodoxy, perhaps we will make some progress.