All it takes is money

For the most part I love venue operators. Most of them are dedicated and organized. But I'm really coming to grips with the simple fact to do anything in second life, all you need is money.

I've seen a Buddhist retreat run by a guy that is not even a very nice person. His claim to spiritual enlightenment is simply his ability to pay his tier fees.

I've seen people start up music management operations with nothing more then investing in a group tag. Of course it grows from there in to a freakish bloated scam, but that is another blog.

To open a venue, once again pay your tier fees and take a stab at it. You don't have to know what you are doing because... well you don't.

Now please keep in mind, for the most part I deal with people that Love music, understand how it works in Second Life, and are all over the details like ugly on an ape, but the other day I had an interaction so bizarre that my mind was actually blown.

I'm playing a show at "The Unwinding hour" the other day, much as I have every Friday for over a year now. Some "Un-named" person contacts me about playing their venue after about the third song. This is not unusual at all, they ask me to get in touch with them after the show and I save the IM for later.

After the show I ask the "Un-named" person how I can help them, and they ask to book me, and then fill me in on all the details of their sim...that isn't actually finished yet. They tell me they are planning the lunch for July 4th, and seem oblivious to the fact this is a major holiday in the USA. One of the few that seem to revolve around outdoor activities. Hey I don't go outside for nothing baby, the big fiery ball is waiting for me to pop my head out the door to reduce me to a pile of ashes. Not going to happen sparky... not today.

Then they start blathering about how they are going to feature all kind of genres of music to serve all the peoples of Second Life. Then they ask me what genres I covered.

I informed them I don't do genres, I play songs I write. Then suddenly this woman started acting as if I was asking her for help and she was far too busy to help me at this time.

What the fuck?

"I really don't have time to help promote you" she moaned. Hey sweetheart, you asked to book me, and frankly you don't have to promote me, I've been doing this for a while now and have a few supporters. Probably... and I'm just guessing here, a few more then you have in your group considering the fact your sim isn't even done yet.

How did that conversation go from, "I want to talk to you about a booking" to, "I don't have time to help promote you".

I predict this venue won't be around long, I can't even figure out her motivation for attempting to run a venue.

I wonder if she even understand, venues are not the draw, the performers are. She seems to be willing to pay fees, and she mentioned she had hired a quite famous Second Life artist for the show, so I'm sure there will be lots of bodies at the big opening, at least for an hour.

When you have deep pockets you can operate for a long while in Second Life with no compantancy at all.

But unorganized people don't often have deep pockets.