On the 27th of August, a bold and stupid experiment was preformed. Somebody implemented a “Cover charge” system. Of course the boldness of this experiment is somewhat diminished by the fact the cover charge was only one linden.A journalist friend of mine asked me what I think about this, and I'm pretty sure if you have ever read this blog you already know my feeling on this matter. It's a stupid idea. She did attend the show because the... profiteer/musician running it was going to talk about his bold new plan. When she came back I asked her for any salient details and she said, “He really didn't address the big picture”.
Of course he didn't address the bigger picture. He can see the bigger picture because his head is up his ass. I of course am more then willing to address the grand issues of this matter, but who listens to me? I'm just some eccentric nut job with a blog.... or am I?
Let put the first stone on the table here. Established fact one. Popular does not mean good.
Any Popular artist in Second life is only actually popular with the uber tiny demographic that gives a shit about the music scene in Second Life. The vast majority of residents have already written live music off as a whole. They went to an event and saw some Bozo singing a Karaoke version of butterfly kisses, or some Gee-tar wanker, or some dude who's band was going nowhere so he thought he would give Second life a shot (Hey I know why your band is going nowhere buddy) and said to themselves,”Why bother”.
Why indeed?
Most people don't give a rats ass about the personalities that are held near and dear by the mavens of the Second life music scene.
Second stone on the table, the really good artist don't need a mechanism to separate music lovers from their money.
Maximillion Kleen is SUPER POPULAR. He's a sweetheart of a guy and he's actually good at playing music. Max doesn't mind playing tips only shows. I'm sure he could hold out for fee paying shows but the fact is, Max's fan base is more the willing to tip him. I'm not anywhere near as popular was Max, but my fans do right by me too. I have some fans that are broke and I don't mind that a bit. Enjoy the music and tip me when you can.
Stone three, considering the small slice of the pie the music supporters make up, it's unwise to limit their ability to see you.
Consider also the “Metallica vs Napster” effect. If you appear to be a money grubbing bastard out to squeeze your fans for every penny you can get, you'll lose fans. Nobody in Second Life is as wicked cool as Metallica so I can only see dire consequences.
Now lets count the stones on the table..... three stones... now throw them on the floor because they mean nothing. Instead of stones lets talk about the Bigger Picture.
The real path to actually growth and financial viability is attracting more residents to the music scene. This is something every mad scheme to pry a few Lindens from the faithful over looks. Music is a part of almost every human beings life. Why is it so marginal in Second Life?
Because most people go to a music event and it sucks ass.
The worse thing you could do is put impediment between potential listeners and good quality music. A Fee or cover charge is exactly the kind of roadblock major growth doesn't need. People don't come when it's free what in the world makes you think they are going to check it out if they have to pay?
Every performer with a fan base big enough to think they warrant a cover charge should consider this. Where would you be without the support of the people that came to your shows and tipped you generously? You are basically saying to them “Thanks for the support, I would not be here without you, now PAY UP MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!!”
The real hub of interest for this topic is based around people that feel they deserve more money for what they do. It's not about music,and not about what is good for music in Second Life. It's all about some whiny prick that finds it's so hard to sit in front of their computer a play some music.
This whole thing is magical thinking. If you want something bad enough it's going to happen. Some people need to grow up.
4 comments:
I'm not sure if this is about the same 'experiment' but a couple of days ago we were given this link in Noma Falta's group : http://rastalivemusicco-op.blogspot.com/
Noma sent it during my night time so I was sleeping and said we could talk with her about it and that our opinions as fans counted, so that was nice enough. Nevertheless it put me off for the rest of the day. Not her but live music in SL.
I can say many things but you said it as I'm afraid it is. You sure have my vote Zorch :)
If the ticket system for live SL music catches on (which I seriously doubt), one person is sure to make money: the one who sells that system.
The fact those that bitch about the money miss,is once you have a system in place to make money somebody is going to figure out a way to take a cut from it. After a while the "Artist" cut gets smaller and smaller as the Infrastructure becomes more and more complex.
I honestly don't think the money will get better with this system. At least not for the performer.
There is also talk of some co-op type system where a group of performers/venues/management types share the money earned. This type of set up only benefits those with nothing to offer in a free market.
What strikes me, is that many SL musicians can ramble on and on about the business side of what they're doing. Hardly ever about their music or what drives them, stuff like that.
But then, maybe there just ain't that much to say about the latter.
;-)
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