Don't mean a thing but a chicken wing

I open my mail box today and got a bunch of weirdness in the form of offline messages from Second Life. More cancellations of shows (seems to be a rash of cancellations, not just me...whole dates blacked out). Then a inventory offer for Live Venue Owners Meeting parts 1-3.

Awww crap.

This was one of those Copy and paste Chat text, while I did log on to find out what it was, I didn't read it. The reason I didn't read it was because I know how I feel after reading things like that. I find it hard not to view people as enemies trying to destroy the best way I've ever found to make money playing music.

The personality driving this conversation is a fellow named “Mankind Tracer”. Holy crap Zorch mentioned a name!!! Yeah, this is going to get personal and I'm going to take sides.

I've never heard the music of Mankind Tracer, and I've never wanted to. The first time I became acquainted with the name was during an anecdote a music super fan related to me. Seems she was attending one of Mankind's shows and some fellow gave him a tip and Mankind the amount of the donation insulting. So he publicly berated the errant tipster.

Now for the record, I have said “Thank you for the tip, now my mom can get that operation” before. But that is still thanking someone for their tip * smirk *.

The super fan that related the story decided after that display she didn't need to give any further attention to Mankind Tracer... and I saw that decision so reasonable I've avoided his shows as well.

The second time I heard about Tracer, was while viewing one of those Internet TV shows about the Second Life music scene. The cartoon lady informed me “Tracer plays his guitar with precision and his voice was making all the women melt. He's got a new CD coming out that will feature his songs and some of his more popular covers”.

The fact he was going to release a CD with covers on it says so very much about him. He doesn't have the confidence or material to fill a single CD? What a lewzer.

I have to wonder if Tracer paid the mechanical rights for the songs he covered to the people with talent that wrote the songs?

But to put things in perspective, Mankind Tracer is a worthy target of open hostility. He's become the bloated twisted personification of every whiny fucktard that has bitched about the amount of money they DON'T make in Second Life. But as bad as that is, he's managed to transform himself with a gesture into... The Anti-Zorch.

He is the flaccid disease ridden dimple dick to my glorious erect MEGA WANG. I am the creative genius to his parasitic looter. He is the Ellsworth Toohey to my Howard Roark. He is a arrogant bastard and I am THE Arrogant Bastard. I am the artistic visionary seeking to elevate my art and enrich people lives through song and he is the greedy fucktard seeking to shake a few more pennies out of the people with musical taste stunted enough to consider him listenable.

Now some people have a “Can't we all just get along” mentality and I'm sure they are upset now. But let me make it clear I don't hate Mankind Tracer, I just hate what he's chosen to stand for. And because I hate what he stands for, I hope he gets a rabid badger lodged in his anus.

But lets step back from the personalities for a moment and get some perspective on this issue.

People have been plotting ways to extort money (or maybe I should say more money because I've never started a stream without some money being earned) from people for live, or semi live performances since I came to Second Life. None of them work because it's a free system an as long as people choose to play for tips and an occasional fee, there are going to be options for listeners.

Those screaming the most about their value constantly threaten to go back to real life if people don't compensate them as they see fit. This is bullshit, plain and simple. Streaming music on Second Life is very profitable even if you play only for tips. I could not book my act in real life with out major concessions (read cover songs), I get paid to play the music I love every day and my overhead is almost non-existent.

The people making the most noise seem to feel they in a position to dictate terms. They aren't. The simple fact is even in Second Life, people have to find value in what you do in order to get paid for it. Talent doesn't call the shots, Listeners do.

In time this will all fade away. The rules are in place, and changing the rules is not playing fair.

Footnote: PLEASE don't send me Copy and Paste conversations. I've heard all the vapid arguments ad infinitum and see no valid points being made. It's all magical thinking.