The Devaluation of Real

A while back I was playing a show and the act before me was one of those Karaoke acts. As Karaoke acts goes... this guy was absolutely horrible. Not only was pitch a much hoped for dream, his song selection left much be desired. Lots of people were there, he drew an impressive audience. But after a while, I noticed a trend.

This talentless hack had a huge support staff. A Management team.

During the course of the show, several “Staff members” left. As each Staff member poofed out, a sizable chunk of the audience would vanish. By the end of the show, just Karaoke dude, his girl friend (is girl friend a staff position?) and her friend were the audience. By this time, they were dancing on stage behind the misguided crooner to an audience that comprised of... well me.

I wasn't a bit entertained. But then I actually like music.

While this whole experience was unpleasant to say the least, it was informative.

I've learned if you have a support/management team of say.... six people at your show, and they invite a few friends to hang out with them, you can put a bunch of green dots on the map. I'm inclined to believe the “Invited friends” don't have the stream on long, and spend most of their time at the event IM-ing other friends on site, or even off site.

There are those that insist Second Life is not a game, and they are right. From a design stand point it's not a game at all. But a good deal of the “Second Life Music Scene ™ “ is a game, and for those of you out there wondering how it's played, let me give you the rules.

Labor is cheap

Back in my short lived MNP days, they use to send a MNP Host to every show I played. Moody would pay them, I think about L$ 300 per-show, to hang out, spam, invite their friends to hang out with them while they worked, and to keep the chat screen moving.

Now I think I should point out, L$ 300 breaks down to little more then one dollar American per-hour. Labor is cheap.

Labor is sometimes Free

Some people will show up and work towards your goal for a title. Most people are bored and if you make them part of the entertainment industry they are “Living the Dream”. Most people with a management tag don't get paid anything. In most cases it's somebody's Girlfriend.

Venue operators are sometimes just as clueless as you suspect they might be

I'm not picking on Venue operators, I appreciate the fact they pay the bill on the whole music scene. But many will book any act that plays for tips just to keep things hopping all day long. Consider for a moment a venue featuring Six acts a day, five days a week. Of those 30 acts a week, how many are worth listening to?

While many venues close due to lack of funds, most close due to simple burn out.

It's a lot of work, a lot of money, and more to the point, a lot of time.

Because there are so many venue, there are sometimes as many at 70 live music events going on at the same time. Perhaps five of those events are worth attending, so why are the other 65 even happening? Because it's all part of the game.

People are pretending to be rock stars.

People are pretending to be rock star managers.

People are pretending to be part of the rock star managers staff.

People are supporting their friends.

People are filling the schedule at their venue.

People are working for a little more then a dollar an hour.

People are working for a title.

People are plotting.

People are being.... polite.

The game thrives, and while the game thrives, talent languishes.

I've commented before, the Management types are a cancer on the music scene in Second Life. But while they are a blight for real music, they are the back bone of the Game. They work day and night to make sure, the insecure dreamers they represent color your impressions of what Live Music is in Second Life.

The management types make sure the music sucks.

All honor to venues that book talent. All honor to those that listen and decide. All honor to those that have the stream on. All honor to those who's politeness is manifested in not saying anything rude, rather then puffy meaningless compliments.


There is good music in Second Life, however it seems to operate in the margins. The stuff that is most aggressively marketed is done so to support “The Game”.

Now I wish I could say something profound like “DEATH TO THE GAME”, but remember when I commented good music operates in the margin? Well the page on which that margin exist is the page the game is written on. The basic bottom line is each listener decides their level of participation in the game aspect of the music scene.

So in conclusion..... I'll take Original music for 1600 $ Alex.

He claims to be the Pope of Rock and Roll, and the future of Music on the Grid.

BUZZZZZZ

Who is Zorch Boomhauer?

Why do I need Second Life on my I-pod?

A while back I was playing a show at some venue and after I mentioned my MP3 collections are for sale, some fellow, in an attempt to be witty remarked, “Why do I need Second Life on my I-pod”?

His attempt at wit was of course a dismal failure, but attempting wit when you actually have none is a fool's errand. Wit is something you have in real life and express in Second Life.

Wit is real, and music, at least LIVE music is real as well.

Why should you BUY an MP3 from a Second Life artist (ummmm.... me actually)?

Because unlike everything else you could spend money on in Second Life, the music is a REAL LIFE™ commodity. While you buy it in Second Life (or my web page), you don't have to be doing the Second Life thing to enjoy your purchase.

Your Second Life house, car, yacht, clothes, and yes, even you genitalia of of no use to you outside of Second Life. But recorded music goes with you anywhere recorded music can go, and at this time that is just about anywhere.

So in effect, recorded music is probably the most actually useful purchase you could make in Second Life.

But... there is more, much more.

If people were inclined to BUY recordings, it could be the answer to the age old question of “How do we make money with music in Second Life without exploiting anybody”?

I have mentioned before the vast majority of my shows are for tips. I actually have two shows a month that regularly pay a fee, but I should mention the fee involved is less then what most ask for as a minimum. Yet I make enough to pay my bills.

This is due to the generosity of the good people that do tip, my even more generous core fan base, and MP3 sales. Simply stated, the money earned from MP3 sales offsets any short fall due to my lack of fee collecting.

Can you dig it?

I should point out, my motivation for playing live is different from most people. As far as I can tell, the majority of performers develop a fan-base, and then limit their performance schedules in order to to maximize the turn out at their shows. If you like Bob and Bob only plays Thursday at 3 PM, you have to be where Bob is at that time and date to see him, or suffer the rest of the week Bob-less.

When Bob contacts a Venue owner he suggest his shows are packed, and if the venue owner checks it out they will find this to be true. Bob ask for a fee, and the venue owner see's it as reasonable because Bob can pack his or her Venue... Thursday at 3 PM.

Bob isn't selling music, he's selling a packed venue. The venue owner isn't buying music, he's buying a packed venue. While this is all good and fine for the primaries involved (Bob and the Venue operator), but it is the main reason music sucks so often in Second Life.

When I play music, I'm building a fans base as well. But not in order to pack a venue on some limited time table. I'm not trying to convince a venue operator my performance will pack their venue and because of that I'm worth paying a hefty fee for. I'm simply trying to expose my music to people that have not heard it yet. I'm sure if they are paying attention they will like it, and perhaps want more.

Yes, I love tips, and I love really generous tips even more. But the real fans are the ones that buy my recordings. They do attend the shows, thank you very much, and most of them tip as well as they can. But the real connection is their familiarity with my music. They know the old stuff, they know the new stuff and often prompt me to get on with recording the next collection.

So buying music is good for you, good for the music scene, and good for... well my pocket book.

In summation, why do you need Second Life on your I-pod?

Well... you don't need Second Life on your I-pod at all, but if you discover great music while wondering the grid, why would you not want to drag it in to your real life?

Scam, scam, scam, scam (Sung to the tune of the Monty Python Spam sketch)

In a rare moment of inter-web based wackiness, I logged in to Second Life this morning and found not one, but two Scam-o-grams.

The first being a second hand Scam-o-gram from a fellow performer asking everybody he or she knew to vote for her. I really have to wonder what the prize might be in this scam in order for somebody to throw their dignity in the trash can.

The second Scam-o-gram was one of those “Fill in the blank-Idol” things. The prize being inclusion in some compilation record that would bring you from Second Life, to REAL LIFE!!!!!

I've come to embrace the opinion the inter-web is both a blessing and a curse to musicians. To the intelligent well grounded artist the inter-web is a myriad of opportunities, however to the clueless dreamer sure that fame and fortune is just one lucky break away is an ocean of quick stand waiting to swallow them up.

For those of you new to the realities of the music biz, there is no such thing as the Lucky break that makes you rich and famous. Say you got discovered tomorrow and signed to a real record contract, you would have a 90% probability of never earning back your advance. Of course, and write this down if you have to, that 10% chance at success is NOT a matter of luck. It's a matter of hard work, good planing, picture perfect execution and then … luck.

It's safe to say any offer you get from a resident of Second Life to enhance your real life music career is nothing but smoke and mirrors. I'm relatively sure they mean well, but can't do well. Oddly, it seems those in Second Life operating scams are as much clueless dreamers as the people they pray upon.

Pointing fingers at those self imagined “Movers and Shakers” in the “So-called” Music scene in Second Life is pretty easy. But they are not the most exploitative scam artist on the inter-web.

One of the most heinous of exploiters would have to be “I-tunes”.

I-tunes claims to have over 750,000 independent artist listed among their Files for sale. While this may seem like a supportive move on I-tunes part, almost altruistic, it's actually quite a scam, and a really profitable scam. They actually are betting the artist listed won't ever make enough in sales to require I-tunes to cut them a check. Each MP3 aggregation has a minimum amount the artist must earn in royalties before they get paid. The vast majority never earn enough to get paid, but most do mention they have MP3s available on I-tunes.

Let say 50,000 independent artist do make enough to get paid, that leaves 700,000 that that do not get paid. Lets say those 700,000 artist make 5 sales each (Friends and relatives “Bob has a song on the I-Tunes), This means I-tunes make millions... and more to the point, keep the other millions they should have paid the artist.

The bet against the success of the independent artist and even when they lose that bet... I-tunes still gets paid. Why don't they cut a check for even one sale? Because they don't have to. People allow themselves to get ripped off so I-tunes gladly oblige them.

I started my own record company in 2004, “ColaRolla records” and since year one I've made a profit. Each month I make money selling recorded music, and do so without handing a slice of the pie to some third party leach. I have in the past sold actual CDs at Live shows, but for the last two years I've been selling nothing but MP3s and making enough money to make it worth my while.

I'm not rich, I'm not famous.

But everyday I do what I love doing and manage to keep the lights on. Compromise is not a prominent feature on my artistic landscape. I live primarily on tips and MP3 sales.

I see every so-called break as nothing more then a tool to further my ends. Every opportunity is just a step towards the goal of living a life of artistic fulfillment. I rise and fall on my ability and talent.