The over arching narrative???

The experts continue to babble on about how this whole Second Life Music Thang works, with certainty only matched by their cluelessness. Hypothesis abound, but lets move beyond the perfumed hyperbole and tell some stories.

A few weeks back I was playing a show at Guthrie's and a face from my past popped up. It was a face I never expected to see at any of my shows. Without naming names, suffice it to say the person that pronounced me too arrogant to be a vital part of the Second Life music scene showed up at my gig.

I was even more surprised when she tipped me.

After the show, she sent me a note card explaining she was sorry for calling me to arrogant to be a vital part of the Second Life music scene. She had been quite upset at the time and perhaps spoke too harshly. Then she went on to inform me she was leaving the music business and going back to college.

Good and more good. I'm a giant of grammar.

Once again, no names being mentioned, this woman was also suppose to be a Vice President in MNP Records, and was chipping away at her unemployment, and then savings waiting for her ship to come in. Big money in the Second Life music biz.

The fact she is getting out of the music business, and going to college says a lot about the situation at MNP (what the hell does that stand for anyway???). I bear her no ill will and hope she does well in her new endeavor.

For those of you new to this blog, you may be unfamiliar with the MNP records saga. A short recap, a nut job named ThroughTheseWalls Moody figured she could run a record company featuring Second Life musicians, if she convinced legitimate businesses it would be a profitable method of promoting their products, and through the power of corporate sponsorship she could run a record company that really doesn't sell many recordings.

I predicted it would not work months ago, and the projected start up time frame was mid June. It's mid June now. Anybody heard anything about the big MNP Records launch? I haven't. Maybe it's a big secret. Or maybe it didn't really work...just as I predicted.

I'm not psychic, I'm just paying attention.

While some might write off the magical thinking of people like Moody as harmless, it seems people put a lot of stock in these fantastic ramblings. When you say what people want to hear they are very inclined to believe you. Sometimes people take action, or fail to take action based on the promises of music business wealth. This can have detrimental effect in people's real lives.

But not all stories are sad stories. Some are stories of Heroes.

Norge and Nya are the Dynamic duo behind the North Norway Sim. Back when I first started out one of my very first regular bookings was at the Artic circle Dock. Norge basically said any time you want to play just let me know. It became quite a beehive of musical activity.

Norge had a dream, but he was not a magical thinker. He wanted to build a place where music flourished and had no grand scheme for making money off it. However, due to a personal set back he had to close down the Artic circle dock, and scale his Sim way back.

As small as the scaled back Sim was, he still managed to make room for quality music oriented venues to operate in.

When I was homeless, Nya asked Norge if he could give me a bit o land for my personal use, and he gave me a home. When Norge opened a mall, he gave me a shop. All at no cost to me. What a sweet guy.

Norge and Nya had a dream, and now it seems that dream is coming true.

I was standing on my front porch the other day. As I looked to the right, I saw the base camp for the Lost Continent Music venue. Across the water I can see my shop, and the Note Shack, another venue I play at. To my right was a new compound being built by POL Arida. Just beyond POL's place is the new Melodies/Harmony mall. A place I play several shows at per week. To the left of Melodies is the new "Hotspot Exstream" location, the place I rent my stream from.

Of course to the left of my little shack, just over the bridge is Nya's house. This is becoming a neighborhood, and quite a nice one thank you very much.

At this point, it seems the good guys are winning. I love that so very much.

It's possible, even likely there is no grand over arching narrative to the saga of Second Life's music scene. But there are stories. There are heroes and villains, success and failure, darkness and light.

The world, even a virtual world is defined by decisions and actions. What do you decide, what actions do you take?

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.

A very good thing

I spend a lot of time talking about what is wrong. This is mostly because I’m somewhat of a cranky old man and that is what cranky old men do. However, in a world where people spend so much time praising crap, it’s only responsible to point out the emperor has no clothes.

It is also responsible to point out the good things, and a rare privilege to point out the very good things.

In the Second Life music scene, there is a simple rule of thumb for a “Good thing”, and that is simply it’s about music first.

A very good thing happens when it’s about music first, the people playing have something wonderful to offer and every detail is covered. The Audience, performers and venue all have a great time and for one bright and shining moment you think, “Wow”.

In my mind there is one consistent “Very good thing” you can count on it Second Life. That being… drum roll please.

The Originals.

I was on the bill at the first “The Originals” show, making me, as I like to point out, one of the original originals. And it’s grown every single show to be more significant than the show before. Second Life music Iconoclast POL Arida started it all and that in and of itself is a good beginning. But a while back he put Harrie (the ROCK chick) Skjellerup in charge and things really started to come together.

POL was the visionary, but Harrie is the architect. Frankly Harrie is one of the most amazing people I’ve met in Second Life. She is organized, creative, and passionate about music. Her venues at Pixel Hill are the venues I point to when suggesting a model for other venue operators to emulate. She supports the music she loves, and I’m so very glad she loves my music because she’s done more for me then any of the other self proclaimed movers and shakers.

I’ve been involved with a few of the MEGA events held in Second Life and most of them are poorly run, have line ups consisting of whoever answered the note card first. The originals started out as a simple dream and grew in stature to be one of the most impressive shows in Second Life.

I remember a time when I came in with my all original set list and people would tell me, “You should really do covers, nobody is going to book all originals”. But it seems “The Originals” proves that wisdom quite out of date. Hundreds of people show up to listen to original music and then come back next month to hear more.

At this point, Indie Spectrum Radio is making the music from “The Originals” available live to people that can’t log on to Second Life but can get on the interweb.

I can’t help but look at what is going on here and think, this means more then it seems. This is more than just an entertaining show. This is the place where things coalesce. The real future, if there is one for music in Second Life is original artist. The dude and chick singers will always have place to play and people to listen. But the artists are going to make the biggest impact. We are the ROCK STARS.

Of course I might be a little bit biased.

Things are really just starting to come together. Thanks POL for starting it all. Thanks Harrie for making it grow. Thanks all good listeners and artist for making it matter.

The Orgininals… a very good thing indeed.

Bad venues

I’m a big support of the people that make the music scene happen, the venue operators, however, not all venues are operated equally. Some venues are “Bad Venues”, this is why I never agree to a long term booking until I’ve played a venue once and given it a test drive. Keep in mind, anybody can open a venue, all it takes is money. But just because somebody has the money to open a venue does not imply they are smart, organized or even sane. Simply put some are, and some aren’t.

There is a simple three step litmus test for a good venue.

First they should list the event in “Live Music Events”. If they don’t list the show it affects the crowd and if the performer is playing for tips this can be very detrimental to their cash flow. This is the very least a venue can do to support a performer. Some send notices to a bunch of music groups, and some do not. But the bare minimum promotional effort should be a notice in Live Music Events.

The venue operator is responsible for getting the stream to their parcel and should have any information they need to do that before hand. Once the performer starts the stream it should be playing in world. Personally I make sure venue operators have my stream info as early as possible, and double check to make sure we are clear. However some manage to fuck it up even after I spend time holding their hand. This is why you hear artist saying, “Let me know if you hear me”?

The artist should have any tags they need to rez their stage props well before the show starts. How many times have you heard and artist lament they could not rez their tip jar? This is a fuck up by the venue operator.

Now very good venues cover all these things and do much more to support the artist. I love these guys, and support them as well as I can. But you would be amazed how many venues can screw up the three little things and basically equate to baseline competency.

No incase you think I’m pissed off about this because I’ve been recently burned, that is not the case. As a matter of fact I’m having a very good streak with new venues. But a friend of mine asked me to catch a show she was doing. It was at midnight my time, but I wanted to be supportive so I set my alarm clock and logged on a few minutes before her show.

I don’t belong to any of her groups, so I had to look in “Live Music Events” to find the show. It was not listed. So I had to ask for a lift from my friend that was probably getting ready to play a show.

Bad venue… you didn’t list the show in Live Music Events.

Then time comes to get on stage. No stream. Na-da. People are going, “I don’t hear anything” and the host is going “Could you send me that stream info again”? My friend told me she made sure they had the info and she’s played enough shows that I’m sure she did. After nine minutes there was a stream. While it might not seem like a bit deal, nine minutes are three songs that won’t get played that show.

Bad Venue… no stream on parcel.

Of course I was pretty pissed off. I had gotten up to see this show, and it was taking forever to start. I did tactfully comment, “Where is the fooking stream”? And then, “I guess any retard can open a venue here”.

Then when the stream was up, my friend was apologizing for not having a tip jar out and asking for a tag that would allow her to rez. This is about 12 minutes into the show.

Bad venue… any tags or information about rezzing stage props should be covered before the show starts.

With almost a quarter of the show wasted on things that any decent venue operator would have covered, she managed to get under way. She did a commendable show in spite of the lack luster performance of the people running the show.

Good show… bad venue

On to the drama now.

Seem the fucktard that owned the Sim took offence to my comments about “Where is the fooking stream” and “I guess any retard can open a venue here” and assaulted me with a series of questions marks. I responded with a series of exclamation points. Then things got really stupid.

Kind of the Blah, blah, blah/fuck off dialog I’m getting way too use to in Second Life. It always seems to end with the fucktard in question inquiring if I know who they are.

Funny thing about fame, it loses some of its cache if you have to inform people how famous you are.

I ended the conversation with the observation I didn’t know who he was, but I knew what he was.

He was quite the rest of the show, and I got to hear my friend play about ¾ of a set.

After the show, I was killed.

I didn’t know you could get killed in Second Life, but it seems you can be. The overall effect is you get sent home, no loss of XP and you don’t have to find your body to get your stuff back. I was changing strings at the time and didn’t actually see myself get dispatched. Just heard a bit “QUWANG” and saw the TP screen and popped up home with a little green notice that I had been killed. The sad fact of the matter is it probably made him feel like he was powerful. Almost like he was… a man.

But you’ll notice I don’t even bother to print his name. His name doesn’t matter a whit. He’s just another ubiquitous jack ass that manages to pay tier fees and can’t run the venue he pays for with baseline competency.

Support the good venues, ignore the bad ones. Especially musicians. We should support the people that do so much to support us back.

The frost of 2009

Hey wait, this is the first day of June… a summer month. Why am I talking about frost?

I was talking to one of my “Peeps” the other day, and she had mentioned the fact she’s spoken to several musicians in Second Life, and they all recounted tales of diminishing audiences and meager tips. This phenomena might be the reason there is such an upturn in conversations of “Sticking it to venue owners”.

Now I feel I should mention, my attendance is not been affected at this point. Tips are down about 30% and while I’m not happy about that, I’m not unduly concerned. This is an economic frost. A downturn in fortune caused by unfavorable economic factors. While this might shock the crap out of some people, but when the real world economy melts down it’s going to impact the cash flow in Second Life.

When some Mullet head laments the frugality of the venue owners and how he’s got expenses to cover, I can’t help but think, “Hey dude, people are losing their jobs… get real”.

Of course this could have a very positive effect. Frost kills off the weak pants, so perhaps the people fixated on the easy money aspect of Second Life music will split and try some other scam. Perhaps it might also cause a repurposing of the music community (whatever that might be) as well. Second Life music really has little appeal outside of those already involved with it. It’s pretty incestuous and frankly, being one of the more lazy practitioners of the promotion thang, even I see the need to make deeper impact in the mainstream population of Second Life.

I do predict fees becoming scarce, venues closing, and a bunch of the more mercenary musicians storming off in a huff. However, I do see the place where the rainbow goes after the current economical inclemency is over.

I can afford to wait it out. Mind you, not financially afford it, because every penny I get here helps, but the simple fact is I really enjoy playing my music, so smaller tips don’t really affect my desire to play. And when the sun does come out, and it will, I’ll be better situated to enjoy the prosperity.

The frost kills the weak plants. But I’m not weak… and I’m not a plant either.

Moving forward embracing the change

Okay, a vision is appearing before me now. First a bit of explanation may well be in order.

When I first started playing music on Second Life, I tried very hard to entertain people. That was the focus. Now it’s not the focus at all. I’m seeking a more profound experience with the listener then simple entertainment. Sharing my song, a bit of my soul, with every show might well be entertaining at some level, but I think the reason people come back time after time has more to do with emotional gestalt. The song bleed, they come from a real place.

The focus of my Un-career is not to become the biggest name in Second Life, but rather to bring my music to people and see if they embrace it. For those that do find worth in it, I do my best to bring them the best content I can.

In other words, build an audience and then service that audience.

While “real money, money” is part of the plan, it’s not the driving force. I’ll never insist on money I didn’t earn, and am quite content to allow the listener to determine the value of my music within the parameters of what they can afford. While I don’t turn down fees, I do explain the option to have me play for tips only is available.

This Blog is also part of the Zorch experience, and is centered on content and not entertainment value. While it seems some find it entertaining, the point here is expressing my ideas. Once again, I build a readership, and then service that readership.

Realizing these things has caused me to rethink the way I approach the “Zorch-cast”. I’ve been hung up on the “Production bits”, and then came to the realization they were so hard to do because they are not what I do. Yes people found them entertaining, but that is not the point of what I do.

Future Zorch-cast will have less production work in them and revolve around music, commentary, news, and I’m toying with the idea of dialog, meaning having a guest on the show to chat with. I believe this will make a better and more consistent show.

Other grand plans in the works.

I’ve come up with something I think will prove to be interesting. The other night I was sharing links with a friend of You Tube videos of my sorted past musical adventures. They found it fascinating. Later I thought, “Hey, you can put You Tube videos in Second Life. Perhaps others would find this interesting as well”.

Now I’m trying to figure out a way to promote “Story and Song Vol. 1” and I’m thinking perhaps a video retrospective of my past musical adventures might make for an interesting event. A thematic reason to do this is because these videos are also part of the story of my life. I’m thinking, a few people will come just out of morbid curiosity. People often wonder what the man behind the curtain looks like. This will be their chance. This will also give people a better idea of the scope of my musical pallet.

I’ve finally come up with the concept behind the next MP3 collection. It will be titled “Shadow and Light” and as the title implies, will be a collection of contrast.

For the record, the music industry despises contrast. They want things in a neat little format where every track is deeply reflective of the last. However, being a really Independent artist gives me the leeway to do really stupid things, and it’s a very thin line between stupid and brilliant.

So there is my agenda for change. I hope you enjoy my new direction.

The great Dot Com Boom… and Crash remembered

Gather round children and let me tell you of times of old, when nerds were bold and the new fangled interweb would bleed rivers of money for any one daring enough to wade in.

Now once upon a time, the king of the really excitable people proclaimed, “hey, this interweb is going to be a freaking marketing bonanza. Better step up… or be left lifeless in a heap at the side of the road of 20th century commerce”.

Many reputable businesses headed the words of the King of the really excitable people and dumped tons of money into start up web site. Secure in the knowledge that that people seeking information about a panorama of pop culture piffle would soon be charging there way, brain washed by a constant barrage of banner ads, money in hand.

Now in order to start this brave new anon, start up web sites needed “Writers” to contribute “Content” so people would have a reason to come under the ultra persuasive spell of the banner ads. A few real writers jumped in, but the nature of the new fangled interweb was more directed towards niche markets. Comic books, Role playing games, Movies, Anime, and of course computer games were more likely targets of searches then a over arching architectural review.

This meant a lot of nerds that weren’t really writers got jobs. I was one of those nerds. Times where good for those of the nerdish way, and thanks to the connectivity of the interweb, we didn’t even have to leave Mom’s basement to go to work. The nefarious plans of the great fiery ball in the sky to reduce us to ash were foiled.

About 18 months after the boom started, reputable businesses suddenly remembered why the king of the excitable people was the King of the excitable people.

They considered the viability of investing some 22k$ a month into a site that, as far as they could tell, might have generated 4.27$ in sales. The great interweb raging river of money was quickly damned up and thousands of nerds were out of work.

For the record, this nerd went to work for an actual newspaper. Well… it was kind of like a newspaper. But I continued to get paid for typing up my witty Bonn Motts and observations.

There was a great influx of unemployed nerds flocking to interweb forums to brainstorm ideas on how to actually get paid for writing about their own personal fetishes. Some suggested Subscriptions, or a reworking of the banner ad idea. But really all that happened was a bunch of masturbatory scheming. Whine, whine, whine, “I’m a professional writer, I should be getting paid for my content”.

Putting things in historical perspective, while they might have been “Writers” in practice, they never were professionals in any sense of the word. They may have made professional money doing job professionals do, but they never crossed that transcendent line to true professionalism.

Professional writers write things people want to read… even when it’s not free. Professional writers generate money for their employers. Cha-ching bitches.

Now you may be wonder why I’m writing about the Dot Com crash in a blog about the Second Life music scene.

In the last few days I’ve been informed some malcontents are trying to start a musicians union to wrest more money from those wicked venue owners. Then I got another copy and paste of a diatribe by more mullet heads in another music group’s group IM box.

The same shopworn arguments were made; the same lame ass solutions were suggested. It’s so amazingly self serving I’m astounded people call me arrogant. It honestly makes me sick to my stomach to read this shit. But I read it anyway.

But then I think, hey, this is just a twist on the elaborate schemes of the unemployed nerd writers of the Dot Com crash.

Those that whine about fees are not really professional musicians. Remember that transcendent line? Professional musicians play music people want to hear and make money for their employers. Those that whine loudest and scheme the most abstractly should see how much money they can get from the local bar owner. Go sell some beer hotshot.

There is money to be made making music; however, Second Life is not a reasonable career path at all. Real money, professional money is made in the real world where the “Artist” is just a cog in the wheel of commerce.

Putting things in further historical context, it’s far more likely venue owner will stop paying fees then be bullied in to paying them. There is no reason to pay fees because I’ll play for tips and I’m actually vastly superior to most charging fees anyway. A goodly number of very talented musicians will play for tips (yes most the time they get a fee, but they don’t seem to make an issue of it). Maybe when venue operators think about it, they’ll stop adding to the financial burden of their monthly expenses by taking money out of their own pocket to stroke the massive ego of some sub-standard musical functionary.

Every time I play for tips, every L$ in the venue tip jar goes toward covering the cost or operating the venue. I’m playing music people want to hear, and making money for my employer. I’ve crossed that transcendent line and am…professional. Hell I even make a little money while being professional.

I no longer see myself at odds with the Second life music community. I’m good with venue owners, I adore the people kind enough to attend my shows, and I get along just fine with some musicians. But these whiny scheming self serving bastards actually sicken me.

I hope you all get what you deserve, and that is nothing.