The Business Side of Second Life Music - Tribute Concerts

I'm going to make this post really short and directed specifically at those organizers of Tribute Concerts. I've been to my share of these types of events in Real Life and in Second Life. In fact a high school buddy of mine was the drummer for a very well known Pink Floyd tribute band. What I'd like to post about is not about the concerts themselves, like me, I know people really like tribute concerts. My concern is the way they are promoted. 


Have you seen this kind of event post: "<Famous Band> Live" (just an example)


I've seen posts like this for years and each time I do, I ask the organizers personally "Is <famous band> really going to be performing in SL?"


To which they of course reply, "No it's a tribute concert!"


You see, there's a concern here. Not only is ASCAP and BMI in Second Life, but they are looking for just such an infringement... yes it is in fact. It is usage of a known brand and often times artists' "likeness, naming of avatars similarly or exactly as the real life band members without permission and stating that they are playing a live show when they are not... well that's just not cool.


Of course I understand and appreciate that the organizers want to promote and bring as many people as possible to the event. Please allow me to offer this friendly and very respectful word of advice. Just put "<Famous Band> Tribute Concert" as the title of your posts instead of "<Famous Band> Live" which may be misleading. This way, those who make the effort to attend will get what they expect and will enjoy the work that the tribute band organizers and promoters put into these very cool events. I would honestly hate to see anyone get into any kind of trouble for something so simple to fix.free, free, music, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, blog, free, free, free, music, pr, baby, son, kid, child, love, seo,blog,free,free,free,free,free, live music, make money, money, free money, gift, gifts, seth regan, mankind tracer, secondlife, second life, sl, facebook, twitter, social, alexa rank

Original Artists might like this...

Bandcamp! I love it!


If you are a live performer with original music, I would highly recommend getting a free account on Bandcamp. (They don't take cover tunes unless you have proof of mechanical licensing.)


To slice it up quickly, as long as you have your raw audio files, like an .aif file, you can upload and start selling your music right away. Thea reason Bandcamp needs a raw file is that they actually convert them into different file formats for download such as mp3, Ogg, and so on.


Next, there is a very cool app that ties in very easily and seamlessly with your existing Facebook page. It didn't take me very long at all to set up my Bandcamp account and get it going on Facebook as well.

There are custom options so you can get the look and feel of your Bandcamp page looking the way you want. No font choices, but color selections are easy to finalize and the website even offers a very simple way to upload a header for your page and even for the Facebook app.


Another cool feature is that you can set your own pricing meaning you're not limited to any "standard" pricing. You can even offer your songs for free, or a minimum of whatever you want, then let fans pay what they want. For example you can let fans name their own price for a track, with a minimum of 50 cents or 99 cents or whatever you want. Same holds true for the albums themselves.


You can also embed a cool music player on you social networks, blog or your own website allowing visitors to check out your tunes. Here's what mine looks like:

Your tracks can include lyrics, liner notes, links to your social networks, website, blog, etc.


I've only started on it today, but I have to say, the tools are there, now it's just a matter of what you do with it. I'd recommend this to everyone looking to take their digital distribution in their own hands, or just to have as an added perk for fans.


I'd recommend reading all the documentation laid out on their website. It's very informative and the directions are very plain, easy to understand and implement.