Its in Your hands!

I'd like to take a minute to talk to all Second Life performers and DJs. 

I've been playing live shows since 2006 and in that time I have been fortunate to have made many friends who are venue owners. These kind people book me to perform for their venue and support the live music community by offering a place for us to perform, many do so without turning any profit, paying for everything out of their own pockets. This isn't news, or at least shouldn't be to the SL performer.

Whether we are paid to perform or play a tips only venue, we must take into account the effort that the venues put forth on behalf of the SL performers. To that I would like to offer a few suggestions that, in my experience, will hopefully benefit both yourselves and the venue.

When it comes to promoting anything, Social Networking is #1 on the list. Facebook, Twitter, Second Friends, G+… all of these are amazing "tools" at our disposal and if you're not making good and regular use of them, well you're honestly missing out on a lot. 



When Brandy and I book a show, one of the first things we ask of the venue owner is "Do you have a note card about your venue?" Why? Because I want to do what I can to help promote the venue. After all they are the ones putting me up. This way, when we create an event on Facebook or Second Friends, we have some good text to use in our promotions and it also lets SL'ers know a bit about the venue, sim, launch, etc. and the event itself. it also allows the performer to talk about something other than themselves. We also provide the venue with a current image and bio for them to use in their own marketing and events listings. 

One other thing, especially with new venues, if you don't see your event listed in Second Life Events, you might want to respectfully remind the owner(s) to do a Second Life Event Listing so your performance shows up in "Search".

 
About 90 minutes before the show, Brandy and I are on Facebook and the web, writing up some copy for the event, using the venue's provided text, including the SLurl and image I've created. This gets posted to about 300,000+ group and network members between all Facebook groups, G+, Second Friends, Twitter, etc. This doesn't mean a guarantee of attendance, but at least we know we are doing our part. At the same time, we are also giving back to the venue by getting their name and brand in front of many of SL members who may not be aware of the venue. This will also possibly garner more attention to your event and might offer you better attendance.
 
I urge you to not rely on the venue's promotions alone, who are hopefully doing their own promotions for their events, but to rely on yourself and your manager (if you have one) to get the word out about your own shows. These are our Second Life careers and personally, I enjoy having SL as a platform to get my music out there. So why not use it to the best of our abilities and at the same time, help the venues who are helping us.


Here is part of the routine that Brandy and I go through before every Second Life show I perform:

• Create an event "promotional image" for each show. It's good to use your picture but even better to consistently add your own logo on EVERY promo.

• Post on all Facebook Groups (using the venue provided text along with your own)
You can easily include a photo (better to use the promotional image as mentioned above) for the event, and the SLurl.

• Create an event on Second Friends (using the venue provided text along with your own and your promo image). Second Friends is FREE! You can register with your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, or LinkedIn credentials and start listing your events, create your own fan group, post unlimited pics and videos, etc. You can even send the event with a few clicks to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. ! http://www.second-friends.com

• Hit G+
Google's community is huge! PERIOD!

• Twitter
Sure Twitter only allows 140 characters but even at that limit, you can write up a short and sweet post about your event, including the SLurl or a link back to a Facebook event.


There are more things you can do, and of course this can apply to other promotions in both SL and RL that you are trying to market, but if you are doing these few things in the least, your chances of higher attendance will increase and you will also be helping the venue who is helping YOU. 

If you'd like to read more on the matter, Brandy has also posted some very useful info on her own blog here - BRANDY'S BLOG

I wish you the very best of luck and success.

Second Life Music Venues VS Artists: Who's doing WHAT?!?!?

To be or not to be? No wait, how about to promote my own business or let the artists do it for me?

Sounds silly right? Well don't be surprised when I tell you that I have personally come across music venues in Second Life that do absolutely zero promotions, zero events listings and pretty much zero across the board, relying solely on the artists to do it all. In nearly five and a half years of constant performing in Second Life, I've pretty much run the gauntlet at least a few times, of the different venue types and venue owner types. I'll simply categorize the latter into A and B. OWNER A does the work... OWNER B can give a rats ass about their own venue, its marketing, promotions, and just complete ignorance when it comes to the business side running of their venue.

Recently, Brandy (Kalli Birman in SL) who you know as my manager and business partner in SL, booked me a gig at a venue. Mainly because it's fitting, we'll call this venue Deuchebags! Now Deuchebags is more of a shopping spot but they wanted to try some live music to add to the DJ events they currently have.

Of course at the time of the booking, Brandy gave Deuchebags the notecard which indicates that, prior to the event, we ask that the venue do X, Y and Z, simple and not time consuming tasks for the betterment of the event and what any rational person would consider, such as listing in SL Events, posting in social networks, sending to their own SL group(s), and other simple and obvious marketing.

Three days before the scheduled event, the event listing is finally listed, but for the wrong time. Brandy politely asks for a correction. A day later, Deuchebags replied saying they were having difficulty. Ok that's possible, I guess, SL gets borked at in some way least 3 days a week. A day later, the correction is made with an entirely new event posted in Events, and the first, incorrect event, is still there. Hmmmmm. Red Flag number one.

Heading over to the venue, Brandy asked "where would you like Mankind to setup for the show... where's the stage?" She was met with "We were hoping you guys could provide one!" Hmmmmm. Red Flag number 2.

After repeatedly trying to contact them over and over and not getting any reply for about half a day, I realize that these people are seriously lacking in Communication Skills. I mean ok people have to work RL, I get it, I do too. However, if you're going to bother HAVING a "live music" venue, then it's not plug and play like simply turning on a stream to play a radio station or streaming a playlist from iTunes. Hmmmmmmm. Number 3.

So it dawns on me, Deuchebags has absolutely no clue what they're doing and no idea of how to run a venue. More than that, they are sadly lacking in business and yes, personal ethics... and they're not alone. I'm sorry to say there are others who, put bluntly without any powdered sugar, have no clue how to run a venue. The simple proof of this is in the venue turnover rate. How many venues have come and gone in the past 2 years alone? 

So this leads me to the point of this post.


In nearly 5.5 years of live performing in Second Life, and as a business owner in RL for many years, I like to think I have a pretty good grasp on what the role of the venue and the role of the artists should be. As a professional business owner in Real Life for a long time as well, I also believe that many things carry over from RL to SL.

Here's what I'd like to share. I offer this to any live music venue, new or existing, with the hopes that you will read between the above sarcasm, and take it seriously. Honestly, it's only meant to help. 

The Venue:

The live music venue is a business... plain and simple. A business like any other. A business needs to promote, market otherwise display what it is they are offering, their products and/or services. Like any other business, a good Business Plan and Marketing Plan are very helpful when starting out but many businesses have succeeded without. Regardless of what type of business you plan on opening, one thing that is always needed is... WORKING CAPITAL! The venue owners will hope to recoup all or at least part of their investment in the first year, less than likely in SL so be prepared to not earn anything. To increase your chances, you might consider only booking artists that draw a crowd. If after a year, a performer isn't bringing in more than 20 attendees, it's probably doubtful that will change at your particular event with this performer. Go for the better known draw as this will translate into greater numbers and greater tips for your venue, that's what most venues rely on. If you have something cool, a niche, some product or very cool logo that you can brand on wearables and other premiums, offer them for sale to help offset costs.

When a venue sets up live events, they need someone to handle the publicity and PR so they need... MARKETING! Aaah the Marketing. Sadly, many venues I have played personally do not do a THING with respect to marketing. They rely on the artists. I mentioned in a recent Facebook Post that live music venues should take cues form those that have been in SL for a long time and those that might be newer but have very strong visibility. Places like Key West, The Whisky a Go Go, The Source, The Boom Pony, Ground Zero, and other... these are venues with very professional minded owners who recognize that, among other things, they NEED to do their own marketing in concert with that of the artists.

Part of your marketing plan should be researching the best and most appropriate places for your venue to appear. A Rock Club probably won't have a lot of click through on an ad placed on a classical themed website. 

Remember earlier I mentioned a venue needs working capital? A good chunk of it really needs to pay for marketing and advertising. I own a web design firm as one of my RL businesses. One of the services offered is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which helps websites get higher results on searches. I tell my clients, without proper SEO, even if you have the coolest website, it will be like a water fountain in the desert.... without a "map", no one will know it exists! You need to be FOUND. The venue NEEDS to advertise, just like any business.

There are many great sources to advertise but always check with the website owners about THEIR traffic before you spend money. Find out how many "unique monthly page views" their website receives. I can tell you, as the creator of Second Friends, we see roughly 20,000 page views per month and personally, I probably would advertise on a SL devoted site that has 10,000 or more, provided it wasn't too specifically directed IE a website about virtual pets. Talk to Brandy if you're interested in Second Friends ads. There are not many available at this time but a few good spots are open.

For Brandy and I, well we are marketers to begin with so when I perform, it goes without saying that we do our  marketing for each and every event. Between SL, Facebook, Second Friends, websites, etc., roughly about 400,000+ eyes will see our marketing material but we make sure to work WITH the venues, to make sure we  are marketing along the same design avenues, that we are using similar or the same marketing collateral, to ensure a consistent flow for the event planning and promotions.

Not everyone knows the ins and outs of marketing, granted. Most artists, in both RL and SL want to get on the stage, perform and be on their way. I firmly believe that when at all possible, an artist really should play a more active role in the marketing and promotions of their own events... it just makes sense?

In order to have live music at the venue, an artist needs to be booked so it makes sense for someone employed by the company to be the scout to seek out talent appropriate for the venue. The venue definitely needs a... BOOKING AGENT!

For now, let's assume this is a new live music venue that wants to open in Second Life. A live music venue offers Live Music performed by a live musician, track singer, whatever you like. The musician they hire will need a place to perform so a Live Music Venue needs... a STAGE! Silly? Not really. Look at Deuchbags. They asked ME to provide a stage for THEIR venue! Enough said.

The Artist:

Like a venue, there is the business side to being a Second Life performer, but many artists in the world lack some of this important knowledge and rely on the venues to spread the word about their event. So here's the obvious scenario: The Venue who doesn't know business/marketing booking the artists who don't know business/marketing. What do you think the outcome will be?


This is why it's so important that both sides take an active part in the business side of what they do. There are SO many talented artists in SL that aren't getting the attention they deserve simply due to lack of knowledge on basic strategic marketing.



The artists, as I see it, should in the VERY least, do the following (and these are things I try to do myself):


• Promotional Poster - Make one yourself, hire a graphic designer, just get one for each and every event. It should include the artist's name, her picture (SL, RL or both), web address if applicable, even have it give out a link or notecard when clicked.
• Event Listing outside of Second Life - This can include creating an event on Facebook and inviting your friends. You can also post on Second Friends home page where you can list your event for free and include audio, video, text, photos links, etc. in your post. Post on your other websites and so on.

• Group Notices - Send an early notice to your group during the day (if it's a night show). Keep in mind there are many people from many different time zones in SL who may not have received this early notice, but you're going to send notices a half hour before the event anyways. This way you're covered.

• Personal Fan Group - Every artist should have started a Fan Group at the start of their performing in SL. Use it. Stay in touch. They are your friends and your family. They deserve the first crack at special events, to arrive early at shows and thus receive and earlier notice than the other music groups and general SL population.

• Second Friends Groups - Not to beat a dead horse but you have this free tool at your disposal. Why not use it? Create a Group on Second Friends. Once you do, contact either myself or Brandy and we'll get you a small banner you can place on your stage when you perform. It will link attendees right to the SF Group page where you can post just about anything a website can handle... like photos, videos, music, and so on. To be clear, the reason I created SF in the first place was because Second Life doesn't allow much in the way of media to be included in group notices or on notecards. A group notice in SL can handle text, textures, links and a notecard which is also limited to the same media. Second Friends allows you to share much more in the way of media, plus it ties in with your other social profiles like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. IT's a big time saver too as you can "push" your events to your other social networks with a few clicks. I'm not trying to push Second Friends in the post, do what you want. I just honestly feel it is a great tool. That's why I created it to be SHARED with everyone!

• For Bigger Events - We like to start promotions at least a few days ahead of the event, sometimes even a week or a few weeks. It really depends on the event itself. Events that you really feel are bigger and more deserving should have promotions started earlier. Just keep the same marketing material on all posts. What I mean is, try to keep the design of all marketing consistent from place to place, website to website, etc.


Well there you have it. I have a deep respect for those venues like the ones I mentioned above, who have taken it upon themselves to not only promote their business, but also help the artists you have yet to learn how to do it themselves, or find a great manager who knows how to handle the marketing. I am very fortunate with Brandy who is a true professional. We have become best friends and work very well together on many projects. As long as a manager understands you and your direction as an artist, then you are already ahead of the curve.

As always I wish you the best and if Brandy or I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to get ahold of us. Check out Brandy's Blog with some very useful info on the topic as well.

In closing, let me just give one more shout out to Deuchebags with a very high spirited "GET A CLUE!"

Second Life Business Contract Obligations

Some of you might have seen what Brandy posted on her blog the yesterday. She spoke of generalities of doing business in Second Life and cited a very good example, that about contractual obligations between artists and venues who hire them.

http://brandymaltas.blogspot.com/2012/02/bad-business-practices-in-second-life.html

I wanted to elaborate a bit more on what she wrote. When I am contracted to perform in Second Life, I take on the responsibility of more than just playing for an hour and leaving. Oh no... there is MUCH more to it than that and it is with respect to other performers and managers that I offer this.

Before anything, there is the marketing side that is addressed for all events and shows.

A big reason that I still have solid ground under my shoes after over 5 years of performing in SL is that when I am hired to play a show, all venues know that they are getting quite a bit  more than the show itself. What I mean is that between Brandy and myself, we take on and accept the role of "Marketing" the event, promoting it and publicizing it as best as we can. We make use of Second Life group notices, Facebook Groups, Twitter and also on Second Friends where there is now a thriving community from many SL industries with over 2000 SL residents as members. We also create "Events" on Facebook and Second Friends and invite our friends.

After all is said and done and utilizing all avenues, we promote to well over 350,000 pairs of eyes for every event. When a venue approaches us inquiring about me performing for them, we might hear from some that it's out of their budget, and at first glance, the venue is probably assuming that all they are getting is my performance. (Truth be told, I can't say I blame them as they have probably been conditioned to expect nothing more than the performance. They may have dealt primarily with SL performers which may not provide the marketing and promotions that we offer.) At that point, we will remind them that besides the show, they are also getting their brand out in front of all those 350,000 eyes, and that Brandy and I are working hours before the events to promote THEM, their venue, their sim, their content... their event… whatever it may be. Attendance may vary from day to day, hour to hour, and is never a certainty. It's just not in anyone's control as to how SL will be behaving, if the venue is having tech issues and so on. What IS in our control is spreading the word about the venue and event and THAT is the contractual obligation we accept for each and every event I play.

Getting back to Brandy's post, a venue hires me to perform but it is clear that they are also relying on our promotions. Of course the venues themselves need to be doing everything they can to promote the event and the artists they hire. Without that it looks completely one sided as if the venue has zero interest in promoting themselves and THAT comes down to the point. It's a matter of professionalism and understanding that YOUR venue is your BUSINESS! PERIOD! If you don't understand the basics of running a business, well guess what will likely happen to your venue very quickly.

Both Brandy and I are ALL for helping venues as much as we can, and those who have worked with us on our various projects can attest to that fact. The venues and businesses in Second Life that we have contracted, or been contracted by, all understand from the get go exactly what it is they will be receiving. We in turn also make sure we understand the terms of the contracts and expect the Contractor to live up to their end.

The fact that so many people have viewed and commented in support of Brandy's Blog post reassures me that Second Life residents agree that there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to contractual obligations.

I would like to respectfully suggest to ALL who do any form of business in Second Life to simply remember "Business Ethics". Without proper ethics in business, we will ultimately revert back to trading stones for rabbits.

We consider ourselves business professionals and that being said, would like to offer any guidance and help that we can. Brandy and I own The Tracer | Birman Agency, a full service marketing and PR firm offering professional business services including Website Design, Graphic Design, Other Digital Design, Social Media, Marketing, Social Marketing, Brand Creation, Event Planning, Brand Introduction, Logo Design, Corporate Identity. More specific services geared towards Second Life include, Social Integration, Custom Second Life Builds, Event Planning, Marketing, Product Design and Sim Layout/Design.

As always, Brandy and I are happy to help if you have any questions, just shoot us a note card or email info@tracerbirman.com.

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.

Facebook's IPO

Facebook‘s long-awaited IPO is likely to come in late May, according to a report. Citing “multiple sources,” All Things D reports that the social networking giant will offer shares to the general public during the third week of May. That means Facebook has to file its documents with the SEC within a month since a review by the agency usually takes three to four months, the site reports.
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However, the report also warns that the timing could fluctuate. “This IPO planning could all change in a New York minute to another month.” Indeed, after the market’s gyrations over the summer of 2011, IPO dates for Groupon and Zynga became moving targets as the companies sought favorable conditions.

Facebook reps could not be reached for comment on the report.

The timing of Facebook’s IPO has been a source of speculation for the past few months since the $100 billion offering will likely be one of the 10 biggest IPOs of all time and the largest of any tech company. In November, The Wall Street Journal, which, like All Things D, is owned by Dow Jones & Co., reported that Facebook would go public sometime between April and June.

Yelp, which is planning its own $100 million IPO sometime this year, will undoubtedly be closely watching the timing around a purported Facebook IPO with vigor.

The Business Side of Second Life Music - Promotions

When it comes to my own live events in Second Life, I would say that about an hour in total is spent promoting each one of my regular shows in Second Life. Of course the bigger the event, the earlier promotions need to be started and the more time is spent on marketing and PR. The combined time Brandy / Kalli Birman and I spend on marketing goes into Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Second Friends, Second Life event listings, Second Life notices, creation of a promo poster for the venue to set out, etc.


Contrarily, I would offer that only about half of the venues that hold live music shows or events of other sorts actually do any more promotions than sending a few SL notices and maybe a blog post. This is what I want to post about on this section of "The Business Side of Second Life Music" series.


I will post about my own personal experience and how I do things. Venue owners who are interested in booking me for a live show are given a constantly updated notecard, either from Brandy or myself, complete with bio information, links to my websites, blog, YouTube and other places they can check me out. I used to do this exact same thing with Real Life venues but we called it a Media Kit and Demo. It included a CD and a typed up bio about me or the band I was in, offering information about each of the members, accomplishments, accolades, some of the more well known places we were able to "brag" about having played there, etc. All of my real life material is still presented to SL venues, only it is in digital form... in Second Life form... but it's all still there. The point is that we are showing these venues that we have something to promote for them, including their own business.free, free, music, 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

One other thing that we mention in speaking with venues is a very important part of the entire equation. As I see it, coming from owning businesses pretty much my entire adult life, a venue wants to have their name, brand, etc. in front of as many people as they can. Budweiser wants that too. Apple. Microsoft. And especially the small startup. I would place SL venues in this category. They are a small business trying to compete in the world of other businesses, with our world of course being, Second Life. When we promote, we probably reach 350,000 pairs of yes for each vent we do and probably about half a million on larger events.


Why then is it that a venue relies solely on the artists to promote the event? This isn't true for all venues as I've stated earlier, but in my own experience a good number of venues don't understand that they are in business and for that matter, don't really understand business. A venue should have a professional logo. A venue should have a website... a fully functioning business website. A venue should WANT to post in as many places as they can get their hands on. Why? It will drive traffic to their location. Isn't that what they are after?


If you own a venue in Second Life, then you have gone into business ownership. If you've never owned a business before opening your SL venue, let me suggest doing a bit of research on running a real life business. Predominantly, the marketing aspect. You've invested money and obviously, you'd like a return. Some might say they do it just "for the love of it" and they're happy to pay the bill out of their own pockets to keep the venue running. To these people I say hat's off and thank you. To the others, the vast majority, I would go on the assumption that they are in business to hopefully earn a few $L from the business. All the time, I see artists posting their shows all over Facebook mentioning the venue, over and over, but only a handful of venue owners' posts are there. For the sake of your business, share the load with the artists you book, offer some of your own promotions and I can assure you, you will see the results given the right circumstances.

Brandy and I happen to own the Tracer|Birman Agency which deals with this business from professional graphic and website design all the way through marketing, PR, SEO and so forth. We don't spend time promoting our own company, thats not what companies hire us for. In all honesty, we prefer to keep a low profile and deal with companies one on one, not catering to the masses. This gives a more personal approach and more focus on each and every project. I'm not mentioning this as a shameless self promotion, but only to make you aware, as the business owner, there ARE companies out there that can help you grow your company. You might not be aware of them, but there are some amazing professionals, right in Second Life even!

For the record, I happen to be very lucky to have Brandy working with me as she knows a lot about marketing and happens to be very good at it, plus we're on the same page with many things when it comes to marketing. And I would suggest that any venue, artists... ANY business for that matter, consider hiring someone who knows how to market, promote and handle PR.