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 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.

The Business Side of Second Life Music - Learning from someone who knows!

Most of you probably know that Kalli / Brandy and I are business partners on a number of endeavors. The way that all started was back in August of 2010, I had decided that I couldn't continue doing all the management, bookings, graphics, promotions, PR, etc that I had been for 3.5 years. My time was becoming more limited and I decided to find someone qualified to help me.


I had met Brandy when she was managing another artist. She had the experience of managing other well known Second Life performers and I remembered seeing her notices which were well written and concise. 


She agreed to come on as manager and more than a year and a half later, we are business partners and best friends.


I'm going to tell you something. The reason it worked is not because she's an awesome person, which she truly is, but initially, before the friendship, I knew right away that this was a woman who has her head on straight and knows SL marketing and PR and how to work with different sorts of people. Sure we became very close soon after that but from the start, I wasn't looking to find a best friend. I was looking for a manager who had the utmost regard for their work and knew how to get things done.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

As I said, I had been handling every facet of my SL music career on my own for a long time. I like to think that I had built something and wasn't about to put that into just anyone's hands. I sure lucked out!


I'm telling you all of this because Brandy and I have been talking about her idea to offer some workshops for venue owners and for musician managers and I want, here and now, to offer my sincerest recommendation that if you fall into one of those categories, attend her workshops... go learn from the best in the business. I can just about guarantee that you will learn something and if nothing else, you will get confirmation from a true professional that what you've been doing it right.


We do work together and speak a several times every day and when she comes up with a great idea like this, I am the first one to help spread the word. Sharing of knowledge is a true gift. Personally I have spent thousands of dollars in the past to attend workshops that I felt would be for the advancement of my businesses and if I was a new or struggling SL venue owner or musician manager who wasn't exactly clear on the business side of it, I would probably spend a ton of money to learn what I need to know, but I would only spend it on someone I KNEW was a professional and could add to my knowledge. Brandy is such a person. I don't know exactly what she's going to charge but whatever it is, it's probably too little. You can contact her in SL as Kalli Birman or by email at brandy@tracerbirman.com


You can learn more about the workshops here: Brandy's Blog


GO TO THE WORKSHOPS!

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. 

The Business Side of Second Life Music - The Show

Making the transition from Real Life shows to Second Life, or starting to include Second Life shows in your calendar of performances can be a bit shaky at first. I remember when I first started performing over 5 years ago in Second life. I had split from my band, and was writing a new album, but was still missing playing live. I think I saw an ad for Second Life and thought it just sounded really cool. So I joined.


There's a few things I picked up while touring, both RL and SL, that I want to share. Likely, you know some or all of this if you've done any performing at all, but for the benefit of those that don't, I thought I'd put it down.


What I'd like to cover really quickly here, for the benefit of others who might be considering starting to perform in Second Life, are just a few simple pointers that might help you out a bit. Like I said before, I think many of you will know this stuff, but it never hurts to hear from someone who's been doing it a while. And trust me, I'm guilty of at least a few of the following so I'm talking from my own experience of falling on my face at least a few times!




LATENCY
Before starting in Second Life, I hadn't really tried the whole "streaming" thing and the one thing that threw me a bit at first was the delay time from when I play, until the audience heard what I played. This is known as "latency". Usually, when I record my music, there is such a slight latency from my instrument to the computer that it isn't even audible... we're talking maybe only a few mili seconds. Streaming into SL on the other hand can give a latency from 5-25 seconds (to those on the receiving end). The reason for such a wide discrepancy can be based on several factors including distance, operating system, the computer itself, Second Life preference settings, etc. When you become accustomed to the latency, you'll begin gain a feel for the change in typical live show "protocol" you might need to alter or otherwise effect.
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PROMOTIONS

Promoting your shows, event and yourself, in my opinion, is probably THE most overlooked part of performing live in Second Life. There are many avenues of promoting your events, many of them free. First and most obvious is Second Life Events > Live Music. I'm very optimistic that the layout  of Events listings will be fixed soon to be less cluttered with different kinds of events, more separated in fact.

Right now under Live Music, there are the Live Musicians' listings but there are also DJ events listed, Karaoke nights, Track Singers and more. I suggested that these be separated into individual categories to allow the Second Life community easier access to what it is they're looking for and to eliminate the current clutter of this jumbled mess we now have to work with. In the meantime, it is what it is and it's THERE so use it, be sure to have every one of your events listed by the venue if possible and if not, get invited to the land group and do it yourself. 


You might also consider creating your own Facebook Group and/or page if you haven't already, create a Twitter account and tweet about all your shows, post on Myspace and so on. Google offers free calendars which you can quickly and easily embed onto your website or blog, letting people know where and when you'll be performing.

You can also join Second Friends for free! This is a growing social network designed by myself for members of Second Life ONLY! You can list your events including, images, description and the SLurl. You can post whatever you want like a link to your own website where people can listen to your music, links to your YouTube or other social networks Keep in mind that you can also easliy and quickly "share" your event to the other networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more. JOIN FREE HERE!

Personally I also like to design my own promo posters for each show. They always include my picture, my logo, the venue name, date and time. Ok to be fair, I do own a website/graphic design firm in real life so I have the luxury of being able to do it myself. But even if you have someone on your staff who can create the first promo, then it's simply a matter of changing the venue name, date and time info for each show, then upload the texture. This takes, seriously... all of about 3 minutes. So if you have to pay someone, make sure it's not robbery!

Click Here to join Second Friends Free!!!

SCHEDULING
I cannot stress this enough. Arrive early at your shows! Many venues' owners have likely invested time and probably some money in your show. When a venue owner sees that you are late, haven't set out your board, tip jar, etc and you're rushing to get it done, it also tells them that you are not serious about your career, or about the work you are doing for their venue. Absolutely right... you are working for the venue when you perform there. More on that later.


Seriously though, try to get your stuff out early. Chances are there are people already at the location, on the sim, etc. Why not have your logo and gear up for them to see anyways? Sure there are off days, we all have them. Just don't get "known" for being a last minute kinda performer.




TEST YOUR GEAR
After you've setup, before ANYTHING else... dear GOD please TUNE YOUR GUITAR!!! I remember one show in real life, when arrived barely on time and decided to skip tuning. So I started playing the first song of my first set and of course, right away I heard I was out of tune, but at that point, it was too late... or so I thought. I mean sure I could have just stopped after a few strums when I heard this abomination, excused myself for a minute from the audience (big deal right?), but instead I pressed on, playing the entire song out of tune. I can't tell you how quickly after that show, that I began tuning BEFORE every single show. Like I said, it's a simple thing, and certainly most musicians know this, but if on your first song you are out of tune, do you think people will be impressed. I mean I saw the expression of "YIKES!" on a few people's faces in the audience that night and trust me, I DON'T want that EVER again! In this regard, however, Second Life is not like in real life. In real life, people have already made the effort to get dressed, travel, park the car, get seated, etc. and they'll most likely stick around. But in SL, leaving is as easy as teleporting out. So make a great first impression by respecting the audience with a tuned instrument.


What this really comes down to, is just doing your best to sound as great as you can. Sure we all have our of nights, but if you willingly contribute to MAKING it an off night by playing on dead, out of tune strings, well that just shows you aren't serious about your music and haven't taken the audience into consideration. Again, I'm guilty of this too but it's a hard lesson learned to complete a relatively simple task.


Take this a step further and spend about 30 seconds making sure your gear is all plugged in, batteries working, no inputs crackling, etc. and if you come across this after you've already arrived late, you're going to be under the gun to rush for a quick fix which may crap out half way through your set. So to reiterate above, arrive early for this and other reasons. Personally, I prefer to just stay on top of things during the down time. I'm on the guitar daily so I know when things go sour, when strings lose their "shine", when cables start crapping out.

TIPPING
Through the course of your shows, make sure you ask for venue tips as well. The venue hired you, even on a tips only show, you are hired by the venue. The more tips you bring in, the better off the venue will be to be able to provide a place for live music in the future. Running a venue costs money too.


When people in the audience tip you personally, for the love of GOD, please make sure you thank them personally. I have been to shows where at the end of the show, the artist says "Thanks everyone for your tips!" Thanks "EVERYONE"? People are tipping you. Thank them... each and every one PERSONALLY! This isn't a ploy, this is respect. Let people know that you appreciate that they took the time to come to your event instead of the 50 others going on at the same time.


Continue on to the next part of the series: The Business Side of Second Life Music - Promotions