Something I’ve noticed about myself when considering going to a concert in Second Life is that I look at who is playing at a certain time, say 7 pm slt/pdt, and if there is a performer that I enjoy but performs multiple shows a day many days a week, I will pass over their show for someone who does not play as much. I will basically say to myself “Oh X will have more shows tomorrow or later tonight, I will maybe catch them then.”
I’ve known performers in SL that are doing multiple shows a day, sometimes with only an hour between shows. I really feel like they are doing a disservice to both their career and the venues that are booking them. Second Life.
Playing multiple shows close together will affect your potential draw. People will have more possible times where they can come see you, so instead of having one really well attended show, you end up with several less attended. The exception for this in SL is if you put 6 hours between your shows, which will be targeting different time zones. If you have a show at 5pm, 7pm and 9pm, you are essentially targeting the same basic audience but if you have a 2pm show and 8pm show, there are different people on for each time period.
As a venue owner and longtime venue manager, I have also seen how overbooking negatively impacts the venue. The owner pays for a performer to come play, often the venue has stores or something that helps them generate income to pay for the performers. If you are losing draw because you are booking a lot of shows close together, you devalue yourself to the venue since your draw suffers and consequently, the venue traffic. Then venue owners will be less likely to rebook you and even want to pay less because you are not bringing in the traffic to justify paying the full price. There are venues who book and pay for shows for the love of music and do not have an expectation of draw. However, since many venues have stores that pay rent - as their main source of revenue - they will simply will not pay performers if traffic is not repeatedly maintained.
Potentially, in performing fewer shows, you can actually generate more money. You can charge a little more per show and expect higher attendance. This means better tips for you and better donations to a happier venue (who is more likely to have you back).
Also, by performing less, you can help reduce the 6pm to 8pm slt “event congestion”. On any given day there could be 50+ concerts happening at 7pm slt. Having so many possible concerts at one time also can hurt attendance. If you eliminate a few shows a week during those “prime times” it can help the community over all.
When i go to see a show RL/SL, I want to be entertained, i want to feel "you" are singing for "me", I want to feel "you" are committed in your performances.....I expect to hear both some of the good old songs, but certainly also new songs in the repertoire... If i hear the same songs each time in 6-12 month, i get bored. If i get the feeling it is for "generating as much money as possible" .. I am definitely over and out.
ReplyDeleteKind regards
Charmaine Canning (SL name)
There are a couple of artists who sing multiple shows a day and I LOVE IT! I cant get enough and am always thrilled there is another to go to. I appreciate how kind they are when talking to everyone on stream and making us all feel special and thanked for being there. Its amazing how being kind and genuinely appreciative helps draw in crowds too. Sometimes its the known "generating as much money as possible" mentality that makes people stay away.
ReplyDeleteClearly, what I have written is from a business stand point as that is my job, I work full time in SL and one of my jobs is musician management and another is venue manager. As far as I am concerned, any performer that charges needs to consider how often they are performing and the impact on their career, how much money they make and the venue.
DeleteMy sister and I only attend live performances in SL and we spend a LOT of time on the grid. What draws us to performances is .. quality of the music being performed. So that whittles down our potential attendance considerably. For the few remaining quality performers out there, it depends on if we are busy or not creating & if we will allow them to pull us away from our work. This whittles down the list even further and in that list remains a scant few. So if these few artists play multiple times per day, I often try to make most, if not all, of their performances, again depending on how busy I am at that time slot. So as far as attendances goes.. I like having time options.
ReplyDeleteAs for revenue generation. I can say I have never shopped at a venue where I go to listen to a performer. A performer worth listening to generates a lot of traffic and shopping in lag is not something I like to do. I also prefer to shop in "main stores" not multi-vendored satellite locales. I think shops rent in heavily trafficed music venue malls for brand recognition, not for sales.
TIPS for performers, hostesses, venues. This is an area we have given considerable thought and discussion to over the past 6 years. If anyone, like us, attends multiple shows/performers per day it can get quite costly!!!
At minimum, we have SIM tiers to meet and things we enjoy purchasing (HAIR HAIR HAIR lol)so we generally will only tip a performer ONCE per day whether we see them one time or 3 times. There are exceptions such as feeling another performance by them was exemplary that day. That said, personally I feel a tad quilty not tipping at 2cd or 3rd show for that performer that day, but unless exemplary, as stated, I don't tip again.
Tipping hosts/hostesses... usually not, unless they are close friends, then we feel somewhat obligated to do so. Generally speaking tipping someone who says hi to you or spams you a couple of times to join a group doesn't inspire me to leave money.
Tipping venues... it depends on the venue.
I rarely tip a venue that gets revenue from commercial rentals.
I never tip a poorly designed venue (usually running more scripts than all the avies that come to the show).
I never tip venues that turn of scripts, my Huddles won't work unless I amke room for their group, I generally just leave when I see the no script icon. I like to dance in SL when I attend music performance, it's part of the fun. No Huddles, no Mairead.
I do tip venues that run consistently good to stellar line ups and that provide paid hosts/hostesses.
Another area on tipping venues and performers.. Many performers receive both payment from the venue and tips. I understand many make RL salaries for these shows that are used for a variety of reasons, more power to them, but I think that venues get the short end of the stick on this score. I know some clubs with stellar line ups and I know the salaries commanded by the performers and I wonder how they make a profit. I often think they don't, that they are lucky to break even or they have deep RL pockets to subsidize their venue with real money input to keep afloat.
Well that's my 2 cents.. lol.
As the co-owner of a venue, I prefer to work with musicians and managers who act professionally and consider the impact that playing multiple shows in one night may have on the audience. We want to make sure that the audience that takes the time to come to our venue has a good experience and that includes the best possible performance from each musician who takes the stage. My experience has been that in many cases when the show at our venue is the last of the performer's shows of the day, quality can suffer, thereby diminishing the audience experience. That is not to say that I do not book performers who play other shows on the same day, but it is something I consider when deciding to book the artist and also when negotiating a booking fee. When money is changing hands it is a business, not just performing for one's friends so I do factor the financial aspect into the decision making. This is a hard balance with things such as those things that Mairead mentions above such as the rentals, good venue design, etc. It is all part of the business and the business is about providing quality experience for the audience, the artist and for us as the venue owners. It is certainly is not about the money - there is no profit in owning an SL venue even with shops, land rentals, etc.
ReplyDeleteLove the remarks. They are all valid... but let's talk about this from a quality prospective.
ReplyDeleteAs a corporate trainer, I was hired to speak 5 hours a day. My Vocal Cords suffered the price. This was just speaking voice. Imagine the stress singing puts on an individual's vocal quality. Singers who have been doing more than 8 shows a week have lost the beauty in their sound (all of you, no exceptions.) Not one of us is special. Even a person with that nice throaty sound people want, you begin to sound like snap, crackle, pop. Your voice suffers and your quality diminishes. So if you value your craft and your talent think about who you want to be in a year after singing 3 shows a day 7 days a week just in SL. All of those guilty of this, you know who you are, I have been to your shows, sadly your quality is not as good as it was when you started. Make the educated choice for yourself.
P.S. Yes, we are talking about you behind your backs, some of us to your face; are you listening?
Dearest appreciated and valued friends(club owner) who share the shows with all of us (I personally Thank you!) However, think about this: wouldn't it be nice to have a variety of performers and/or performances by different acts monthly rather than to watch numbers go down (if that's your goal?) As an audience member, I get bored with the same performer at the same time, same place each week, and worse same exact show. I know I might find a home in a place with more variety. Food For Thought.