Marketing for Second Life Venues

Marketing your venue is important to both the venue and the performers you hire. I’m sure you would like to see that the money you are putting out to hire performers, pay tier and staff is being put to its best use. One of the ways to do that is to market your venue shows to get the best possible audience you can. As most of you are aware, I manage and am business partners with musician Seth Regan, also known as Mankind Tracer in Second Life. When we are promoting anything, the following are just a few of the things we do to get the information out there to the SL public.

One of the important ways you can market shows at your venue is to list them in Second Life events. This is a very critical step in marketing as the majority of fans are looking in events to see who is performing. You should list in events as early as possible. If you book the performer a month before they actually play then list it right then because the sooner you can, the closer to the top of the event listing for that time you will be. Make sure to ask the performers if they have any promotional text just for SL Events.

When you are hiring musicians to perform at your venue, consider the time you are booking them and have realistic expectations. In SL the most live shows are starting between 6pm and 8pm. There could be 40 other shows happening at the same time and there are only so many concurrent users to attend those shows. This makes marketing even more important because if people do not know what is happening at your venue then how will they show up?

In SL another great resource is SL event groups. You can join groups and send notices and group messages about your events. There are a plethora of groups out there like Musical Metaverse, Live Music 24, Shooting Star and many more. If you do not have many group spots left, you can create an alt and join the groups and then log into your alt 30 minutes before the show and send notices.

Seth Regan performing at To The Stars live music venue.

Social media is also another great way to market your shows. Facebook has tons of groups specifically for Second Life and SL Events. There are a lot of SLers that have Facebook accounts either as their avatar or under their real life name and they use FB as a way to communicate. There is Google Plus and Twitter as well but with both of those, you need to follow people for them to follow you back, there are few groups on G+ that are SL events related and you cannot have groups on Twitter. There is also Second Friends, an SL only social media website where you can create groups, a profile, blog and list events for free.

Another great marketing tool is booking performers back to back that play similar styles of music. Then you will get carry over from one performer to the next keeping people at your venue longer. Also, keep consistent events, even if it is just once a week for a couple of hours will let people know that they can count on your venue at those times to have performances.

These are just a few ideas on how to market the shows at your venue. You can also take cues from real life and adapt them to Second Life. Think outside of what everyone else is doing or not doing to come up with some fun creative ways to get the word out there and build up a regular crowd who come back week to week. Coming soon, Seth will be posting a follow up to this topic on his blog with even more great marketing tips for SL venues.

Giving Back

As many of us are aware, venues in Second Life (SL) are typically not money making ventures. Often venue owners are paying out of pocket for performers because of the love of live music and to support it in SL.

For those who do not know how venues work in SL, here is a little break down. Venue owners rent virtual land and purchase a build or build something themselves on the land for concerts. The venues can vary from a traditional rock concert hall or club to very unusual builds like art installations, outer space or anything you can imagine. Venue owners then book musicians to perform. Some venues pay and some are tips only, just like in real life. However, there are no drinks or food to sell and no one in SL has really adopted a cover charge. So when venues have shows, any costs come out of their own pocket. Sometimes there are shops on the land that pay rent and help supplement the costs.

Knowing all this, it is extra important that performers do all they can to support the venues and encourage the fans to tip and if there are things to do at the venue, to explore and look around.

As a venue owner and manager and musician manager, I can see things from both sides. My venue and venues I manage all rely on shops paying rent to help support the live music I book. So when I do book performers, I try to give them some information about the stores and things happening on the sim and the location of the venue tip jar.

I usually make a few bullet points on a note card to give to the performer or manager as some talking points between songs. This is the most basic form or promotion for the venue. I also make sure I or my host are ready to answer any questions that concert goers might have about the venue.

From the musician manager standpoint, I am very appreciative when I book a show at a venue and we always make sure to ask right away for a few lines about the venue for our promotions. Seth discuused this in his last blog post HERE. We also do ask if there is anything the venues want him to mention while performing.

For us it's all about supporting the venue, showing respect and giving back. If it were not for the venues, performers would all have to own their own venue and perform only there and absorb the costs of land rental with out the possibility of collecting a fee for their performance.

Make sure you show the venue respect and help them as much as you can. Another good way to show the venue respect, as a performer, is to show up a little early to make sure they know you are there and prepared. When booking multiple performers, it is nice for venues to know that the next performer is there and ready to jump on stage when it's their time.

Also, being there a bit early shows respect for your fellow performer who should be up there saying "John Doe is up next so please stick around." and promoting you from that perspective. That also goes back on each performer who is not announcing who the next act is, you should be. It's supporting the venue and the next performer.

Supporting Independent Musicians Or Big Labels?

I saw this quote today on Facebook in one of my friend's feed. I did share it on my page as well and it really got me thinking.

Do I want to support a big label musician buying a new Mercedes or would I rather put my money back into the independent music community?

As someone who manages and works with indie musicians, I would rather support the struggling indie musicians.

If it is a Second Life indie artist or a real life indie artist, the chances are that my dollar will be going to help feed and house them, not buy their next line of coke or pay for their big house and the BMW in the drive.

When I go to see a Second Life performer, I always tip them. On average I tip 200L$ - 300L$ or more if they are a close friend or someone I particularly enjoy. In SL 250L$ equals approximately ONE DOLLAR. It is absolutely worth $1 to get an hour of live music streamed to the comfort of my home. I also will always tip the venue about the same amount because the venue is paying the performer and usually relies on venue tips to recoup at least part of that expense. They cannot sell booze and the only way a cover charge will work is for most venues to get on board. There are tips only venues in Second Life, a plethora of them actually, those venues I might tip a little less because I know their expenses do not include paying the performer but mostly I do frequent the venues I know are paying the musicians at least something.

Another way to support indie musicians is to buy their music. Sometimes musicians in Second Life will have SL CD's you can purchase and often those CD's can be listened to in SL or downloaded to your computer as MP3s and typically it is less expensive than purchasing them on the web. However, if your favorite musician doesn't have a SL CD, go buy the music online.

Just because a musician is popular or books for a higher fee does not mean they are wealthy. They may be struggling financially, like most are these days. Forgetting everything else, what they are offering you is their heart and soul in the music they have worked long and hard to write and perform and that deserves respect. Musicians do like to hear nice things about their music but they also have to put food on the table, clothing on their children and make repairs to their homes. Unless a musician shares their financial situation, we don't know what's going on in their lives.

I understand that it is hard sometimes to tip because you might be struggling as well in real life and cannot afford to buy L$. One possible and fun solution might be to get an enjoyable job in Second Life which will also help you make some tip money. Especially for live music fans. There are more venues in SL than you can shake a stick at. Maybe apply for a venue hosting job, then you get to listen to and support the musicians and make some extra money as well. I know that if I went out in real life to the local pub to listen to my favorite local band,  I will have to take time to get dressed up, do my hair, maybe grab a bite to eat, buy expensive gas, pay a cover of  $5- $20, depending on the pub and performer, buy a couple drinks, tip the bartender, pay a babysitter.... we are talking an easy $100 for one night out.

Going to live music in Second Life saves a LOT of money. I can sit here in my PJ's while my kids are sleeping and go see a couple musicians, grab a snack from my fridge and enjoy myself and at the same time, support an indie musician and venue with just a few dollars of tip money.

I can almost guarantee you that all the musicians in Second Life are not getting rich by performing. What they are getting is a way to help them make more music to share with you.

Venue & Musician Management Workshops

Many of you may know that I plan to hold two workshops, one on venue management and one on musician management.

I have been in Second Life since early 2008 and in that time I have built up a great career managing musicians and venues, as well as doing PR and Marketing and various other ventures. Currently I manage the music career of Mankind Tracer/Seth Regan, who is also my business partner in the Tracer|Birman Agency and The Village & Club Graffiti and I manage two venues for Solace Beach Estates. In the past I have managed such performers as Craig Lyons and Guitar Zane. I  also co-produced and the creator of the Where Is The Concert? HUNT and just opened a vintage clothing store, Brandy's Attic.

Several people have expressed interest in the workshops. Below the times and dates are listed.


The workshops will be broken up into two sessions:

Live Music Venue Owner/Manager:

Feb. 11, 2012 from 1-3pm slt
Feb. 25, 2012 from  1-3pm slt

Musician Managers:

Feb 11, 2012, from 3-5pm slt
Feb 25, 2012, from 3-5pm slt

The cost for these workshops is $40 for each two session workshop, payable via paypal or in SL in L$.

Please contact me ASAP signed up.

In Second Life you can send me a note card with your SL name (not display name) and the name of the venue or musician you manage or you can send me the same info via email to brandy@tracerbirman.com

Less Than A Week Left To Hunt!!

You now only have 5 days left on the Where Is The Concert? HUNT!!! Get out there now and get to all 52 locations to be invited to the group that will allow you exclusive access for a first time ever, back to back live video concert featuring Mankind Tracer/Seth Regan and The Follow!

Visit the official hunt website HERE and get started today!

Poetry Open Mic in Second Life

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love writing and reading poetry. On Monday, November 28, 2011 at 9pm slt/pdt I will be hosting an Erotic and Romantic Poetry Open Mic at our venue, Club Graffiti in SL. Everyone is welcome to attend as a reader or listener.

*** Disclaimer: This event will contain mature graphic content. If you are opposed to an open expression of sexuality you may not want to attend.

You will need to be able to hear voice to listen. If you cannot use voice and still have poetry you would like to share please come and I or someone else will be happy to read for you.

Poetry does not have to be original poetry, it can simply be poetry that you love or inspires you but please make sure to credit the author.

If you have any questions you can contact me in SL as Kalli Birman:

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Good%20Day%20Sunshine/133/73/21