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.

What Should A Serious Musician Expect From Their SL Manager?

If you are a musician who is serious about their Second Life career, you should expect a higher level of service from your management. This is not really written for the hobbyist who is just coming into SL to play every now and then. Those management expectations would be different. However, for the serious musician, here is a list of things you should expect from your manager.

Seth Regan / Mankind Tracer performing at Club Graffiti in SL

1. The most important thing to expect from a serious manager in SL is COMMITMENT. A real commitment to you and your brand. Commitment means different things to different people. It will be up to you to define what commitment means to you.

2. You should expect your manager to BE AT YOUR SHOWS (barring any real emergencies or internet failure) and be there working. During the gig the manager's job is to get people to the show, work the crowd, answer messages about you, booking, your music or the show. Your manager should also be your liaison to the venue owner or manager, make sure the show runs smoothly, let you know if there is something wrong with the sound or stream, generally communicate anything you may need to know and promote you and your brand. Sometime a musician will also have a host that will greet people and remind people to tip you and the venue, let them know how to find your social media, videos and CDs. If you do not have a host, then these things would also fall on the manager. Which leads to my next item....

3. Your manager should PROMOTE YOU to the best of their ability. They should hunt down every group possible in Second Life to send notices to and then actually send the notices to all those groups before your show starts. You should be discussing the content of those notices with your manager to make sure what they are saying accurately reflects your brand. They should also be promoting you over social media. There are a lot of social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter your manager can use to promote your Second Life shows.

4. Your SL group should GROW! Ultimately, it is your talent that people will come back for but it is up to your manager to make sure your fans do get into your SL group and make sure they stay informed of events. It is also up to your manager to get people to your shows, which ultimately will lead to growth of your group.

5. The manager you choose should be able to BOOK SHOWS for you. It is your managers job to make sure you have gigs booked and listed in events. They should be booking shows that will help expand your fan base and get you paid.

6. You should expect to pay your manager the INDUSTRY STANDARD of 15 - 20% of each gig booked or the same % of tips if the show is a tips only show. No manager should get a flat weekly fee because it does not motivate them to book more shows. To make more money, they book more shows.

7. As a serious musician, your manager should TAKE YOUR CAREER SERIOUSLY as well. If your manager ever says "It's only SL", RUN... Run Quickly and find someone who doesn't look at your career as just a game.

Second Life Manager? Booking Agent? Publicist?

For those of you who don't know by my previous blogs or because you know me personally, one of the things I do in Second Life is Musician Management. Currently I am managing the most recognized rock musician in SL, Mankind Tracer (Seth Regan in RL). Before I managed Mankind, I managed other well known musicians in Second Life.

In my four years in Second Life, I have come to find that not all "managers" are created equal. There are a lot of Musician Managers in SL that are not really managers, they are Booking Agents or Publicist/PR people. Booking Agents and Publicists are very important in the career of the musician as well but they are not managers.

There are many sorts of managers for real life musicians, Artist/Band Manager, Business Manager, Tour Manager, etc. Many times for smaller musicians/bands in RL, one person takes on all these roles, just like in Second Life. However, I think the title of "manager" is not always accurate in some cases in Second Life.

Lets take a look at the possible Second Life positions:

The Manager:

The Artist Manager needs to help direct the career of the artist and research the various people in Second Life such as booking agents, publicists, photographers, machinamists/video directors, stylists/designers, graphic artists and how they play into the artist career plan. The more contacts you have the better equipped you are for the manager job. In managing the career of the musicians they may also help with song selections, sound and give feedback on shows.Unlike in RL, the manager also In SL the manager often assumes the role of the other sort of managers that I have listed. Making sure the artist gets paid and their expenses are covered, checking that the venues have done their parts by listing, promoting and setting up performance space and other details of the show.

The Booking Agent:

The booking agent role is different than what a manager does. The booking agent will work with the artist to agree on dates and times available for performances, how much to charge for bookings and how negotiable that fee is, what the goals are for the "tour" and contact promoters ad venues to pitch the musician and book the performances. They also arrange the contracts regarding fees, equipment (ie the venue must provide a stage) and the rider or terms of the contract. They must have great  communication skills to sell the talent and develop contacts, as well as, communicating with the artist as to when shows are and if anything needs to or has changed with the scheduled shows. In Second Life this role is often taken on by the manager as well or the musician does their own booking.

The Publicist (PR Person):

A Publicist handles the publicity and press needs of the artist in SL. Publicity helps get people to the shows in Second Life. A publicist must be able to get an artist's name out there in as many ways as possible and consistently research new ways to promote.  Sending group notices to as many places as possible including: SL groups, Facebook, Twitter, Second Friends, bloggers or any other avenue they can find. In second life this role can also be done by the "assistant" or "host" and also could fall on the manager. Again this person's communication skills and professionalism are critical because they are the public face of the performer.

It is immensely important for musicians to consider what their needs are for their careers and what people they will need to work with to make their career plan happen. You can have someone who takes the role of Manager and another person for Booking Agent and Publicist or you can find one person who can do it all. Often I have seen in Second Life that the person being titled manager is not really managing but maybe just doing the job of a Booking Agent or Publicist. Some are just Booking Agents or just Publicists. It can de difficult to find someone in Second Life that can take on all roles and do them well and all these roles are very critical to a musician's career. Sometimes you might find that you don't need a Manager or Booking Agent because you are comfortable handling those aspects on your own. Maybe you just need a host that can do notices and work the crowd. Ultimately, it us up to the artist to figure out what they need in the way of representation and I encourage all performers to sit down with their current staff and sort out what is needed and what works for you and the goals you have set.

If you are interested in performing in Second Life, just email me and I can help connect you or point you in the right direction. brandy@maltasmanagement.com

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

Tricks Of The Trade - Venue and 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. Currently I am also co-producing and the creator of the Where Is The Concert? HUNT.

Often I am approached by people asking for advice on one or the other by both friends and strangers. Friends I will help as my time permits, however, a stranger seeking advice might get a little but I have worked really hard over the past almost 4 years to acquire the knowledge I have. I think that the learning process itself was very valuable as well.

After a lot of thought about the advice I give and all my years of experience, I have decided to offer two workshops. One on live music venue management and the other on musician management.

The workshop on LIVE MUSIC VENUE MANAGEMENT will including things like: Promotion, hiring staff, tips, hiring musicians, the art of negotiation, what to do when the unexpected happens, gestures, hosting, and other topics that are important to running a successful venue in Second Life. There is much more to owning a venue than renting land, putting up a stage/building and hiring a musician. Venue ownership is a business and in order to be successful you need to make sure to arm yourself with knowledge.

The MUSICIAN MANAGEMENT workshop will include interesting topics such as: Promotions, getting paid, getting your musician paid, building an audience, gestures, negotiating, booking info, hosting, dress for success, finding new venues, groups, scribos, stalkers, what to look for in a quality venue, social networking sites, giving back to the community, charity events and networking in SL. Just like venue management, being a musician manager is a job and should be taken seriously. You should want to do everything in your power to help further the career of the musician you manage.

If you would like more information and pricing for either workshop you may email me at brandy@tracerbirman.com or contact me in SL where my name is Kalli Birman. Please send me an email or notecard with your SL name (NOT your display name), what venue or musician you manage and what you would like to get from the workshop.