Sponsors for Second Life Live Music Venues

For those who don't know, Second Life Live Music Venue owners typically carry all the costs of running the venues. They pay tier for land to have the venue on, some venues pay the performers and some are tips only and some pay a staff.  Most rely on venue tips to help recoup just a small fraction of those costs, however, it rarely comes close to covering even the costs of paying performers. So it is very important that people do tip the venues when they can. Tipping is a kind gesture to thank venues for providing free entertainment.

To further help alleviate some of the costs, I recommend venues try to find sponsors. I have had success in the past with finding sponsors for the performers I manage for their individual shows. Also, I have had success with sponsors covering costs for big events.

Here are a few ways to get started finding sponsors.....

1. Figure out your venues numbers. How many shows a week for how many hours. Then keep track of your average draw per hour. This can be done simply by looking at how many people are at the show at the mid way point which is typically the peak time. Keep track of those numbers for a few weeks and then you have something to approach sponsors with.

In real life events are sponsored all the time.

2. Know how much of your costs you are trying to cover. If you spend L$XXXXX a week, what % would you like to get sponsors to help with?

3. Put together a note card that outlines the data from your venue numbers to show the sponsors how many people they can reach by sponsoring your shows. Also, include how long the sponsorship would last.... weekly? monthly?

4. Reach out to content creators that are suitable for your venue and explain to them that you can offer to place their Logo on a clickable prim or adboard with a LM to their location near your stage for X amount of time for X amount of L$. Also, it will help to explain that the sponsors will be mentioned by you or your staff through out the shows X number of times.

Don't fear rejection, this is after all a sales pitch to the content creators. You have to go through some no's before you get to yes's but if you can point out the benefit to the creators, then eventually you will find some willing to give it a chance.

Start with creators from stores where you shop, then you can tell them that you are a regular customer and you will feel good about promoting their brand at your venue.

This is just a quick blog post with ideas, its up to you to put in the time and effort to make it happen. I'm happy to consult with venue owners if you need more information or tips on how to go about finding sponsors. Just drop me a notecard in Second Life, Kalli Birman is my legacy name.

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.

Second Life Performers Support Each Other

One of the things I love about the live music scene in Second Life is how much performers support each other.

I am arranging an event in Second Life in support of Seth Regan’s (Mankind Tracer) Indiegogo campaign to help fund his next album, “Left of Center”. If you are reading this and don’t know who Seth and I are, he is my best friend, business partner and I manage his musical career. He is one of the most generous people I know. He is always there for me when I need someone and for others too. So arranging this event was the least I could do for him. If you don’t know his music...check HERE.

I approached a few performers and asked them to do 30 minute sets during this event. Without a blink Noma Falta, Maximillion Kleene and Savannah Coronet said yes. I also wanted to make the event more than just music, so I asked well known SL stand-up comic Lauren Weyland to be involved as well and she agreed right away.  Find the event deails HERE.

This sort of support from SL performers just made me smile ear to ear. Seth has given over 6 years to the Second Life music community with live concerts, donating his time and shows to charity events and even helping friends with personal events to cover a need. It is great to see performers coming together to support him.

Check out Seth’s Indiegogo campaign HERE

My heartfelt thanks go out to Noma, Max, Savannah and Lauren!