Penn State MBA Student's Paper

Cher Harrington · Penn State MBA Student's Paper

Anthony Robinson December 2, 2008
Operations Management 510.301

Cher Harrington SL Music Promoter

Cher Harrington is a promotions manager or audio consultant in the music business. She networks with musicians and promotes performers’ songs in Second Life (SL). Cher has selected a very simple and direct process to produce/provide music in SL. Her production process can be divided into 4 areas: Network, Artist Song/Portfolio, Radio, Studio and Show promotion.

Network
Cher does not sell her own music; she promotes other people’s music. She therefore needs a constant supply of music/songs. Her network to gather songs is built on several mediums. She disc jockeys (DJs) on music stations including www.SLLiveradio.com, with currently 200 musicians played on air. She promotes and books SL artists and networks with other artists during these shows. Cher offers consulting services to help new DJs, artists and SL speakers develop their SL careers. Cher also promotes her services on web sites like www.MySpace.com.

Artist Portfolio/Songs
Cher meets many artists via her self-promotion (on web sites, on the radio station, and as Master of Ceremony [MC] at events). Artists provide to her songs that they are interested in having her promote. Artists provide permission to play their pieces under a “Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.”

Radio
Cher will play artist songs on www.SLLiveradio.com which is owned by PickSL Dublin Services. Ham Rambler owns PickSL Dublin Services and also owns Dublin in SL and San Diego in SL. The radio station does not advertise. The radio station does not charge artists for play time. Cher schedules programs and DJs. She is able to promote live shows and studio showings of artists played on air.

Show promotion or Music store
Cher owns a music studio that the artists she promotes have access to hang show posters or post songs for sale. Cher does not share in any revenue gained from sales of artist songs. She views her studio as another format that supports artists successfully entering SL.

Cher also is the hostess and events promoter for PickSL Dublin Services. She books artists for them and hostesses SL events at venues in San Diego and Dublin.

Cher’s mission statement could be formed on the following quote from Cher:

I don't sell or create anything, I help live artists with promotions, through advertising, playing their music on SL Live Radio, or displaying a poster in my studio. There is no charge for any of this, I love music, and I love to help.

The difference between what Cher is doing in SL and the real world music industry stems from revenue generation. The final products that she promotes are songs played on the radio, played at live events, or sold in her studio. Cher does not charge any fee to artists to play their music on the radio. PickSL Dublin Services does pay her when she is DJing. Thus far, the radio station is not generating revenue. In real life (RL), radio stations generate revenue by promoting advertising on air and/or charge for listener access-fees. SL Live Radio does not advertise nor does it charge listeners for access.

Cher is paid to set-up events and hostess them. The artists also receive money for live performances. In RL, live event ticket sales per listener generate large revenue. The purposes of live events in SL are for getting people to meet, listen to music, and to promote areas (e.g. Dublin and San Diego). Revenue recognition by charging people access to shows has not occurred, at least for the shows Cher promotes.

Cher views her studio as a means for artists to gain more recognition and to be promoted. As Cher networks with people, she tells them to visit her studio to hear various artists she is promoting. Those artists can sell their songs (downloadable MP3 formatted songs), but Cher does not share any revenue from those songs, even enough to pay for overhead associated with her studio. In RL, compact discs and downloadable songs are sold, and promoters share on those revenues.

Cher has kept her production process minimal and focused, to maximize SL awareness of the artists she promotes. Over the last four years, Cher has made money promoting artists’ songs by DJing and promoting live events. She characterizes her endeavor as non-profit work, because she does not make enough to pay for the studio and other capital and operational expenses associated with promoting music.

She states she loves music, and wants to help introduce artists into SL, and wants those artists to succeed in SL because she loves to help people.