SLMC

Doubledown Tandino · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:51 am Post subject:

Ok, here's a few other concepts that may work...... if you're totally throwing out the very good and smart idea of having a sponsorship....
(I believe sponsorship in SL is the best method of becoming a profitable venue... and also, sponsorship in SL works TOTALLY different than RL sponsorship. I'd go so far to call an SL sponsorship a partnership.

but anyway... so you aren't gonna go the sponsorship method.....

...my next thought would be the promotion method......
I would probably create a plan and a venue so that the musician knows it's important to play at my venue..... ....I would, instead of focusing on booking musicians and paying them.... I would focus on creating a venue that ALWAYS has 30+ people there for every show. Once it becomes the turnaround that the venue is more popular than the person performing, then the venue has the edge. If people are showing up for the venue, for the chat, for the regulars, for what goes on at the venue..... and then the venue also has a lineup of performers all day,..... then,.... the performers will work for tips and for the promotional aspect since there are 30+ regulars that know to tip the musician.

Soooooo.... venue owner doesn't pay musicians. There is a split tip jar for the musician/venue. there is a donation box for the venue. And all the performers that play there get permanent info signs on the wall for $1000L a month.

My point is, if you focus on bringing in a constant crowd always and anyways, with or without a performer, then the venue has the upper hand.... Musicians will want to perform there with the guarantee that all the promotion will be taken care of because there's gonna be a huge crowd.

So, in summary:
the venue is spending money to create a constant crowd
the musicians are paying just to play there and that pays for the clubs rent + any profit

Just another SL venue business model brought to you by the Doubledown Tandino factory
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DJ Doubledown on The Sixty-One ~ SL DJ & Club Scene Blog
Ravelong Productions @ SLMC Info Island

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2087 Location: Chicago

Doubledown Tandino · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

In terms of finding sponsors in SL... IT COMPLETELY has to do with your friends and people you trust in SL. Over time, you meet people, some of which you bond with and can tell you would do business with. Some of those people have businesses and companies in SL.

It's as simple as an IM chat or a nice and neat notecard.
If you are pulling in 30+ people generally all the time, many businesses would want to be involved in that action. Friends that are inventers, land barons, investors, builders, mall owners, etc... they all are making good money in SL, and they're always up for a friendly connection and solid promotion for some extra lindens.

My company Ravelong Productions is usuallly always interested in sponsoring events and venues.... but I primarily deal with clubs, raves, and lounges
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DJ Doubledown on The Sixty-One ~ SL DJ & Club Scene Blog
Ravelong Productions @ SLMC Info Island

Silas Scarborough · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1185 Location: Rhode Island

Doubledown Tandino · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject:

ticious · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 2087 Location: Chicago

Tommy CUlt · Joined: 06 Sep 2007 Posts: 160

What I find common in SL - is most of the 'success' stories in SL really are not that successfull in reality. Sure - they make all these lindens and good on them - but they are here for 14 hours a day. In RL if i worked 14 hours a day EVERY day...just to earn what a 'successful' SL business person makes - I would be ...hmm...well..SL rich..and RL poor.

Sure, there are a handful of people earning decent money in SL, but lets be real - not many are earning over $50,000 real life dollars per year lol - they might own a heap of sims but they are not operating them from their Apartment overlooking Central Park in NY.

At the end of the day, what has made me a lil cynical is the number of (new) musicians who expect that in SL they are going to be paid more than they actually get paid for doing the SAME thing in RL. I have PLENTY of RL musician friends and have talked about breaking down what they do into an hourly rate - and ya know what - they dont make $40.00 per hour. But hell - if you got a myspace page, a few average youtube vids and a computer - that is what is 'expected' by many in SL.

Von is right on many many issues because it just depends on perspective, and I know all too well how easy text can be taken the wrong way. New venues, with new people running them who are the next 'big' success in SL music open every day. I see them promoted, read all the advantages they are going to offer (one of the lastest claimed how the performers wont even have to pay to play there LOL - I bet that was a relief to many people lol) - so ....I cant see an end to places thinking Live music is the solution to their already failing SL venture (yea yea..that is the cynical me part again lol) - so....no worries there, there is no shortage of places willing to host and pay for musicians.

Thinking about this..maybe that in reality is the business model. As long as there are people coming along and paying to get involved - everything works great. Kinda like a chain letter - or a pyramid selling scheme - you know the sort....everyone wins...till all of a sudden - everyone looses.
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TC

Doubledown Tandino · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:32 am Post subject:

Yes, "success stories" are all relative. We're speaking specifically in regards to financial success for a music venue.... which is very rare.

But plenty of venues are VERY successful. It's all about what you wanna focus on... money.. or the fun of it all... and there is a compromise because venue owners DO need to pay rent... unless they're on sponsored land.
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DJ Doubledown on The Sixty-One ~ SL DJ & Club Scene Blog
Ravelong Productions @ SLMC Info Island

vonjohin · Joined: 19 Sep 2007 Posts: 458 Location: Nashville, TN

When I've seen venues offering 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or even more shows per month, its usually been a sign they are going to have serious issues soon, especially if they are paying any amount to the performers. Without even paying, that's a huge time commitment to promote and manage. Burnout is coming on at some point, and nothing will burn you out faster than not making money at something. Second Life may allow a venue to have events 24/7, but that doesn't make it a good business idea. I can't think of any real life venues that book that many events and acts. Its just too much in my opinion.

If I were to decide to start booking acts at my club, I would possibly allow some newer acts that wanted to play for free to schedule themselves a few times a month, and then pay for one big show a week each featuring one artist on Friday or Saturday. I'd experiment with treating it like a real life show, with the paid artist doing two sets, with a short break in-between, and promote both set times in SL events. That all said, I don't want to be a club owner or promoter, I don't have time to do it right and still play the amount of shows I've been booking.