What are they thinking - the people?!

Don't worry!;o)

This is not going to be a 3 hour long lecture about how a thought is created as a neural sparkle somewhere in the left or right half of our brain even though it is a very fascinating subject to cover.
"I think......therefore I am."
Now if that means that you are non-existing in this world if you don't think then I can only come up with yet another quote: "I see dead people!".



Preparation




In SL there is always an Open Mic going on somewhere which is originally designet for new musicians to try out performing in SL but also for experienced musicians to test new stuff and ideas. Mainly it is about presenting yourself to the world and show what you can do.

Open Mics consists of 20-30 mins slots which allows more artists to get on stage and the audience can more easily survive if one of the artists is having a bad day because they know it will only be 30 mins of suffering.

I know that some venues want you to play for an hour at their kind of open mic but they are only out to get a free concert from you and they hardly tip more than 200L$ during the hour so be aware of that. If you really want to play at the venue then just go ahead but don't expect to get more than experience from it and you won't be disappointed.

What I do want you to do is that when you arrive at the venue you are PREPARED!

You have a songlist made for the 30 mins/60mins or at least you have an idea of what you wanna present to people.

When I do a 30 mins set I can fit in 4 or maybe 5 tunes with a little introduction to each and a 60 mins set consists of 8-10 tunes depending on the length of the ones I have decided to play.

It seems to me that many other artists can present 5-6 tunes in a 30 mins set and ofcourse close to double of that in a full hour show.

It is not that I have long speeches between the tunes myself....the tunes are just a bit longer than others....even though some people might say that I do talk too much.......it's not true....between you and me....its not! ;o)

What I hate the most is to come listen to an artist....and we are also talking about "experienced" ones.....and then they spend 20% of a 30 mins set saying: "The hardest part is to choose what to play".

Get out of here! That's rediculous!

Ah ok, maybe that was a bit harsh. Maybe they just woke up on the stage and found out they actually were supposed to play....something.

I don't know... but I want to hear....something.

Don't waste peoples time with fiddeling up and down your guitar and make strange sounds with your mouth...come prepared!!

During a 60 mins show the same rules apply...you come with a bag full of songs/tunes that can fill out the show. Sometimes you may be in doubt but don't let the audience know...just choose the next song and get on with it as if it's the most natural thing right now.

Some artists may be thinking too much about what people would like to hear and maybe that's why many cover-artists with a 100+ songlist end up with singing the same 12 songs every time.

I tend to do the same sometimes because even though I have only performed my own original compositions I have experienced that the lovely people in my fanbase have chosen their own favorites during the more than 1½ year I have been performing in SL...for which I am very honoured and proud of by the way!;o)

I try to change it and one of the things I did was having differently themed concerts like the church-concerts I do with my more quiet compositions.

Ofcourse you can take in requests but when you run out of those...back to your initial plan because you did remember to make one...right?;o)


Don't act like a moron on stage saying: "Hmmm...what to do...what to do...??"


Come prepared!!




Want to get paid or not?


I run a venue in SL called The Yard Club and 2 months ago I sent out a notice in all the major groups telling that I pay all performers at my venue. I have a feecap at 4000L$ for an hour but they will get paid and they can put out their tipjar as well.

In my opinion a cool deal compared to the more and more venues offering tips only.

Well, some venues will lie to you and say they are a tips only venue when they infact do pay some of their performers..heh.

Anyway, I sat down and was expecting a little storm on my venue now that it was all out in the public that here was a venue that actually paid performers to be there.


Hmm, nothing happened.


I did get 2 responses but far from expected.....strange.


A month later I sent it all out again in the groups, made an ad in classifieds and even posted it in the SLMC Forum because maybe that would bring it to the attention of someone.


5 responses!


Okay.....so 7 artists in SL want to get paid for their performances and the rest prefers being tipped only...even when they actually get money thrown at them??


What kind of thinking is that?


A few possible reasons for this comes to mind:


1) "The bombardement of notices in SL is so heavy that they automatically close every single one that does not have their name on it if they get them at all."

-Are the groups usefull at all?

2) "The people that they hired to keep an eye out for paying venues are not doing their job."

-Hire new ones....unless you are partnered with them...then just keep running in circles.

3) "They have friends....those friends have tip only-venues......if they get paid at other venues then they might lose the friends."

-And?....What do YOU want?

4) "The Yard Club doesn't bring any new people because it is no following."

-Only a few, but we don't have any shops or the like. We just provide a lovely stage for you to perform on.


I bet there could be other reasons as well but I only wanted to point at a few possible ones.


Personally I would much rather close The Yard Club than ask artists to perform for free. Would be like asking other people to pay your tier for the land.


This also made me wonder why I actually run a venue.

Is it just because it has been a part of me almost from the beginning of my second life?

Maybe it is time to turn the key for good because with this little interest in getting a paid gig there surely is something rotten in the musicbiz of SL.

Like if there were no biz at all in this world.


"I see dead people!"


-TA-