Two kinds of networks. One for groups working together.  Another for marketing and distributing the product. One infacing, private or at least not publicized.  Another outfacing, public and publicized.  That second one hasn't always been much of a network. 

Back in the middle part of the last century, "network" most commonly meant radio network or television network.   Public and publicized, sure.  But hardly interactive.  There were the Nielson ratings, of course.  And I got a secret decoder ring from Jack Armstrong.  For twenty-five cents and three Wheeties box tops, I think.  Most of the time , though, those networks were telling us what to buy.  And we just listened.      

Those of us who grew up in the last century may tend to think that this top-down network is the norm.  But it never was the norm for local merchants.  You sell to the people in your village,  you listen to the people in your village -- or at least to your customers. 

As I promised last week in Musician’s Entry Path to Second Life, I interviewed Bones Writer about Trax and the services it offers.  I invited Bones to provide written answers (as I had done previously with AWM Mars), but he preferred to talk.  I took a video capture of the interview, but decided that transcription to text would require a lot of condensing and rewriting. So I am reporting his responses in narrative, rather than as direct quotes.   

To summarize the previous article, Trax is bringing together musical artists, venue managers, and relevant resources to provide an infrastructure for musician starting or working in Second Life

M Linden called live music in Second Life a "killer ap."   I was on that theme in an article a while back:
Music is real business in virtual reality

That article included a prospective scenario about Joe the Geek and his biworld beer party.  He invited a bunch of his friends to sit around his 96 inch TV screen and sing along with EvaMoon Ember. I even suggested an inworld monetizing scenario: 

"…an entrepreneur might decide that there is a potential demand for a new service, Party Special, set up specifically for entertaining guests at a party.  With specific guests getting recognition and comment.   Chatting with performers on break.  Requesting specific songs.  All the things that add value to a performance at a night club.   And things that might make the host want to pay extra for a private party."

That entrepreneur, Party Marty, would be offering (and charging for) an inworld catering service.  Turn-key operation.  You tell Marty what you need:

When people arrive at your venue, you want to show them a schedule of upcoming events.  Maybe they came for an event.  Maybe they came by to see what you have and found no event.  Either way, you want to tell them about upcoming events.  Here are some of the main ways people do that at the SL venue.

• Poster- givers – giving notecards with times and  landmarks
• Textable billboards
• Web-on Prim
• Huds & billboards from Google Calendar

Poster-givers

In the simplest form, these are one-prim panels with a texture inviting a click.  On click, the panel gives a notecard with events, times, and landmarks.  There are more elaborate ways to use poster-givers.  Some of these are available (as free, full perm, scripted objects) in the Hobo Kit on Cookie or Hobo Island.  Poster-givers are often put out at other high traffic places as well as at the venue.  I will give a detailed description of poster-givers, variations, and possibilities in a later article.

Fan groups, venue groups, notice lists, and so forth.  In two previous articles:

• How can we promote events in Second Life?
• What is the meaning of Second Life?

 I gave information about how people use these resources to promote performances and venues.   The rest of that story is how to build membership.  Here are some methods currently used for that goal:

Inviting people at venues

Both venues and performers routinely invite people to join groups at live performances.  Common methods are:  inviter, join panels/posters, and name harvesting. 

Inviter:

Inviter is a member of the group.  Inviter right clicks on one person at a time and issues an invitation. 

Is there a businesse model in this ecology? Ecology: the study of organisms in a selected environment in terms of their interactions with other organisms and with the environment.  

Performers.  Venues.  Audience. 

A while back I talked about the entertainment ecology from the viewpoint of some of the performers: Promotions and the music business in Second Life.  Earlier I suggested that there could be business opportunities in this ecology:  Real Entertainment from the Virtual Village.   Those comments provoked some controversy:  Music as a business in Second Life

Wednesday, April 22, 6pm SLT  (Opening show)
Jwheels Carver.  Comedian.  MC.  Now producing the summer replacement for Saturdays Wild. 

WIll nothing stop this man? 

Well, yes, a real flight of stairs. But nothing in Second Life.  Jwheels Presents will have the same budget as Saturdays Wild.     But more flexibility in time and venue.    The starting point will be Wednesdays at 6:00 pm SLT, in the Archon Theater, SW Corner of Cookie Island.   And (as mentioned last week) Jwheels will be experimenting with new ways to bring variety to the Second Life stage.   The opening show will feature Eva Moon Ember and Daine Blaisdale:

We already have traditions in Second Life.  Like the idea that the only way to present a musical performance is to have one musician stream for an hour.  That probably works for something like the Music Awareness Marathon, where you drop in whenever you have free time and stay around if you like what you hear.   And, yes, the oldtimers are right: "That's the way we've always done it."

Well, always, if you mean Second Life.  If we take the WayBack Machine, we can go back to the Golden  Age of Television.  Or back to the Golden Age of Radio.  Or even back to the Age of Vaudeville.  I'm not sure whether that was Golden.  That may have been before they invented Golden Ages. 

Anyway, music monoculture was not the way they did it back in those days.  Oh, sure.   They may have put the New York Philharmonic on the air for Saturday afternoon to play Beethoven's Ninth.  And the audience loved it.  Both of them.

Finally it's spring again. The garden blossoms, the earthworms bask in the rain, the birds twitter and the frogs spawn in the puddles. The Greenies enjoy the lively nature very much and would love to celebrate this inspired season with a big Spring Festival! It takes place at Greenies Lawn Rezzable on the weekend after Easter. 3 days full of live musicians, RL DJs and fun on a gigantic scale. April 17th - 19th.

April 17th - Live Musicians

12 - 1pm SLT, Zorch Boomhauer

1 - 2pm SLT, Artel Brando

2 - 3pm SLT, Maximillion Kleene

3 - 4pm SLT, Obeloinkment Wrigglesworth

April 18th - RL DJs

10am - 12pm SLT, Tasty Hax  - Funk & House

12 - 2pm SLT, Linse Noriega - Lounge & House

2 - 4pm SLT, Diamond Shelford  - Dirty Disco & House

My earlier discussions of music business in SL provoked some controversy in the comment sections.  The comments deserve more attention than they will get in that location, so I will review some of them here.    You can go back to the originals by following this link..