Booking Live Music Gigs

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You've perfected your real world sound. You've decked out your avatar in musicianship finery. You've mastered streaming and have promoted your music in Second Life. You are now ready for the next big step - actually booking a gig! Now in it's simplest form it's just a matter of making an arrangement with a venue owner to show up at a date and time and play. It happens like that all the time. To make sure everything goes smoothly you may want to consider the following information.

Have a Booking Agreement

While Second Life is relatively free of legal mumbo jumbo, a simple notecard outlining the arrangements of the booking that both parties have a copy of is a really good idea. Generally the musician or his representative would create the card and send it to the venue owner to edit and send back. You can see a sample booking agreement at Sample Booking Agreement.

Managers

Some artists have managers, others do not. Whether or not you need a manager depends on you. Managers generally handle all of the booking, make arrangements with the venue owners, manage your group and do announcements. That's a lot of work. So if you just want to show up at the gig and play you may want to consider taking on a manager. Do get to know the avatar before committing and ask for references. Check with a few venue owners they have dealt with in the past. Normally a manager gets a percentage of what you make. You should be wary. Some people claim to be managers then go represent themselves to venue owners as your "exclusive" representative and charge the venue owner one fee and pay you another. It's a good idea stay in charge of your own Linden and you pay your staff, not vice versa.

Helping Fans

You will find that you will have various avatars offer to help at shows. They can be big help making announcements and inviting people to your group. Get to know them first but if you have a fan willing to help it can make a big difference at a show.

Check Out the Venue

It's always a good idea to check out the venue before booking it. Make sure it's the type of place you want to play. There may be a disconnect between your style of music and the style of the venue. Always check it out.

Put It On Your Calendar

A lot of artists maintain a Google calendar. Some use MySpace to record their upcoming shows. Regardless, it's a good idea to have a publicly viewable calendar that is easy to refer to so you can avoid scheduling conflicts. The Google calendar can be modified to fit in the web tab of your profile.

You can learn more at Getting Started As A Second Life Performer