live music notices

this is just a wish really that when people send out notices about live music events can you please give *some* indication of the style of music (also i spose applies to the "music/club" events)

i get loads of notices for events but have no idea what i'm going to be hearing - i guess if you have an online blog or page about yourself it might be an idea to have that in a link - then if someone does like what they hear they can go back to the notice and follow the link

just a thought

I agree:

check this link out:
/13/9f/143014/1.html

And for now, it'd be great for everyone to use the:

Who:
When:
Where:
Style of Music:

format

Some folks (myself included) have a hard time with labels and pigeon holes. It'd be nice and tidy if I could say I do _____. As it is I have material that spans several genres, though usually in practice, the lions share comes down to stuff I can do myself with an acoustic. I believe most of us that play live here have, to varying degrees, the same problem. I usually try and cop out with "eclectic". I really hate trying to write about myself anyway.

The other problem with pre-labeling is, that some people have preconceptions about certain genres that may not hold true for a given artist, and you may turn someone off from seeing you that might actually become a fan if you get them to come out and listen.

I do try and follow (to some degree) DDT's format, though, I for one do not embrace genres easily. Anyway, if you pop in for a few minutes at a show (with most of them in SL still being free) what have you lost for the experience?

i knew when i wrote the post that this would come up and i agree its hard to label and you dont want to put people off - but to turn the argument around... if you put a notice up in the rl with nothing on it what would happen? - maybe the answer is for the artists to sell themselves more

This is both a good and bad thing. To be honest, I get SO MANY 'Live music on now!' notices from one group I've been thinking about seeing if you can mute groups (might as well throw that one out now since I'm here - can you?) - if for once they specified a genre - or not even that specific, just 'this, this, kinda like this with a bit of this thrown in' it might spark my interest, either because I like something that's mentioned, or feel like a bit of something different. I really enjoy live music in SL, but when I get so many messages telling me there is some, but not what it is, I don't bother risking the lag (and the ill-manners of walking out) in the first place. If I don't know what I'm turning up to, I pretty much don't bother turning up any more. Which yes, is my problem, but it's also a shame.

Perhaps artists do need to sell themselves more - if I've heard of someone and the promotion is good, I may check it out - but without details, I'm not going to hear of people or pay much attention when I do. I know I like specific things, but I'm curious enough to try alsorts if it sounds interesting. The name of an artist I never heard of doesn't sound interesting to me.

I consider it like any event. Some I'm into - some I'm not, but if I'm in a silly mood I might turn up to it anyway. But if I get a notice that just says "EVENT ON NOW!" then it won't trigger either interest and I'll probably just sit home and chat

thank you - youve said what i wanted to say

i hate walking out of a gig whether its rl or sl

ok - i spent that best part of the last 15 years going to gigs - working for polygram and then sony and i loved it (free gigs and music? - no brainer)

i'm not sure how you do it but there has to be a better way than this:

(this is a shitty example but it happened today - sorry to whoever for highlighting it)


Group Notice From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th - 1pm SL time
*******************
xxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th - 2pm SL time
*******************
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th at - 3pm SL time
*******************
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th at - 5pm SL time
********************
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th - 6pm SL time
*********************
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx **LIVE** Saturday October 14th - 7pm SL time



and thats it, nothing else, no reason i should go online, change my schedule, do anything other than er...


and another one today:

Group Notice From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey guys! I'm playing in my usual txxxxxxxxxxxxxxxspot today at xxpm. BE THERE!


why should i ???

be inventive

an edit:

dont get me wrong, i´'ll go to the opening of an envelope and i'll see any band once irrespective of press - but most people wont... you have to sell it


i dont see any difference really between promoting a band/artist in rl and sl -

in rl you have to get bums on seats
in sl you have to get avs in a sim

I definitely think we should set some group notice ettiquitte...

Notice titles get cut off... so for the title I recommend:

PERFORMER / DATE / TIME

Then the first thing in the message body should be

PERFORMER
DATE
TIME
LOCATION


.... then it's up to the notice writer to write genre of music or promotion info or whatever....

I just know from RL and SL experience, and from promotion experience, I dislike not knowing the genre(s) of music. ...The most information in the fewest amount of words is always the best. I feel that if the performer doesn't list the styles of music, more people don't show up than if the performer does. Personally I like to get creative with the promo message so it sounds exciting and interesting. "xyz is playing and he is great" doesn't draw as many people as "xyz melts eardrums on the guitar with his soultry smooth fusionistic futuristic sounds and thoughtful lyrics that not only rhyme, but sometimes even follow iambic pentameter"

Just to add to my comments, mentioning those 'several genres' and 'acoustic' would be enough to grab my interest. 'Eclectic' may be the case but to me it'd still be as informative as 'Live music tonight'.

Being more desctiptive doesn't have to be pigeon-holeing - if you don't fit into a particular category, influences or a big list of different styles is far more useful to the punter than nothing at all.

which i guess, is my point

Thanks folks, I think this has been a good and valuable discussion. I will try (on the announcements I send out about myself) to include something to describe the sort of thing you'll experience. Though it still pokes at one of my weak spots, which is tooting my own horn. I know ya got to do it, especially as a musician, but I haven't played brass for years. Hazard of growing up in the midwest w/ Norwegian roots.

I need a copy writer.

See you did it without even noticing it... you mentioned "brass" & "midwest with norwegian roots".... that's much better than "playing live"

Also, do the poor man's copywright.... upload your songs to a music site which stamps a upload date on the song and keeps the ID3 tags on the file. you can also burn a CD of your music, then submit that tracklisting to the CDDB

I've sent out a new one today for my weekly gig tonight and tried to follow format.
I even made a stab at some of the description you're talking about, we'll see if it helps.

um, the legal stuff is called copyright not copywrite - I was talking about someone who writes Ad copy (text) and copyright under US law is in force from the time of creation with or without notice (now, not so before about '7 - and registering with the Copyright office is really about the only thing I've heard of really helping, though it is not mandatory, it just helps prove it's yours more easily.

Just a sidenote.. dont wanna derail the topic... but yeah, sorry misunderstood ya, and also am never that great with spelling. I don't really trust the "with or without notice" though.... I like to be able to prove I made my songs and not someone else. Never had to do it though which is a good thing.

i dont know why but over the past few days ive definitly seen more notices with more info in them

Yeah, most of the event people are starting to realize that the notices are only effective when they list date/time/whats happenin...

although I still log into find "Come Now, Things are Happening, 5 mins" I hope those people realize no one is responding to those kinds of notices