Looking for tips on opening and managing a new art/music area

Hello all,

A few months ago, I learned a guy i work with is also a SL multiple sim owner. I scored a shoreline and went to work, not knowing what would come of it.

Over time It has evolved into 3 distinct areas, joined by a hub in the form of a small temple. I hope to host DJ and live performances in these areas, but I am at a loss as to finding the best info. Anyone care to give some tips?

To give an idea of what I am describing: My place is at kerberos: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kerberos/40/153/29 -- I also have a flickr set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17046579@N08/

Basically, its a lounge for music performances, such as acoustic or a chillout DJ session, theres a gallery-style building (of which im stuck on furniture), and a large skybox which simulates outer-space, which i hope to have house and techno and other spaced-out performances. I put at least 100 hours into the design of this place. I also spent way more than I should have on Heart Garden plants.

moving on......

What I'd like to know is:

- how people manage their clubs/venues/lands when it comes to visitors. I see "welcome mats" for sale that have anything from 10 to 300 lines of code in them. I want to avoid the annoyances like being bombarded with notecards and other popups, but i would like to offer visitors to take a notecard at their choosing.

- I'd also love to know what the general comraderie is like amongst similar venue owners. Does it tend to be a happy family, or can it be more like the real world where things can be unneccesarily competitive? Im not here to compete or be "the hottest club in second life!" or any of that. I just want to share and share alike.

- Im hungry for info today I'd also love to know how Musicians and DJs work out any pay that comes in during their performance. I see a lot of people have agents in here, but I fear agents, out of RL experience. Do most work off a tip-sharing percentage? or do i need to cough up a bunch of lindens before-hand.

- Reduced Beauty or Reduced Lag? The lounge i built is a prim hog, to summarize: My sim owner gave me 1/2 sims worth of prims to use on just over 1/4 of the sim. But my jobs always involve mega-detail. I wouldnt be interested in this lounge if it was designed simple. Nope, I wanted to play with lighting and thave it in view of sunrise-to-sunset to soak up the light, especially the windlight However-- The skybox is very low-prim. a bit of a compromise. I figure at the lounge, most would be seated, if so lag wouldnt be as much of a matter. Am I correct? Either way, I aint removing any prims unless its for a better technique

- last question: How much promotion is too much promotion? I had to remove myself from many lists becasue notices are sent every 30 minutes or even more. Dont notices appear once someone logs in? I am ok with IM blasts, but i hate seeng 15 notices everytime i log in to hear about someones DJ gig from 7 hours ago.

ok, i think thats about it, any info is truly appreciated.

Regards,

Court

Hello Court, You worked at my venue for several months - but only once aweek so you were not too aware of what it took to run the full-time venue.


I use the Top Tank Host Podium. You can pick this up at a store named Wasted Jack. It will greet on its own and you or your host can log into itto be made aware if anyone approches the venue. TIP: Replace the rules card infomration with your venue information. Instead of saying rules every 15 minutes - it will announce your event schedule instead. It even alerts you to players under 30 days old.

I know there is competition but I tried to start working with other club owners since I opened CLUB SCHOOL. I have a free Club Job posting wall in my School. I also give discounts on group trainings to clubs. Many club owners are members of the CLUB SCHOOL group and we share tips and information about new devices. Some folks may copy some of your events and will not be too pleasant about it when you point it out. Just brand your events as I have so you keep your audience when the copycats come along.

There are many DJs and Musicians that will just work for tips. I have delt with the agents and they are not so bad. They keep things organized and business-like. I suggest you place a classified looking for new artists and DJs for your venue (put it on auto-renew). ALso post in the employment thread in these forums. Most musicians will ask for between 1500L to 5000L for a 45 minute gig. DJs are happy with 100L to 500L per hour.

You know I am a prim whore. Use dance balls instead of a dance machine and folks won't have to try to move on their own so much.

There is never too much promotion. Just turn off RECEIVE NOTICES on your groups and you wont get those. There are not too many groups that effectively alert the public about events. Most of these groups are filled with club staff spamming each other. You need to start your own event group for your venue and get the list growing. I have over 4,700 people in my largest VIP group and you knwo we still work to get the audience in on some events.

Hey Lias! Good to hear from you! Thanks so much for the help. Its been copied and printed already. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this project, while balancing a dayjob at a startup! Seems many stay quite busy managing venues, and I know you are no exception to that. I'll make sure my masseuse & eye doctor #s are up-to-date and my supply of Black Cat Espresso stays strong.

The avg rates sound pretty manageable, despite the US$ dollar getting close to the L$ these days I think i can afford a few bands if i start making my lunches at home.



ok, good point. Prim whores rule. Im almost a prim crackhead. I figure, with dual-core processors costing $50 these days, technology will catch up with prim counts faster than LL will increase the count. Bandwidth is another story, but luckily the space art textures compressed beautifully.



ok ok touche actually I am very impressed by the size of your list in ratio to the amount of promo you do-- I see many venues where the promoter will blast every group list they can get a hold of, resulting in 3-4 notices per event, gets on my nerves.

Thanks again for the info, from a club owner throwing parties in SL for so long, the rest of our avatars were still sporting bad linden hair! I really do appreciate it.

-Court