Live musicians: what do they get out of it?

Something here I do not understand. Maybe you can help me ...

I live in a large European city that is teeming with superb musicians, most of them looking for a gig. Some of them are desperate for a gig.

But when I mention that I can get them a gig in a virtual world, which might have as many as 40 in the audience (but more likely 5-10) -- and that they could expect 'tips' which might, on a very good night, be cashed out for as much as US$10 -- they quickly find limits to their desperation.

And yet -- there *are* live musicians performing in SL. Why do they do it? Is there some other non-cash spin-off that makes it worth while?

I can't figure this out. The musicians I know expect at least £100 (approx US$150) for a gig. Why would anyone do it for so little?

The only way I can imagine it working is if a live performance in a conventional RL club was streamed into SL simultaneously. Does anyone do that?

I'm genuinely baffled.

Exposure. I've heard several performers here that I probably would have never heard if not for SL. In SL, a performer sitting at his home in Europe can play for people around the world. There are SL venues that will stream in RL club shows, The Blarney Stone comes to mind.

well, Im not a musician so I can't tell you why, but what I can tell you is I sure love to go to their shows.. And have found at least 3 that I have purchased mp3's from their web sites..... So..
I vote exposure, and I think a lot of it is just the love of what they do.

I also love it when they interact with the people in the venues.. That is the best part of a SL show... Its a personal experiance and when they greet you and respond to you and giggle... I just love it

/me throws her panties on stage

Screams FREEBIRD!

Hi Caramba,

In addition to exposure and the possibility of streaming from a RL gig or to a RL venue, venues will pay a musician a fee to play (except for open mic gigs). Not major money mind you, with only a few musicians being the exception to that rule.
Plus some musicians actually make pretty spectacular amounts (to my mind anyway) in tips.

Also, I know of at least one musician who began in SL and is now playing RL gigs. How cool is that!

Most do it for the love of playing though. Amd I just hop around from gig to gig loving it all!!!

ETA : /me waves at Tarina

Maybe just for the love of their art - it isn't always about the money.

have a friend who does it just for her own fun as she likes signing

not everything is done for money

What Alicia and Twosteppin said. I'm a musician and I do the occasional show in SL and I can tell you it ain't for the money because what you get for shows in SL whether it's a straight-up payment, tips or both is little more than beer money. I do my shows for 2 reasons:

1) I've gotta rehearse my repertoire regularly or else I start forgetting bits and pieces.

2) Exposure. Although in my case that's a joke because no-one comes to any of my shows.

Definitely more the former than the latter.

I've wondered the same, because even with a venue paying them, and if tips go over L$1000, which at less than half a penny each is little over $3 US, you'd have to sell a lot of MP3s from your website... (Not that there are that many of us really.)

But, they rehearse anyway, right? Why not rehearse with an audience since they'll be playing in their place anyway? They also get appreciation, which makes doing what they love all the more rewarding!

As Sally mentioned, virtual shows can lead to better paying RL gigs, of which I know more than one, and even miss those who now are busy enough to not be able to play in SL anymore.

I've also seen musicians perform in SL, which seems to be when they see they might have an audience, and finally record/publish MP3s.

I guess it depends if they are playing for profit or as entertainers?

Ask any real life musician why they play. It is never about the money.

It's about the SEX!!!

Some musicians will earn an rl hour's worth of pay in tips and booking fees. Obviously not arena-god status, but a nice chunk of change relative to the energy and effort it takes to market themselves.

I can tell you why a lot of them do it - because they can't get anyone anywhere else to listen to them, as they are really bad. I've been to a few live shows, and I've never been impressed. Some I just left. One I didn't even get in the door - I heard a couple lines on the way in, and left immediately.

Many of them are people who are not entertainers in any way, but they fancy themselves as singers. They can do it in SL, and very few people would tell them they are rubbish. Many would actually compliment them.

I do know a couple RL musicians who perform for crowds of all from 300-10000's of ppl so i reaLy, REALY can't imagine even thinking of asking them performing in sl except if somebody scrpted a gridwide streaming technology where the band could play in one sim a stream it to all the others live, to just hopefully get an audience of what 40k ? (thats 40k IF ALL ppl listen and to be realistic if we say that about 20-30% of ALL users logged in would listen they would not get even 10k virtual audience, so i don't think anybody would ever consider sl for that purpose it just doesnt make sense, a much better choice even if the musician should be very hopeless is to drive a RL mall and play for the crowd that way atleast you get more ppl to listen to your works)

For musicians a much better mainstream channel to showoff is youtube.

Can't help but respond to this statement

You've been to "a few" live shows and you reckon "a lot of musicians" play because they are really bad?

First of all I should say that I have lost count of how many live shows I've seen in the past few months alone, but it must be hundreds, since I go to an average of about 20-30 gigs a week.

Sure there's some people playing that I may not choose to go back to.

BUT there are many great and even downright fantastic musicians active in SL!

Making statements such as yours above is very unfair on the SL music community as a whole, which is a great community of very generous people.

Making such as statement is also very unfair to those great musicians out there playing their hearts out for pocket money!!

I'd suggest that a few live shows is hardly enough to judge the live music scene in SL.

Perhaps you need to go and listen some more

Maybe you are right, and I should get out and listen more, Sally

I haven't been to many live shows, but the ones I've been to ranged from average to really awful. Perhaps there are many out there who are good, and I just coincidentally didn't see them yet So I'll change my statement, "I can tell you why a lot of them do it" to "I can tell you why some of them do it".

Actually, this already sort of happens on a modest scale.
When very popular musicians play, their manager often posts the link to the stream in a group IM, so that if the region is full you can still listen in, as long as you can change the music stream where you are of course.

So true. Having played on-stage many many times with various bands over the last 15 or so years...I can still say that even a stage-freak like me, who comes from the smashing bottles on my head, fighting punk rock audiences, regular crowd-surfing, mosh-pits, and even adrenaline & testosterone underground hardcore rap performaces...

My "one man band"/ home project was just as much fun. Before this option was available (SL), I used to always wish there was a way to do what we can do now with SL "Live" performances.

Say I have already worked all week, PLUS played 2 RL shows, been working out and doing chores plus drinking almost 20 hours a day. (You know how post-punk rockers party).

I have a body of 7 hardcore industrial songs that I wanna perform. No band ready, equipment not ready for the stage, cables fried etc. An SL performance looks cool as hell! Especially since we can go to sleep right afterward, and get up for work in the morning without the big hangover, or smelling like a cigarrette plant.

My experience also has been that every live performance I've heard in SL has been absolutely dreadful. I was shocked as people kept asking "Isn't she great?". As popular as live gigs are in SL, though, I'm assuming I just had bad luck. Can't judge them all based on a few performances.

Oh I have been to some real sintkers, but in all honesty, those are the minority.
If I go hopping to whatever random gig I pick at the time I can pretty much be assured of the bell curve average. There are a few that are a waste of bandwidth, many that are entertaining at least and often with good parts and a few "what was he thinking" parts. Then there are the amazing shows. The ones where you wonder why they are doing this basically for free.

Mostly, however, my friends and I have 2 or 3 favorites each now so we seldom have to look for something to go to.

Sounds pretty much like RL to me.

1) fun
2) practice
3) exposure

It ain't for the money. You might as well ask why musicians go to open mike nights.

I'm a musician, and I have a bit of a solo act I sometimes do for friends' parties or whatever, and if my RL situation were different I'd consider doing a live show or two for the fun of it. For me, the reasons would be 1 & 2 above.

Frankly, you can ask the same question about scripting. Anyone who makes $L scripting (as I do) can make far, far more money in RL writing real code. Sure, there are differences. In RL you need to make a lot more of a commitment. In SL, you can often do something useful in just an hour, which usually isn't the case for professional coding or scripting. But the main thing is, it's FUN.

No doubt similar things can be said for any SL profession: you can make lots more $ doing it in RL, but it does take more of a commitment and you have to deal with more ramifications.

Frankly, I think anyone who comes into SL just to make money is missing the point.

I often pay enough in tips when I listen to live music in SL that if the crowd was all paying the same amount as me, the musician would be grossing more money per hour than I make at my real life job. Possibly a lot more.

what she said.. and I can say this in all honesty... 85% of the reason I use SL is the live shows

So part of the answer is that most live musicians are doing it for themelves. They are musicians who already have SL avatars, and their live performances are part of their SL existence -- it's what they do in SL.

Live performances by RL musicians who have been booked for a gig in SL are apparently rare, and are most likely to be RL gigs simultaneously streamed into SL. The musicians would not need SL avatars.

Have I got that right? Is that how it is?

There are probably a lot of people who wouldn't want to stand up in front of a crowd and perform but are happy tod do so in front of their computer with just a guitar and mike.

Just like any other aspect of SL. We can do things we won't in RL. I'd agree that most SL musicians are here in SL for SL, they didn't come here solely to promote their music. I don't think SL is useful for that yet.