Comments on: The Blue Note is Closing! http://www.vtoreality.com/2007/the-blue-note-is-closing/1521/ VTOR - Virtual TO Reality, featuring Second Life Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:03:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Naydee McGettigan http://www.vtoreality.com/2007/the-blue-note-is-closing/1521/comment-page-1/#comment-10549 Naydee McGettigan Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:47:14 +0000 http://www.vtoreality.com/2007/the-blue-note-is-closing/1521/#comment-10549 Just a quick note as I dont do a search often to catch up on blog spots, If you werent aware... at the end of December 2007, I was able to attain a secure investor who has been willing to help maintain the blue note's existence for hopefully the remainder of the year. No promises on next year.. but We will keep on Swingin while we can! *And thank you to Prokofy for always being not only a loyal supporter... but a wonderful landlord for the first few months of The Blue Note's existence back in 2005! It was a great place to start and it was his rental home (Ingrid Ingersoll's build) that *became* what the current club build is still based on. Very little has changed from the original build ;) Hope to see you all in 2008! <3 Naydee McG Just a quick note as I dont do a search often to catch up on blog spots, If you werent aware… at the end of December 2007, I was able to attain a secure investor who has been willing to help maintain the blue note’s existence for hopefully the remainder of the year. No promises on next year.. but We will keep on Swingin while we can! *And thank you to Prokofy for always being not only a loyal supporter… but a wonderful landlord for the first few months of The Blue Note’s existence back in 2005! It was a great place to start and it was his rental home (Ingrid Ingersoll’s build) that *became* what the current club build is still based on. Very little has changed from the original build ;) Hope to see you all in 2008!
<3
Naydee McG

]]> By: Prokofy Neva http://www.vtoreality.com/2007/the-blue-note-is-closing/1521/comment-page-1/#comment-10057 Prokofy Neva Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:38:25 +0000 http://www.vtoreality.com/2007/the-blue-note-is-closing/1521/#comment-10057 This is such a sad story. I remember when the Blue Note was on a small waterfront parcel rented from Ravenglass in Alston, then when they bought their own land in Tuliptree near another community I maintained, and how they got harassed by an aggressive store nearby lagging the sim, then finally got their island place to try to use this independence to save on costs and headaches. And I really don't think it's about Naydee working this or that group more, or about her having to go out and hustle yet again to find yet another sponsor or DJ gig. The fact is, these enterprises in Second Life are just too great wear and tear on people, because they have to put in too much sweat equity, and people consuming their work aren't willing to pay the costs involved. A real-life club might have a $5 or $10 real dollar cover charge; nobody in SL is willing to pay anything like that in tips even, let alone cover charges. That means the owner of the venue has to hustle vendors, clothing sales, special events, rental fees, DJing on the side, etc. etc. -- all instead of functioning as they would in SL, with both door covers and plate covers and bar revenue, of course. It's an example how virtuality betrays you: it is so much easier to start up a business, to get patrons, to have a fabulous brand and success faster and better than in RL -- and yet not make ends meet precisely because there is no actual booze in a virtual world to charge for, and no willingness to pay covers. If each person who regularly comes to the Blue Note or reading this blog would commit to putting in some $6500 Lindens a month to patronize it and support it at the level it needs, it might float, and maybe not even then. But people aren't, they put $100 into tip jars, not $1000. It means that unless a venue can catch the eye of some big sponsors with deep pockets of discretionary income to blow on advertising, they are stuck. I hope Naydee won't so much close the Blue Note as take a break for awhile, and then maybe figure out how to make a circle of patrons who would have regular advertising, not obtrusive, but worked into events or builds in some aesthetic way, and get this SL legacy funded at the proper level. I also think it should have monthly subscriptions if not cover charges. This is such a sad story. I remember when the Blue Note was on a small waterfront parcel rented from Ravenglass in Alston, then when they bought their own land in Tuliptree near another community I maintained, and how they got harassed by an aggressive store nearby lagging the sim, then finally got their island place to try to use this independence to save on costs and headaches. And I really don’t think it’s about Naydee working this or that group more, or about her having to go out and hustle yet again to find yet another sponsor or DJ gig. The fact is, these enterprises in Second Life are just too great wear and tear on people, because they have to put in too much sweat equity, and people consuming their work aren’t willing to pay the costs involved.

A real-life club might have a $5 or $10 real dollar cover charge; nobody in SL is willing to pay anything like that in tips even, let alone cover charges. That means the owner of the venue has to hustle vendors, clothing sales, special events, rental fees, DJing on the side, etc. etc. — all instead of functioning as they would in SL, with both door covers and plate covers and bar revenue, of course.

It’s an example how virtuality betrays you: it is so much easier to start up a business, to get patrons, to have a fabulous brand and success faster and better than in RL — and yet not make ends meet precisely because there is no actual booze in a virtual world to charge for, and no willingness to pay covers. If each person who regularly comes to the Blue Note or reading this blog would commit to putting in some $6500 Lindens a month to patronize it and support it at the level it needs, it might float, and maybe not even then. But people aren’t, they put $100 into tip jars, not $1000. It means that unless a venue can catch the eye of some big sponsors with deep pockets of discretionary income to blow on advertising, they are stuck.

I hope Naydee won’t so much close the Blue Note as take a break for awhile, and then maybe figure out how to make a circle of patrons who would have regular advertising, not obtrusive, but worked into events or builds in some aesthetic way, and get this SL legacy funded at the proper level. I also think it should have monthly subscriptions if not cover charges.

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