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Since I stumbled into writing about the live music scene in SL I have met many incredible women, strong women, supportive women, women who look out for each other, and I am honored to have been given an interview by one of these women. Duplicat, manger and rl/sl partner of musician Quartz is someone that I have always respected and looked up to for she was one of the first people to support my writing and Toggle For Music when it was first created and then Droppin' The Stream when I went it alone. This interview is informative on many levels, not only about live music, which shows a woman with a passion about many subjects. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I have....Love Harlow
Harlow: DupliCat, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed for Droppin The Stream. First of all I just love your name, its a great play on words. Is that chosen as you are a duplicate of Cat in rl?
Cat: Before I get started answering the questions Harlow, I would like to thank you so much for interviewing me. I am truly honoured. Also, feel free to paraphrase and/or edit what I write. I can go on at times and I am the queen of typo LoL
The reason my name is 'DupliCat' isn't all that exciting LoL. I've always loved the name 'Cat', so that's the name I was going to use for my avatar. I viewed SL as a pixel duplicate of RL, so when I got to the part where I had to name my avatar, 'DupliCat' just popped into my head.
Harlow: What makes Cat tick, whats important to you and what are you passionate about?
Cat: My family. When it all boils down to nothing, my family (Quartz is part of my family) is, bar none, the most important thing to me.
What makes me tick and what am I passionate about... Hmmmm well that changes all the time LoL. I do believe it changes because I just love to learn. For the past few years I have been stuck on learning all I can about a couple of software programs. I am definitely NOT a wizard at any of them, but I do love learning what I can about them
"my heart went, BOOM BOOM and I thought, "OH NO! Have I fallen for this guy?"
Harlow: You have been in SL for over 9 years now and like the rest of us old timers must have seen a lot of changes. How did you come to be in here and what keeps you coming back?
Cat: I am a bit of a technophile in RL, so a friend suggested I check out Second Life. When I plopped my avatar down in here, I was immediately blown away by the creativity and tech ingenuity of SL, so in my noob days, I was an avid SL explorer.
I still explore, but over the years I gradually drifted more and more into the SLive Music world because I enjoy working with Quartz (Q).
Currently the main things that keep me coming back to SL are Quartz, SLive music, and my amazing friends. However, I would be lying if I didn't say that the shopping events didn't play a role too.... Yes, I admit to being a shop-a-holic (---> insert guilty blush here <---). I also find designing and landscaping our property very relaxing, but I must be careful with that because I can lose days in here :-O
Harlow: I have a few people on my friends list from the very early noob days and even though we don't talk a lot its nice to have those there that I have known for so long and to see how we have evolved as people over that time in here. Do you have people around you in SL that you have known since the early days?
Cat: Oh, my goodness yes! Most of my close friends I've known for years now, and all of them have helped shape me in one positive form or another. I would love to name them all, but I am afraid I might accidentally forget someone. However, I am pretty sure they know who they are... They mean the world to me!
Sadly, a few dear friends have left SL or have passed on, but I will never remove them from my friends list. I still think of them and miss them all!
That's when I find SL difficult; when a friend is sick and I can't be there to give them a hand, or when a friend passes and I can't be there to hug their loved ones and tell them how much they meant to me.
Harlow: You are partnered in both worlds to Quartz, a very talented musician in here and RL. Are you one of those SL to RL love stories that we love to hear about or were you already together when you came to SL?
Cat: Yes, we are one of those SL to RL love stories ♥ Oddly though, he and I swore we'd never get involved with anyone romantically on SL. Never say never they said...
I met Q while I was exploring when I was about a month old. Over the next few months, we became good friends and started hanging out with each other regularly. One night we accepted an invitation to a formal dance, and we decided to couple-dance for the first time. The second we started dancing together my heart went, BOOM BOOM and I thought, "OH NO! Have I fallen for this guy? This is going to ruin our friendship! Neither of us wants to get romantically involved in SL!!"
Anyway, long story short, I needn't have worried because those feelings were not one-sided. About 6 months later we planned for our first RL visit to see if we had the same feelings in RL. I'm sure you know what the outcome of that first RL visit was ♥
Harlow: We always hear about people needing to tip venues, but as the Manager of a musician what do you think are some important points that people tend not to think of when it comes costs involved for musicians playing in here and how important is it to a musician for people to tip him/her?
Cat: Q & I believe the venues have the lion's share of payments. Venue owners need to pay sim fees, musician fees, purchase all the equipment for their club, etc., so tips are required to offset all of those costs. Q & I also believe that the relationship between a venue and a musician should be symbiotic, so we do our best to be generous with our venue tips.
However, as Q's manager I have received a fair amount of flack over the years because some people believe that a musician's music should be free; that musicians should not charge a fee. Q & I assume one of the reasons for this belief might be due to music being instantly available and easily downloaded (illegally) for free from music sites on the internet. However, these people may not be fully aware of all the money a musician needs to spend in order to get their music heard.
The following is an example of some of those costs that Q needs to pay (please note that every musician in different in regard to their own costs): The purchase & maintenance of instruments, the purchase & maintenance of equipment (mixing boards, mics, compressors, preamps, etc.), the purchase & maintenance fees of software required for streaming, stream fees, the purchase of backing tracks, etc.
While the following may not be considered a 'cost' per se, they still take a lot of time to develop: The hours spent writing or learning new songs regularly and the many years it took to develop their talent.
So how important is it to tip the artist? In Q's and my opinion, it's more important to tip the venue first, and if you are able, tip the musician and/or hosts after the venue.
Harlow: What changes have you seen in the SL live music industry since you have been involved and do you think that it's a place where the well known are given preference over artists who are trying to get a break starting out?
Cat: The biggest change I have seen over the years are the closure of long standing venues & SLive musician management companies. It seems like less people are going to SLive music shows as well, but that could be because of all the economic upheaval in the world these days, I don't know.
However, there appears to be a lot of new venues opening up and a lot more SLive musicians on the grid, so perhaps SL is renewing itself.
In regard to your question if well-known artists given preference over artists who are starting out; I know this was the case when Q was starting out, so I assume it's the same now. However, Q has also been an RL musician for 30+ years, so he expected this because it's no different in RL. RL clubs depend on patrons just as SL clubs do, and while unknown artists can bring in a large number of patrons, this is seldom the case.
I do remember feeling very frustrated when Q first started out because most clubs wouldn't answer my IMs, and those that did weren't hiring. Eventually I convinced Q to hire a "real" manager because I wasn't cutting the mustard. Q took my advice and had two consecutive managers; Kat Vargas & Associates and The Keys Management Group. Unfortunately for them, Q's schedule is difficult due to his RL obligations. Regardless, they both worked miracles for him and slowly but surely Q became 'well known'. I have nothing but gratitude and respect for both management companies.
If any new artists on the grid want my unsolicited advice, here it is:
1. Have patience, if you build it well, they will come.
2. Get out there and network with the venue owner(s), manager(s), host(s), other artists, etc.
3. If you're like me and don't network well because you're on the shy side, and/or you don't have time, hire a manager to do that for you.
4. Be reliable, or give venues as much notice as possible if you have to cancel.
5. During your show, encourage your fans to tip the venue. Also, after your show consider tipping the venue and host yourself. If venues don't make enough money to survive, where will you play?
6. Don't show up at another artist's show with a tag that says "Live Singer", etc.
a) Many perceive that as disrespectful to the artist performing.
b) Instead, consider IMing the artist and introducing yourself as a new SL artist. Tell them what you do (sing, play an instrument, etc.). The artist performing will usually plug you over the mic. In my humble opinion, it's far more respectful to the artist and it is far more effective in garnering support and respect from the people present.
Harlow: You live in Canada, where from posts I have seen on FB it gets extremely cold in winter. As someone who lives in the tropics of Australia, snow is foreign to me. Whats it like seeing snow fall for the first time every year? Is it special or you think "damn we aren't going anywhere for months? Do you make a snowman, have snowball fights. LOL random question but I have only seen snow once as a child.
Cat: You are correct, in most parts of Canada it can get very cold during the winter. Where I live though, on the southern west coast, it's quite temperate. It's only the occasional winter when our temperatures get below freezing, so it seldom snows here. But when it does snow here, I feel like it's Christmas and I LOVE IT! It's white, it's clean, it glistens, it's ethereal. It's perfect.
Snowmen, snowball fights, snow angels, snow forts, snow shoeing, snowmobiling, snow skiing, or just shoveling snow, you name it, I'm all over it. I love the snow
Harlow: Following on from my snow question, what is a white Xmas in Canada like for you?
Cat: It is one of the most magical things I've ever experienced. I find it hard to explain because it goes deeper than merely visual; it goes right into your heart, your soul. You'd have to experience it yourself.
Come visit us during Christmas in Canada Harlow! Don't worry, our houses are warm and so are our hearts. We also have little packets you can stick in your gloves and socks to keep you warm when we go outside... You would love it! And you'd love tobogganing, and wearing a toque, and going ice fishing, and kissing a snowman, and, and, and... It's like living in a dream.
Harlow: In closing do you think that websites like Droppin The Stream and Toggle For Music provide a needed service in sl and is there anything that you would like to see included on my site or something that could be done differently?
Cat: Harlow, you were the first person to blog Q when you started working with Toggle for Music (TFM). I will never forget that; I was so happy someone wanted to write about Q and I was so impressed by your writing style. In regard to the TFM site, your and Michael's love of SLive music was so evident and it just warmed my heart.
When you decided to go independent with your own company, Droppin' The Stream (DTS), I always enjoyed your and your writer's articles. I also found that same love of, and commitment to, SLive music in your site. Kudos.
So I'm sorry, but there's not much I can recommend. That being said, I do like it that DTS has taken a different tack in regard to SLive Music. I enjoy that DTS and TFM are both different reads now. I can go to DTS for in-depth articles on artists and anyone related to artists such as venue owners, managers, hosts, and even the artist's 'chief cook and bottle washer.' I can then go to TFM to get excellent coverage on artists or ideas on where to spend my evening. Whatever I'm in the mood for reading, it's been covered by DTS and TFM.
Thank you Harlow for all the blood, sweat, tears, time, and money you have spent on covering the SLive music world in SL.
In closing, there is one last thing I'd like to say... Quartz and I would both like to wish you and your readers, a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Saint Nicholas, Feliz Las Posadas, Heartfelt Kwanzaa, Happy Yule (Solstice), Peaceful Festivus! Whatever you celebrate, Q and I hope it's as wonderful as you are. We wish you all peace, prosperity, health, hope, and love throughout the season and all through 2023.
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