Tim Folds His Hand...

Back in August, I did a piece here regarding a new business model in the SL music scene.  One of the venues proposing such a model was Rasta Ventures, former management of Red Rock Ampitheater, Rasta Beach and Mama's, managed by TributeTim Kwak and his management team.

The new model, a co-op between the venues and performers, was to include Red Rock and Mama's, as well as a new venue.  The grand reopening of the venues was scheduled for 15 September.  Sadly, this did not occur.  It came to my attention that Tim encountered some dificulties with the scripter he hired., as well as having one of the musician partners pull out of the co-op.  He decided to find another scripter, regroup and get back to work on his ideas.

Tim circulated the following letter today, 12 November:

"Hi friend,

After much effort, and now much regret, i'm writing to tell you that i've decided to abandon the Rasta Live Music Co-op project. After working carefully with a very professional, very competent scripter, we've determined that the hours involved to set up the system to a the level of quality that i would be comfortable with would take well over 100 hours of coding and cost in the range of about US$6,000 at reasonable RL programming rates.

I can't afford that, and the SL economy can't justify that level of investment.  But, i am not willing to pair down the project.  I'm not willing to do a half assed job.  Perhaps if I were more skilled in scripting, and if I had the time (which i'm afraid I never will)  I could treat the project as a hobby, do the scripts myself and we would have a system that we were proud of and would be of use to the greater community.  Sadly, that is not to be, or rather, it is not for me to do this job.

As such, i have decided that i will move into other ventures in Second Life and leave venue management to others.  I love the music here, especially YOUR music, and i will always be a grateful and frequent member of your audiences.  I have opinions (like you find THAT surprising) about how the biz side of music should be structured, but they will remain my opinions and I will keep them to myself from this point forward.  Rather, I'll simply enjoy what you do, however it happens.

I want to thank you for your support. In some ways, i feel i've let you down.  But I know that this decision is a much better path than trying to proceed with something that is less than what we had hoped for.

With great love and respect,

TributeTim Kwak"

By Shellie Sands