Invariably, with all the great parts of the family that makes up Max March Industries, there are sad moments. Christieanna has been a very important member of that family, and she will always have a place within the company, and our hearts. She has been like a sister to me, and will continue to be, and a wonderful friend. I regret the necessity of her departure, whether it be temporary or long term. I don't post here enough, but this truly needs to be said.

Christieanna, we less than three you. Please return, Chris, you fulfill the Quality and Excellence we sought when we hired you, and have never disappointed.
Sincerely,
-Micheru Mathys

As per usual, the media has been tearing down business in Second Life. Whether it's about WWF's Conservation Island or the long term foul up of American Apparel. However, there are many facets of the situation that have not been looked at.

     1: Second Life is a community platform, to get visitors and thus customers, you have to engage them. Big name appeal does not work as well in Second Life, you can't just announce that you have a place, and expect avatars to flock to it, even if you're a famous millionaire. To get the eyes and ears of the people, you have to offer something that is already lacking, or something that has not been seen before. And you have to keep at it, opening a sim and having one event, then letting it rot, abandoned will turn off more customers than that one event ever will turn on.

     2: The media will not do everything for you. You may have the biggest island with the coolest custom buildings and best scripted toys, but if you do not advertise it in-world, your sim will stay empty, and the few that do come through will notice a lack of green dots on the mini-map and teleport out. The community needs to come to know you before you have their full attention. It's a great idea to sponsor events for others and starting small - but public, rather than merely immediately going for the island and sitting in your massive, but empty, sim.

    3: Control the media, not the other way around. Do not go to the news rags until all of your projects are completed, you have events running, and people are actually at your in-world places at a frequent basis. There should already be an in-world buzz about you by this time.

     4: Produce quality goods, if you are going to produce anything at all. American Apparel failed because their clothes were designed poorly their ameture neighbor a few sims away produced better quality pixels at half the price, and they merely created an inventory and never updated it - the clothes they sold on January were the same exact pixels as the clothes they were selling on April, and June.

 There are many other things to look at when entering Second Life, but these are some of my most obvious thoughts on the subject.

Ciao,
~Micheru Mathys

I've set up an online calendar for myself, to keep a list of events I intend to go to in Second Life.
If you're interested in seeing what the Top Cat is up to - feel free to keep an eye on it.

Micheru's Event Calendar

 Ciao!

Some perhaps know of Top Cat Designs, the shop I have in Plush Pi at The Shops, a soon opening Max March project.

 You see, I build things occasionally and got told I should sell them enough times in a row that I decided to drop them into Top Cat, named after the nickname Max often uses to refer to me. However, recently my good friend Rave Amat and I got to talking about various things, and it led to him coming aboard at Top Cat. He's joined the brand name which is now a fully fledge Max March company that I created and lead.  Rave specializes in Egyptian, Asian, and medieval designs, and the branding is still fitting as Rave is a tiger.

 He is also an excellent scripter. If I recall, he did all of the portal scripts in the sim 'Alchera'. I am hoping to see many more interesting developments from him in the future. I believe he is currently looking into doing a line of clothing. I am very interested to see how this will turn out. I will have more information on that when we next speak.

 Ciao,
~Micheru Mathys

 
Appended:
Click Here to go to Top Cat Designs Now!
 

(Xposted to my personal blog) 

The CRB, Copyright Royalty Board of the United States has just passed a massive royalty increase for any broadcasted music, as asked by the RIAA, Recording Industry Assoc. of America. Not only is this change retroactive, so that providers will owe back royalty costs from 2006, it is so massive, that it will push many of the small music providers out of buisness.

 The RIAA and it's labels do not find musicians, and do not make music. It produces, manufactures, and markets, faux talent. The music that they 'push' has so little to do with expression of the artist now, and so much to do with the money that it comes with, I for one, intend to fight this decision with tooth and nail (canines and claws). I will NOT be buying any music that is produced through any of their companies. You can find a list of RIAA labels here: http://www.riaaradar.com/

So what can an average Joe do to help? Start with removing any RIAA music from your play list, contact your congressional representitive, support the Save Net Radio .org, Sign the Petition, and donate time, money, or whatever you have to give to your independent broadcasters!

 Here is a page for recording artists and broadcasters. While I do not condone illegal file sharing, if you must, do it safely with encrypted services such as GigaTribe

Be safe, be free, express your RIGHT to be heard!

~Micheru Mathys