[FA Worldmusic] Second Life

[Dmitri Vietze]

Have any of you explored Second Life, the online virtual reality environment?
You get an "avatar" (that is, a virtual being) and then interact with others.
The reason I ask is because my brother in law is an artist who started the
first SL artists colony where they actually show art exhibits. He showed me
how they have concerts there with live musicians playing in some remote part
of the world to virtual people who are sitting all over the world but
listening via their avatars. From what I could see there was a lot of
singer-songwriter type of stuff, not any specifically global genres, but it
sure seems like a ripe medium for global connections. There are theaters and
clubs who have built replicas of their real venues in SL and then they have a
combination of live theater audiences and virtual audiences; sometimes they
even project the SL interactions on a big screen so you get this real
world/virtual world melding/interactivity. The only major "world music"
presence I could find easily were these DJed reggae clubs, which I think ad as
much to do with pick up lines as music. But maybe some of you have seen
something else there?

You may be wondering if there is money to be made on SL... I know my brother
in law artist gets a ton of work from his presence there. Like major
corporations hiring him for creating art thematically tied to their mission
statements, etc. As for musicians, it may be more for promotion, though
technically you can charge admission or use a donation box. I am sure for
major artists it would be a way to tap fans who could not otherwise go to your
concerts. But for smaller names, it might be too hard to attract enough people
to actually charge something. But you might turn someone on to your music for
the first time.

Much respect,

===> Dmitri!
music at rockpaperscissors.biz