Five years ago I had not heard of Second Life ™, which may be the case with some of you. And, those of you who have heard of it may have a completely different idea of it than I do.
It was the Fall of 2006 and one of my work friends, who was/is involved with Online Training, asked me if I’d heard of it. “No,” I replied. “Well, you should check it out,” she said. And, she pointed me to an article about “Suzanne Vega and the Second Life of Live Music” (link here) I was floored! Plus, there was a YouTube video of the making of her guitar in SL (link here).
Two days later I had an account. I wandered around for 2 weeks getting the feel of things. Finally, I bought some (virtual) land and built both a house and a large patio where people could come and listen to my music, which I had prerecorded into a 60 minute stream that ran over and over 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
So, do you think the old adage “If you build it, they will come” works? Not in your sweet life time they won’t. I waited … and waited .. and waited. No one!
So, I just took to building. I could do that. And learning the ropes. Joined a few groups. Finally, the guy who I rented my stream from listened to my songs and suggested I talk to a certain someone in the SL music scene. Plus, he wanted her to hear my songs.
That was the big break. It got me started and I’ve been cranking on that for the last two and a half years. Then other people started listening and liking my stuff.
Well, lots of people don’t care for it. But, that’s probably because it’s raw: just me and my 12-string, coming to you live from my basement studio in Minnesota. A lot of people need more than that in order to get excited. Plus, Folk is a limited taste now a-days.
There are lots of things to say about playing Live Music in SL. First, you aren’t going to get rich doing it. In fact, you won’t even make coffee money. But, that’s not the point, at least for me. It’s the fun of it and interacting with real people more so than you would if you were playing a coffee shop or bar.
Second, you meet a lot of wonderful people there. And, people from all over the world. Most of them are there because they love music. They have all sorts of backgrounds and many are not really in the business (though, there are many who are in the RL music business, and in promotions, too).
Keep your eyes posted on this topic. I have lots more to say. In the meantime .. be sure to look around you and have fun, whatever life you are living.