Words from Kitten | Kitten’s Little Blog Spot

Live Music in Second Life - An Introduction

July 11th, 2008 by Evil Kitten

Recently I got back into Second Life, which seemed to be a much better time-waster than World of Warcraft was these days, what with guild drama and me wanting to kill everyone there (Not really, Secret Service!). So … back into SL. Corialote Dougall, my avatar since June of 2005. She’s so cute, I mean really: look!

Anyway … I have fallen in love with a new resident run feature of Second Life: Live Music. How is live music possible over the computer? You might ask. Well, let me explain. We’ve had internet radio for forever, where with ShoutCast servers can stream live music, talk, and whatever else we so desire over the “airwaves”. So a person (or two or three, depending on the setup) can stream, play his instruments or use backing tracks, and sing or whatever their little hearts wish. Second Life has the capability to broadcast these “performances” into the program itself so you can listen via “venues” in-world. You could also listen through Windows Media, WinAmp, or any other similar program. However, you would deny yourself the entire “virtual live music” experience.

How do you find these events? In a world that has 50,000 members in at any given time (much, much more during peak hours) how do you find this live music you speak of? Well, it’s the amazing SEARCH feature in Second Life:

You will see such goodies as “Soand so performs live!” And usually a little bit about them. If there’s not much, you can always check the artist’s profile for more information. If he/she is good and smart, they’ll have their profile updated. Now, this does not guarantee you’ll see and hear a high-quality performance, because unfortunately, like real life, when dealing with bands and artists you don’t know previously, you have to wade through a lot of total crap to get to the real gems. That’s what I’m here for! I’m out listening to all kinds of live music in Second Life, and I will give you guys the lowdown on who’s worth checking out, and who you should miss - lest your ears beg to be carved from your skull.

I’m going to give these artists their own blog entry, so they can be searched for better. But know that they’re coming. And I can’t wait to talk about them!