Comments on: A Second Life for New Music

By: Seth Gordon

Seth Gordon — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:26:52 +0000

Great. Let’s come up with ways to promote our music more efficiently to people who don’t leave their houses and have no social lives…

Oh, wait – that’s most of us.

The more things change…

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:49:22 +0000

It’s a great idea, but this particular app is a resource hog, and I’m hitting latency issues trying to listen to the mp3s. Something lower profile might be a better idea.

By: James Combs

James Combs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:48:31 +0000

I would add that its not so much VR that is on the mind of the electronic consumer (even though inevitably it will be one day), its persistent environments. Logging out of a game world which continues while you get back to real life. Of course, you could look at that as VR but its not the idealistic VR we are waiting for. Who doesn’t want the “holodeck?” Who knows how far the government is with VR.

Right now, the reason millions of people play these games such as WoW is to socialize, role play in the persistent world of their choice. So I could see how marketing music could work. This particular game (or online chat room) needs to upgrade the graphics I’d say.

By: Jeff Harrington

Jeff Harrington — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:25:01 +0000

Heh… the main thing people need to understand about VR is that it’s old old old. It’s like AI. It’s the constantly hyped solution for EVERYTHING. As far as virtual telepresence performing mechanisms, I’ll just add that I just gave away two P5 gloves. They were cool… but they’re certainly not good enough to do anything magnificent on.

IMO, we’re back in a new technology holding pattern, waiting for some new way to promo MP3′s. Try everything… but don’t put your faith or $$ in anything, is what I suggest. There is a huge benefit to being a tech early adopter. But right now I can’t even figure out who the hell is downloading my MP3′s at the rate of 2-4 GB a day while my career doesn’t exactly rocket. So what the…

By: Alex Kotch / Mr. Bacon

Alex Kotch / Mr. Bacon — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:19:29 +0000

I also imagine VR becoming a successful medium for aspiring perfomers and conductors, as it is becoming a very desirable (yet highly expensive) educational tool. With responsive virtual orchestras, chamber collaborators, rhythm sections, etc. musicians could improve their skills big time.

By: jeff harrington

jeff harrington — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:06:59 +0000

Well part of my lack of enthusiasm comes from the nature of the hype and articles like this:

http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/10/research-firm-d.html

Seems they really don’t have a million users… and they can’t have audiences of a size more than 80? Warcraft and game VR is already got zillions of users, but the hype goes to them – because of the real estate BS. We were looking into buying an island a few years ago… but they kept raising the prices! Haha…

2nd Life may be a success and it might not. But if you’re looking for downloads and community – the Blogosphere is IT right now. Maybe we’re all just a little bored by having to read!

Here’s some of my old-timey VR from 1997- http://parnasse.com/vrml.shtml

By: Steve Layton

Steve Layton — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:42:20 +0000

Well, who’d a thunk it? I put Tim’s email into the post, and just for good measure, it’s timrisher@googlemail.com.

By: Darren Nelsen

Darren Nelsen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:12:31 +0000

Um… how do I contact Tim? I don’t see his email or a contact form anywhere on his site. Thanks!

By: Alex Kotch / Mr. Bacon

Alex Kotch / Mr. Bacon — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:16:26 +0000

I wouldn’t be so sure about Second Life’s failure just yet. Though it’s apparently used most often for virtual sex (when one is anonymous, one tends to get right down to the point), it’s also used for job interviews and as far as I’ve heard, it’s maintained its popularity.

I remember when Facebook first came out, it wasn’t set up so well. But over time it developed and improved itself immensely. Second Life will probably do the same, I imagine. Second Life is kind of a game in itself…you create your own digital character and everything is a fantasy.

Hooray for Risher and the Liverpool Phil – I think their contributions are highly important, especially within an art form that rarely steps out of its comfort zone.

By: Darren Nelsen

Darren Nelsen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:55:08 +0000

Second Life has its problems, yes, (and I’ve had my share of frustrations with Linden Labs, the makers of SL) but it is growing and changing and maturing (technologically speaking) all the time. The code’s been open-sourced, so that will help the platform mature even faster. SL isn’t going anywhere, it’ll be around for a long time.

It’s worth looking into the opportunity to get your music in SL. You might get some new fans out of it!

I’m excited to hear about what Tim’s doing and I’ll certainly check it out and contact him. Thanks!