Von Johin’s public relations bid for ’stardom’

Today we received a breathless press release announcing a ‘world first’. The release in full then some commentary afterward:

PRESS RELEASE
Virtual Reality Becomes Reality for Second Life Musician

Foresthill, CA – For the first time in history, a virtual avatar has received a real worldwide recording contract. Second Life (SL) blues musician Von Johin has been signed to an artist contract with California based Reality Entertainment, Warren Croyle, CEO of Reality Entertainment, announced today. “Never before has a virtual character been signed to a worldwide recording contract. Von Johin is legendary in the virtual community Second Life for his heart pounding live shows,” says Croyle. Second Life resident Pud Puchkina, who in real life is director of operations for the east coast division of Reality Entertainment and Second Life resident Kateyes Wingtips, the virtual representative for Reality Entertainment have been scouting the growing number of live performers in SL for several months and handling the daunting task of choosing the Avatar that fits the ethos of Reality Entertainment – a multimedia, virtual music label, book publisher and film company. Puchkina stated, “It was a hard decision, but Von Johin is the real deal, he is original and plays from his heart. Just the man and his guitar, with just these two instruments and a virtual appeal like no other, he brings crowds to their feet daily.” Reality Entertainment plans to release Von Johin’s debut album exclusively on iTunes and then to all digital download outlets worldwide.

About Reality Entertainment:

www.reality-entertainment.com

Reality Entertainment (RE) is a diverse multimedia company that specializes in music, books and film. Known for #1 musical acts such as Marcy Playground and KC and the Sunshine Band, RE also is known for #1 best selling books on Amazon.com as well as nationally successful films such as The Extraordinary Voyages of Jules Verne.

About Von Johin:

Blues musician, guitarist and vocalist, Von Johin hails from Nashville, TN and grew up playing juke joints across the Midwest. An ardent follower of the blues greats, Von Johin delivers his powerful shows every week in the clubs and dance halls of Second Life. Once you hear Von Johin you never forget him because he is a unique performer who resonates deeply with his audience providing compelling and hypnotizing performances.

About Second Life:

http://secondlife.com

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Each Resident participates in a virtual environment via their “Avatar” or second life persona. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has experienced explosive growth and today is inhabited by millions of residents from around the globe. Recently, live performances have become a viral phenomenon in Second Life with real life musicians performing to audiences within the SL global community.

Ok – there are two obvious flaws with the press release. First, there’s absolutely no way of verifying that this is the first avatar to have music ‘published’ worldwide. Second, any individual can now publish their music worldwide on iTunes using services like TuneCore for the princely sum of US $9.99 per year.

Expecting hyperbole from PR people is par for course, but this is an outright case of trying to get the lead spot in a race where the race already over. Applying 20th century concepts (worldwide recording contract) to the metaverse is bordering on farcical. It’ll be fascinating to see if the mainstream media pick this release up.

All that said, no comment is made on Von Johin’s ability as a musician. Avatar music performance in Second Life is one of it’s most interesting activities and here’s to continued growth in that area.

Update: Wired and New World Notes have picked up the story with no hint of understanding that everyone can buy their own ‘world record deal’.

Update 2: Von Johin has contacted us to emphasise that he is the first avatar to sign a record deal and given there’s no contrary evidence we accept that he is indeed the first. We also accept that the record deal may involve activities that offer more than services like TuneCore do. The main point was the hyperbole in the press release and the reality of cheap digital music delivery methods available to anyone wanting to utilise them. Of course, the purpose of record deals are to increase sales, so we look forward to seeing increased sales of music by avatars in Second Life.

Popularity: 9% [?]

SpaceJunky – Australian Second Life band doing well

I received a press release today from Australian Second Life resident Bella Dutton about music outfit SpaceJunky. The whole virtual band thing is far from new (I was involved in one in 1994) but it’s great to see another Australian artist doing well.

The full text:

“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Australian band SpaceJunky follows path from Tibet to Virtual Reality to the Next Big Thing

Tunes Island, SecondLife, (Jan 24, 2008) – This Thursday through the weekend millions of viewers around the world will have a chance to learn about an Australian band whose efforts to reach the public have taken the road less traveled, to say the least. Digress a few years: Tania Smith (known in SL as Shakti Cianci), lead singer and founder of Australian cosmic pop/rock band SpaceJunky traveled to Tibet and asked a Tibetan oracle in his temple if her band would ever be heard by the world. After rolling the dice an unusual four times and pondering for some moments he looked at her and simply said “yes”.

Flash forward to a year ago: Tania was searching the internet for an ancient Tibetan symbol that scholars like Robert Thurman of Tibet House were unable to decipher, and her search returned a link to a virtual online world she had never heard of before called SecondLife.

Tania then decides to re-create her band members in SL, eventually recruiting the help of a virtual publicist, stage manager and lighting designer, photographer, and other supporters on her team, with the intention of creating a virtual experience of a SpaceJunky concert in SL.

Now to the present: SpaceJunky’s shows are always packed and through their growing popularity they have gained fans around the world, sold cds, gotten real-world radio play and magazine covers, YouTube fan videos, offers to air their upcoming video and real life product endorsements….just like in real life.

So this week SpaceJunky are being featured in a CNN interview called the Next Big Thing with CNN Chief Technology and Environment correspondent Miles O’Brien whose attention was caught by their innovative use of cutting edge technology to promote their band. O’Brien has also long wanted to be the first news correspondent in space, so SpaceJunky had a virtual spaceship built in space for the interview, which will be aired on CNN and CNN International Jan 24 through the 27th.

All this is made more important by the fact that Tania and bandmates Luke Mason and Dan Harris live separately in the USA, Malaysia and Australia.
“Our dilemma is that our band members now live on three continents in three time zones on opposite sides of the planet, so being a band in Second Life allows us to promote our music and stay connected through the internet. Hopefully it will allow us to do what we really do, which is play live in real life too.” As professional musicians who have worked with large touring bands such as Kylie Minogue and stood on some of the world’s largest stages, they find it ironic that recognition might come to them as an animated virtual act.

Tania credits this cosmic journey to her Tibetan guidance, and as such is helping various Tibetan causes including aiding the project to build the Potala Palace in SecondLife, where the real life Dalai Lama himself will be invited to visit, and if so she will have the opportunity to sing for His Holiness. Tania admits that honor would be “virtually amazing”. “

Popularity: 10% [?]

Interview – Dexter Ihnen (Dexter Moore)

Dexter Moore (SL: Dexter Ihnen) is one of a growing number of Australian musicians performing in Second Life. Like most, he’s a well-established real-life musician who’s built up a loyal SL following. At present, he’s number one most played artist on Slusic.com, so he’s obviously doing something right. We caught up with Dexter this week to find out a little more about the life of an SL musician.

Lowell: When did you first get interested in Second Life?

Dexter: I started performing in Second Life March 2007 – SL was mentioned to me and I had seen it in passing on TV too. Since then I’ve been doing up to 8 shows a week. I’ve pulled back to 4-5 for now as my RL career is extremely busy both coming up to Christmas and after my award for RnB Song of the Year on ABC Australian Radio. Anyway, I entered in to SL in Feb 2007 and spent a month just getting used to the virtual world experience. It’s been an amazing experience since I started, right up to today.

Lowell: Was music the drawcard for you initially or were you just checking it out?

Dexter: My brother said he thought it might be a good platform for my music. I came in to have a look and a listen I didn’t really think it would become integral in my life – but I do follow up ideas

Lowell: What are the attractions of performing in-world versus real life?

Dexter: Performing in Second Life is quite unique, The most fascinating aspect is the direct personal feedback you experience whilst playing. This is not very possible in RL as one person in an auditorium cannot make themselves heard over the volume of the concert, but here they can talk directly to the artist and the artist to them – I really dig that

Lowell: Without getting too technical, how do you actually get your music and voice in-world?

Dexter: In my studio I have 2 separate mixers and 2 computers also. One mixer has in built FX and I plug my stereo Godin guitar, vocal, congas and roto-toms into it. As well as that I record any backing tracks I create and choose to use into it also ( it is an 8 track hard disk recorder too ) I send a stereo mix out of that into my main mixer which has a Firewire connection to my main music computer. This is also wher I take my headphone feed. I stream the out of my music computer with SimpleCast. Meanwhile, I run SL on my other computer which I run at standing eye level. This is the one I interact with while performing. The reason I run 2 computers is that if I crash I know that the stream is still stable.

Lowell: How would you describe the music you perform?

Dexter: Interdimensional SOUL – FUNK

Lowell: How have you built up a following in SL?

Dexter: I worked my butt of for 6 months – to the point of burn out! Up to 8 shows a week, plus 3 RL shows and a major recording project. I moved around a lot in that time – but I am pretty much in a holding pattern until the New Year now until the RL Christmas season commitments subside.

Lowell: What are your goals in the longer term with performance in SL?

Dexter: I want to tour the world playing live to my SL fans plus whomever else is into my music. SL fans though will always have a special status with me. Prior to that I have a number of ideas to bring to life here in SL;

Lowell: Who inspires you in SL?

Various types of people inspire me in SL: Dane Zander – Lost Gardens of Apollo builder. Skribe Forti, Film maker. Circe Broom and Slim Warrior, entrepreneurs. And anyone having lighthearted fun

Lowell: What are three SL landmarks that you keep coming back to again and again?

Dexter:
1. The Lost Gardens of Apollo
2. The Wild Coast
3. Tableau – Roller Disco, 10 pin bowling, Cool shops,

Lowell: What are the pet hates you have about how SL operates that affects your ability to perform?

Dexter: In this order:
1. Crashing ( sim crash excepted – we all have a strange affection for that one lol )
2. Freezing & heavy lag
3. Notecards ( they cover up my guitar controls )

Popularity: 8% [?]

New SL Music site launches

Slusic is a comprehensive new SL site devoted to music. It has the whole social networking thing down pat – playlists, forums, charts, blogs and so on. Australian artists are well represented – the top artists chart has Australian musician Dexter Ihnen at number one.

I could be wrong but this seems to be the most well fleshed out SL music site I’ve seen. Is it something you’ll use regularly?

Popularity: 22% [?]

SL music discussion list launches

Jesse Linden has announced the formation of an email discussion list devoted to music development in SL. Promotion of events is off limits but it will provide a useful forum for discussing ways to improve music options in-world. Linden Lab describe their aims in the welcome email received when joining:

“Second Life has amazing potential for musicians looking to reach a global audience. Music performances in Second Life are a growing phenomenon, creating exciting social events where artists can not only perform live but also interact directly with fans.

Resident musicians, venue owners, buillders, scripters, audiences, and promoters are all working together to make this community happen. Linden Lab recognizes all this innovative work, and we want to do all that we can to help it thrive and continue to grow. We’ve started assembling a team of Lindens who will work together and with Residents to ultimately provide better tools and policies for the music community of Second Life.

This mailing list is open to anyone who is interested in sharing their ideas with Lindens as well as each other on how to better support the Second Life music community. What are some best practices that are currently working well for the music community? What are the biggest challenges? What would you like to see Linden Lab provide to better support this community? These are the types of discussions we’d love to see!

One rule: please don’t use this mailing list to announce specific music events. Information about such events can already be found on the Second Life events calendar. We’d like to keep traffic on this mailing list focused on discussions about ideas for improving the music community.

As we at Linden Lab get a better focus on specific tools and policies we think could best help this community, we’ll share them on this mailing list. Your ideas, feedback, and insights will be invaluable to us as we work to determine what we should focus on. Lindens will be reading and participating in the discussion as much as possible.

Please introduce yourself to the list, let us know a bit about your interests and area of expertise, and thank you for helping us learn more about how to make music truly ROCK in Second Life.”

Subscribe to the list here.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Rockit a success

Veteran Aussie SL resident Wolfie Rankin held his first instalment of ‘Rockit’ this evening on Eragon island. A cross between and RocKwiz, close to thirty people turned up to watch. The two teams of four were selected from the audience after an initial round of questions. Then, a number of rounds followed including audio and video questions.

Team 1 consisted of Profit Enoch, Good2 Go, Angsty Rossini and some nerd from an Aussie SL news blog. Team 2 contained Roget Qinan, Diag Anzac, Noah Millgrove and Kalliee Tomsen. After 90 minutes of battling it out, Team 1 took out the night on 195 points to Team 2’s 170 points.

All-in-all it was one of those community events that everyone enjoyed. Hopefully there’ll be a follow-up as the general consensus was it was an enjoyable, interactive event. You can never have enough of them in SL.

(Disclosure: Yours truly was said nerd who ended up on winning team)

Popularity: 7% [?]

The Neil Young Archives

Zak Claxton’s Neil Young Archives is a compact but effective tour of the artist’s work. You can listen to some of Young’s work whilst browsing the visual discography or replicas of Young’s favorite instruments.

Zak Claxton’s take on it all:

“Neil Young is a personal favorite musician and songwriter of mine, as well as someone who has embraced change and technological advancement throughout his long career. After about eight months as an SL resident, acquiring some building skills and so on, I decided that building a tribute of sorts to an artist for whom I have the utmost respect would be a good use of my time in SL. Plus, I felt that other residents of SL who happen to be fans of Neil Young would really enjoy visiting and learning more about him.

BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE.

I’ve named the area “Zak Claxton’s SL Neil Young Archives” for a rather tongue-in-cheek reason. In case you’re unaware, Neil and his team have been working on a massive project called the Neil Young Archives for many years, beginning back in 1991 I believe. The latest incarnation of the Archvies is a 2-DVD, 8-CD set of music and media collected over Neil’s career, with over 40 years worth of rare and unreleased material included. Unfortunately, the project has been delayed for over a decade while Neil tinkers with it. It was actually just daleyed yet again, with the most recent date being early 2008 on Reprise Records.

In any case, my SL Neil Young Archives was built as a true labor of love. I don’t intend on selling anything there through which I could profit, even on the microscopic scale of Second Life. It’s my goal to merely give SL residents a place to enjoy Neil, his music, and explore the mystique around one of music’s most enigmatic icons. It was built with the highest level of respect.

Lastly, while I’ve just begun announcing the SL Archives’ existence, I don’t feel it’s anywhere near complete. It’s a slow process for me (I have things like a job and a family to take care of while I’m not playing around in world), but I will be continuing to add to and build on the SL Neil Young Archives for quite some time. I hope people really dig it. If I do it right, even those who aren’t fans of Neil should find the environment a nice spot to hang out in SL”.

There’s also a machinima tour of the exhibit:

(Disclosure: Zak Claxton is part of SL Coyote that advertises at times on SLOz)

Check it out in-world

Popularity: 94% [?]

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