What is Second Life?

Second Life is a three dimensional virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched in 2003.  The service is accessible via the Internet by means of a free client application called the Viewer.  This viewer enables Second Life’s users, known as “residents”, to interact with each other through avatars.  Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual goods, services and land with one another.

Residents can travel around the virtual world (which residents refer to as “the grid”), visiting retail outlets, entertainment venues, themed role play areas and other attractions.  There are around 1 million active users of Second Life with normally around 42,000 residents online at a time, depending on the time of day.  Second Life has a virtual economy, worth around $567m US Dollars (2009).

One of the most popular activities inside Second Life is entertainment, there are a multitude of popular ‘clubs’ with live DJs providing music across a whole range of genres.

As a platform for music discovery, Second Life is a real melting pot, with users from many countries around the world participating there is a veritable smorgasbord of audio delights to sample.

But it’s not just pre-recorded music, Second Life also has a large community of gigging musicians, some who are ‘real-world’ musicians using the platform as a method to cultivate their fan base whilst others perform only in Second Life.

With minimal kit required to stream a live performance and an audience with a voracious appetite for live entertainment Second Life offers a great space for live performance for both working and hobby musicians alike and offers many benefits in terms of live interaction and remuneration (via tips or appearance fees) over and above platforms such as YouTube.

Second Life is a three dimensional virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched in 2003.  The service is accessible via the Internet by means of a free client application called the Viewer.  This viewer enables Second Life’s users, known as “residents”, to interact with each other through avatars.  Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialise, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual goods, services and land with one another.

Residents can travel around the virtual world (which residents refer to as “the grid”), visiting retail outlets, entertainment venues, themed role play areas and other attractions.  There are around 1 million active users of Second Life with normally around 42,000 residents online at a time, depending on the time of day.  Second Life has a virtual economy, worth around $567m US Dollars (2009).