With so many excellent music festivals coming up this summer, it would take more money and time than most of us have to attend them all – not to mention growing your carbon footprint a few dozen sizes. To attend the New Music West festival in Vancouver from May 14 to 18, you won't even have to leave your computer. Virtual-Vancouver has partnered with the festival to recreate the whole thing in real time inside its three-dimensional virtual world. In order to attend, you'll need to download the software client (Windows-only), but the festival is free to attend.
"Nothing likethis has ever been done online before," said Brian Shuster, CEO of Virtual-Vancouver and its parent company Utherverse. "In addition to the fortythousand plus fans that will be attending the festival in real-time,
Virtual-Vancouver has the capacity to accommodate millions more [online]. Thisis a huge step for virtual worlds, as well as for the music business,
which has increasingly been employing online outlets as a means togain exposure."
It's high time more companies started combining the two most thriving areas of the music industry – online distribution and live concerts. Nothing compares to being there, of course, but if you can catch the bands live while palling around with some strangers in a virtual version of the venue for free from the comfort of your own home... well, why not?
Aside from reaching fans, the event should put these bands in frontof a fair number of music industry types as well. "Today, it’s allabout the live performance, andVirtual-Vancouver will provide the next best alternative for busyexecutives that might not be able to make it to New Music West, saidJory Groberman, CEO of 29 Productions Inc., which is sponsoring theevent.
Assuming Virtual-Vancouver can handle the capacity and the bands aredecent, the virtual version of New Music West should be worthwhile.
Speaking of the bands, I asked Utherverse CEO Brian Shuster which hundred-odd bands will be showcased in the virtual version of the show, which technologies are in place to assure that it can handle a capacity of 50K, and some other questions. Here's the resulting interview.
See Also:
- Interview: The 'First Massively Multi-User Online Music Festival'
- Live Music Webcasting Starts Making Sense in 2008
- Band Playing Live Show in Second Life
- Does Music on Second Life Infringe Copyright?
- Band to Tour Second Life
Screenshot of the amphitheater in Virtual-Vancouver where the shows will take place: Utherverse
