If you can make it here... But how? By Teddi Shamrock Staff writer

In August of 2008, The Metaverse Messenger reported an historical first. Second Life blues musician Von Johin had been signed to a First Life recording contract as a result of his inworld performances. Since then, I’ve wondered what it takes to get started in the SL music scene, because I work with several tal- ented artists who perform at my Irish pub in my First Life.

Shortly thereafter, I noted an advertisement that caught my eye, also in The Metaverse Messenger. Because I own an Irish pub, it wasn’t just the green and orange, or the spray of shamrocks that grabbed my attention. In bold print, the word Failte (pronounced FAL-chay), which means “welcome” in Gaelic, called to me. In the ad, Dublin was billed as a “world gathering place in SL,” with features such as The Blarney Stone Irish Pub and live music showcases.

After several months of this notion percolating in my brain, I finally reached out to Katt Kongo, publisher of the paper, and asked her for a contact at Dublin. Katt said she had two names—one she worked with most frequently (ad contact), and Emmie (I will be using first names only, as I don’t want to overwhelm the folks that have been helping me). It turns out that Emmie is the Operations Manager for the Dublin sim, so she pointed me to Cher, who books all the music for the Dublin pub.

Lesson number one, dear reader: It may take you a few tries to get to the decision maker, but don’t give up. Great ideas are just that—ideas. They can’t manifest into something more until youtake action. I might already be writing about another First Life recording contract, if I had taken immediate action on my earliest inclination. I will follow up with Emmie later to get an insider’s view on why Dublin wants live music as part of their sim offerings, what they are hoping to achieve and more.

Emmie warned me up front that Cher would need to hear a song, or see the band play. I completely understood this ex- pectation as I employ the same screening when assessing a potential gig. I’m not just looking to see if they are talented. I also want to be sure there is a fit between the prospective artist and my venue. While I love heavy metal, that just wouldn’t be a fit for the pub.

My customers ultimately make the decisions about what kind of music I book for their listening pleasure.

I finally had the name of the person that books music at Dublin, an Irish sim, and me with a great Irish band. Opening up my Instant Messenger box, and excitedly typed in my introduction. Not sure how many re- quests of this kind she gets each day, I wanted to be “bright and brief,” as one of my former bosses used to say.

“Hi, Cher. I’ve chatted briefly with Emmie about a band I would like to get up and active in SL. I own a RL pub, have recorded a live CD with this band as well as some YouTube videos. Also FYI, I’m writing a story for the M2 on my experiences on what it takes to make music real in SL, and why a band might want to.” I then came completely clean and told her I was a complete noob in the SL space when it came to music. And then to the nut of it, “Do you have a submittal packet or anything like that to get me started on getting you what you need to consider my Irish rock band?”

To my great pleasure, Cher responded immediately, “What would you like to do in SL, have your rock band stream live from your RL pub or home into SL?” It wasn’t quite Greek, but I realized I had no idea what might be preferable, or for that matter which would be more straight forward from a technology perspective. I shared with her my naïve thought that I would like to have the band perform on stage in SL, with music streaming from my pub. I also shared with her my pub’s website (ExchangeTavern.com) and the band’s website (BigPaddyIrishMusic.com).

For any band, job one is to develop a following. My idea was to grow the band’s following here in SL. Could I help initiate this same kind of awareness and following in Second Life? Could some of that overflow following have First Life positive impact on my pub too? Over the last two years, I’d had several conversations with the band on helping book them into larger venues around town, and to be part of their team. I genuinely care about them personally, and they are tremendously talented.

I also had a discussion with them about SL. That was probably the hardest part of initiating this contact. How do you explain SL to someone who has never been here?

Yes, there were looks, but when I told them about the First Life recording contract, they pushed through that skepticism! Cher told me they had just done something similar with a venue in San Diego, as well as a pub in Belford, England. She shared a flyer for a recent event with the notation “New URL Streaming 128 kbps.”

While I realized at that moment, there was going to be a lot to learn here, the conversation was electric, all the more so when she played Big Paddy’s audio clips. I had a very narrow focus when reaching out to Cher: Irish sim; Irish band. Cher saw possibilities in the fact that I had live music at my pub several times per month, and while I had another fantastic Irish band, we host other kinds of music too.

Turns out Cher also runs SL Live Radio with over 200 artists. The station has played previously recorded tracks, but Cher explained she was more into live music of late. In sales parlance, it was time to make the ask, or close the deal: “So where do we go from here, Cher? We are both interested. How do we make it happen?” She pointed me to Tone to learn how to set up the audio, and she was going to make contact with Ham, the owner of the Dublin sim.

I dutifully crafted an email and fired it off to Tone. In my brief note, I explained I had absolutely no idea what is necessary to make this come together, but mentioned that Cher pointed me to him to learn what it takes to set up audio in SL from a technical perspective—an introduction like that is very often useful, and helps establish credibility.

Dear reader, I’m not expecting Tone to do this for me, but hoping he will tell me what I need, or where to go for more information. In my experience, folks are willing to help you, as long as you put in as much or more effort to help yourself. Let me take this opportunity to thank Katt Kongo, Emmie and Cher for helping get this idea started! Next week I hope to update you on my conversations with Tone, and on the technical odyssey that awaits.

I would also like to hear from you on questions or comments you might have on music in SL, whether you are an audience member, a purveyor or a performer. Please drop me a notecard in-world, or email me at Teddi.Shamrock@gmail.com, and thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with me!