Music in the 3rd Dimension: From 'product' to 'experience

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Who am I?Using virtual environments since 1994

Presentation to European Commission, 1994

Expert assessor for EC-funded e-learning projects

Running a MSc programme in a MUVE 1999

Tasked with feasibility study 2007

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Who am I?Teaching in Second Life since 2007

Working with clients (Uthango, HRP, Hao2, Stanley Picker Gallery)

Distance lecturing in other universities worldwide

Chairing online conferences

… and a former musician and father of a musician

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OverviewMusic and technology

Looking after the fans: community

Rethinking music distribution: product vs service

What are MUVEs? ActiveWorlds? Second Life? OpenSim?

Music in virtual social worlds

Videos & Questions

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Music and Technology

The world's best-selling CD

The computer (exact reproduction)

The Internet (distribution)

The MP3 (portability)

The iPod (ubiquity)

Goodbye, Napster; hello, Spotify

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What are the key issues?Addressing piracy (~30% of downloads), hence …Rethinking business modelsRethinking distribution modelsUnderstanding 'community'Creating the user experience

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==> 1887: music as performance (experience vs ‘ownership’)

Restriction: you can experience the performance only by attending the performance Hence a necessary evil: the middle man ...

1887: Emil Berliner invents the phonograph

Multiple (and thus distributable) identical copies of performance

Music can thereafter be packaged as product (but what is then ‘owned’?)

1895: the Berliner Gramophone Company

The record company needed for reproduction and distribution

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The Open Music Model (MIT, 2003) the only system for the digital distribution of music that will be viable in the long-term against piracy is a subscription-based system supporting file sharing and free of digital rights management. rather than being seen as a good to be purchased from an online vendor, music is treated as a service by the industry, with firms based on the model serving as intermediaries between the music industry and its consumers.

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A word of caution: it's a world populated by

Freaks

Losers

Social inadequates

Cheats and liars

who are forever in obsessive pursuit of perverted sex

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But that's enough about

Real Life … now let's move on to talk about

Second Lifeand other virtual worlds

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What are MUVEs?– Multi-User Virtual Environments: the immersive social

experience and ultimate collaboration environment Second Life (Linden Lab) Open Wonderland (Oracle, Sun Microsystems) Open Cobalt Forterra Olive Unity3D 3DXplorer ActiveWorlds

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Social virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are multi-user virtual environments (MUVE) in

which participants, represented by motionable avatars co-present in a 3D graphical world,

interact in real time.Put differently: ...

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[1] Second Life is a platform for (paradigmatically) synchronous computer-mediated communication

(CMC), and under this view properly falls within the class of technologies enabling synchronous

communication such as internet relay chat, instant messaging, internet chat rooms, and

videoconferencing.

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[2] In light of the fact that Second Life supports synchronous communication between multiple

users, it is potentially a powerful medium for real-time collaboration; and in common with other such MUVEs has proven itself an effective medium for

computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and computer support for collaborative learning (CSCL).

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[3] Purposeful communication and effective collaboration in the real world is often largely dependent upon (i) the co-

presence of collaborators, and (ii) shared artefacts, environmental objects, spatial deixis, tools and props.

Some forms of CMC offer poor support for object-rich and media-rich communication; multi-user virtual environments

such as Second Life, through their ability to graphically replicate real-world operable objects and scenarios, offer

far better support..

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In other words, Second Life is more usefully understood as a medium for communication and

collaboration, a 'digital prosthetic' supporting real-life activities, rather than as a 'game' dislocated from

the real world.

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What can you do with MUVEs?Real-time collaboration (voice, text) between geographically distributed personnel

Global real-time presentations, conferences, seminars, class teaching

3D modeling; animated business & scientific visualisations

Second Life Shared Media: web feed, productivity tools

Streamed audio and video; real-time video feeds

… the only limit is your imagination

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Stuck at the airport? No problem—wherever you are, you are always there, right place, right time

Anytime, anywhere … SL on your mobile device

3G mobile phones, such as Apple iPhone, Samsung and all Android phones, iPod Touch, iPad, other tablets

Students never miss a lecture

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Who is using MUVEs?Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds (National Defense University)

Military and defence

Major corporations (IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, Nokia, ...)

100s of universities and colleges

Scientific and technology establishments (NASA, National Physical Laboratories, ...)

Fire service; bridge inspectorate; urban search & rescue; ...

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From ‘product’ to 'service' to 'experience': a case study (McFly)

Subscription-based: subscribers (£40 p.a) have free access to music Community: fans have access to community areas, including free text chat 3D environment: subscribers have access to Super City, a multi-user virtual environmentAdditional benefits for fans

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Music in Second LifeTeaching

Performance (streaming technologies); new audiences; global reach. Should this not be considered at least as authentic a performance as, for example, a live radio broadcast or a music video?

Collaboration in real time among geographically distributed musicians. Ninjam, Reaper (http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/). Cf.

eJamming (http://ejamming.com)

Ohm Studio (http://www.ohmstudio.com)

Kompoz (http://www.kompoz.com)

JamSpace Synergy (http://jamspace.com)

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… as well as 'soft' opportunities:

Finding existing communities (groups, sims)

Networking: finding new opportunities for collaboration and ideas sharing

Serendipitous encounters with fellow musicians that would be unlikely to happen in the 'real world'

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In conclusion:MUVES can re-establish the connection between performers and audiences (the fan base)

The abolition of distance: global audiences, global collaboration

The record company (the ‘middle man’) thus no longer required for reproduction and distribution

Music reverts from ‘product’ to ‘experience’

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Thank you for listening!Questions?