Getting tired of the “CRAZY”

Today I was enjoying a show when somebody I’ve never even heard of IM’ed me and informed me how out of line I was about what I had posted about them.

I’ve never heard of this person, what could I have posted about them?

Then he or she informed me, they were a LIVING LEGEND in second life.

I pointed out I had never heard of them, and they just dismissed me as being new.

Now I may well be new… kind of, but I have been paying attention. One thing I’ve noticed is that people tend to want to believe things are a lot more developed then they really are.

They most popular act in all of second life is known by name by less then 1% of the total population. And while there are more people online at any given time then are wondering around my living room, if Second life were a town it would be a small town, with a population between 40,000 and 80,000 people.

The biggest event attendance wise, I’ve ever seen was 86 people, on the same Sim at the same time. This is not even enough people to have the fire marshal close down a bar in Five Points.

Live music in Second life is a very small fish in a very small pond. And for the record, I’m a very tiny fish in a very small pond. I’m not as delusional as many seem to think I am. I do think I’m amazingly talented and probably one of the very best original musicians Second life has to offer, but my appeal is limited and this is a very small pond.

Playing the music I love for an hour for 20-35 people, works for me. I make a little money and sell a bunch of MP3s. My music becomes part of somebody’s life. One of my critics suggested only 40 some odd people really care about my music at all. This was meant to put me in my place, how ever, the fact that people care is far more important to me then the number.

Music in Second life as it stands is not a cultural force. It’s a social construct that sometimes actually revolves around music.