August 22, 2006
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Sara Kehaulani Goo had an intriguing report in the Post yesterday about the rise of "virtual concerts", where musicians and their audiences project their personal avatars into live, online concert halls.  It's still extremely primitive -- we're talking about animated singers who can't actually move their lips -- but it's irresistable fodder for speculation on the future of concert-going.

"Marketing and record label executives say Web sites that put users into video-game-like virtual worlds are a unique way to reach out to audiences, who are increasingly spending their time and money on the computer instead of at concerts and music stores," writes Goo.  "Although still experimental, such sites offer fans more ways to interact with one another and band members directly."

For a more probing and sophisticated discussion of these new virtual worlds, check out Mitch Kapor's speech at the Second Life Community Convention last Sunday. Kapor's one of the most interesting minds around; creator of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, he thinks virtual worlds will be "extraordinarily empowering." We shall see.

 More on all this at Second Life (the heavy hitter in this game) and There.com.