Having sorted out the gear you need to get your sound into your computer (part 1) you are now ready to find a world / environment / website where you can share that sound with an audience. This is entry is about signing up to Second Life, an online environment with over 15 million registered users and a huge live music scene.

Compared to playing on Ustream or StreamJam, the learning curve for playing in Second Life is very steep indeed so, before you even start, remember not to panic. Personally, I am pretty good at panicking and tore my hair trying to figure this stuff out for myself, and I would not have gotten anywhere if I hadn’t had help from other musicians. That’s why it seemed like a good idea to write this down as a guide.

1) Sign up to Second Life.  This part is fairly easy. Head over to Second Life.com and choose a first name. You might want to use your full stage name as a first name here, as you have no control over your last name, and must choose from a list of suggestions.

2) Activate your account. If you haven’t downloaded the Second Life software yet, do it now and install it. When you receive your email asking you to activate your account, click on the link in it (it should open Second Life for you, which looks like the image below) and log into your Second Life account. This will activate it.

3) Once you have activated your account, you will need to set up your avatar with some funds. There are several things you need to set yourself up to play live that will cost money, thought they are far from expensive (it will cost you a maximum of 20 US$). Depending on where you are in the world, there are different websites set up to do this. In the USA you can head to Crossworld Exchange and in the EU head to Eldexchange (if you live somewhere else check in the Second Life Wiki). Log out of Second Life and browse to the appropriate one. You can buy Linden Dollars with either a credit card or paypal. I recommend paypal becuase once you start to earn money, you will need to use PayPal to cash out.

4) Buying a stream. Once your avatar has some funds, log back into Second Life. Your next mission is to buy something called a “stream”. A steam is like a broadcast frequency that you own. When you have a show, the venue owner will ask you for your stream details and ensure that the venue is tuned into your stream so that any avatars who are there can hear you. There are a lot of people who sell streams in Second Life but the ones I can recommend are sold through Trax, run by Bones Writer. Bones sells streams bundled with something called a “booth” at the Trax location. A booth is essentially a place to advertise – where you can put your image and music up for the people who wander through Trax to visit. You don’t need to worry to much about the details as the key thing is to buy a space so that you can get the stream that comes with it.

5) Getting to Trax. At the top right-hand side of the interface of Second Life is a box called, “search”. Type “Trax” in there. A window will pop up with your search results. The right one is called “Trax live Music Resource Centre”. Click on it and it should display extra information, one of which is a pale blue button that says “teleport”. Click on it and you will be teleported there. If you run into trouble, ensure you are logged into SL and click on this link secondlife://Trax/109/127/27

Once at Trax, you will see a series of crescent-formed booths like the image above, most of which have a picture in them. You need to find an empty booth – one with no picture and a white and yellow box inside it on the floor instead. Once you have found such a booth, right click on the boy and select “pay”. This will purchase a booth for you. NOTE: this does NOT purchase your stream. To get the stream you need to then send an IM to Bones asking him to sell you a stream as part of the bundle deal he has. To do this, go to the top right hand side of the screen again and type in “Bones Writer” (click on the “people” tab if required.) Bone’s profile should come up; click on it and more options will appear. One is a blue button that says “IM”. Click on it and a window will open. This is where you write to get hold of Bones. Type in that you have just purchased a booth and would like to purchase a stream from him. It helps to send him your email too as he will need your image and mp3s for the booth.

Once Bones gets back to you, he will ask for more money for a stream. Be assured that even with the booth cost his streams are one of the cheapest options for the highest reliability. You will need to log into Second Life and pay Bones, then you will get a notecard from him with your stream information. It will have username, password, and stream address. To make use of it, you will need a bit of very simple software called “Butt”. You will need the notecard to set this up.

6. Download Butt from http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Audio/butt.shtml and install. Once installed you need to open the software and click on the tab that says “settings”, then, on the grey window that appears, click on “main”. You should now see something like the image below. Half way down the window is a button called “add”. Click on it. In “name” you can enter whatever you want. In address you will need to copy the address that came in the information that is written in the notecard Bones delivered you. The port and password will also be on this notecard and you need to enter them and click “add”. Close the window and close Butt. It will ask if you want to save your settings. Click yes.

7. Now, you need to find a place to test your stream and ensure you have entered the stream details properly. This is the challenging part. You will need to meet or find someone who owns some land or a venue. This is easier than you might think. Using the search again, click on the “events” tab. Find a live show, or even DJs, and teleport to it. People will say hello and chat. Second Life is very friendly and helpful and getting to talk to musicians or venue owners, you will find someone to help. You can send me an IM at jordanreyne deezul if you see me online and I can put you onto someone who can help.

Once you find someone, you will need them to be there while you test the stream. They will ask for your stream address. You will need to press “play” (the white triangle) on your Butt Software – this starts your broadcast, and because the land owner / venue owner is tuning into that stream address, they can tell you if they hear it. When you press play, if the Butt software tells you you are connected, people tuned in should hear it (beware there will be a lag). If the software fails to connect, the chances are that you have entered the address or port wrong in Butt’s settings. You will need to press “settings” again, then edit, and check the address. Sometimes you need to tack the port on the end of the address as well as in the “port” field. Also you may need to use the number version of the address instead of the word one. Butt is a little idiosyncratic.

Once you get the stream working, you are ready to do shows, more or less. You will look more sane with a guitar so the next installment will delve into the realm of shopping for a guitar and animations, and hunting out gigs at venues.

Part 2 is a very tricky part and I am sure to have left things out, so feel free to comment or email me if you have questions.

‘Til part 3!