NEVERDIE Studios Launches Music Virtual World ROCKtropia

Remember Mindark's Entropia Universe (formerly known as Project Entropia), the virtual world made famous for boasting some of the highest value virtual goods transactions?  You know the one where a space station sold for a mere $330,000 USD?

The Entropian Universe has been quietly evolving over time and recently a new planet was discovered called ROCKtropia - the "first virtual music world and the first independently developed virtual planet in Mindark's Entropia Universe.  Created by virtual world pioneer and entrepreneur Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs, the planet introduces a revolutionary, highly interactive venue for artists to connect with their fans while also creating a new revenue stream in the the music space and a platform for artists to pursue fame and fortune."

Jon "NEVERDIE" Jacobs made headlines in 2005 when he mortgaged his house and invested $100,000USD in a Project Entropia virtual space resort which he later named "Club NEVERDIE". Now millionaire avatar and musician Jon Jacbos and his Neverdie Studios are unleashing Jacob's latest vision as quoted from the LA Times ...

"I think what's going to happen is that every artist is going to have a virtual destination. Everybody in the music business can play a role in a virtual industry. Selling music is not the most important thing in the world when you can make money with a destination."

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Virtual World VideoRanch 3D Where Music Matters

If you've ever wondered what a virtual world where music actually is the "killer app" looks like, then I encourage you to try out Michael Nesmith's VideoRanch3D this weekend for the final days of the Global Zone Music Festival.  

The Global Zone Music Festival is being brought to you live from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin Texas. From the SXSW site:

SXSW is pleased to announce that musician/visionary Michael Nesmith will be webcasting shows from Austin during SXSW. Nesmith's project, VideoRanch 3D, allows acts to perform for a global audience in VideoRanch's virtual venues and allows the audience to interact with each other and the performers. Check out the great line-up of shows here.

If the name Michael Nesmith rings a bell that's because he's an accomplished songwriter, musician, actor, novelist, philanthropist and oh yes, he was in fact the wool hat wearing member of The Monkees.  Who better to develop a virtual world that's all about music and film?

The Global Zone Music Festival is attracting some top talent including one of my personal favorites, A Fine Frenzy on Sunday March 21st, at 10AM Central Time.

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Virtual World Twinity Celebrates Even More Virtual London

(Westminster Abbey photo courtesy Kionup contributor SeredWollahra)

Rocking the Metaverse partner and mirror virtual world Twinity is celebrating the growth of Virtual London this week by showcasing creative expression from art exhibits to live music gigs.   New sites include the Big Ben, the London Eye and many other historical builds, extending what was the city central to the east and south.

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Utherverse - From Red Light to Live Music?

Utherverse, best known for adult virtual worlds The Redlight Center, RudeVirtual and Virtual-Vancouver has been trying for a couple of years to extend its entertainment value beyond "just sex" to live events such as art auctions and you guessed it, live music.

Speaking to a canada.com writer in 2007, Utherverse CEO Brain Shuster explains the dilemma:

"We played around with a variety of ways to bring people into a virtual world, and what we found is they're very interested in going to nightclubs and parties, but without first having the sex we just couldn't keep people around," Shuster said. "By introducing the sex first we built up this enormous community of users and, of course, after 30 minutes of sex, they're looking to have a cigarette and find something else to do. So now we'll give you a concert."

Aren't you wondering who is breaking new ground for the myriads of enthusiasts?
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Rocking the Metaverse in SecretBuilders

When I was in elementary school, we had to take a music class. (Yes, that was a long time ago: let's move along)

Today, our children are lucky if they are afforded access to an after-school music program as public education continues to fight wars of overcrowding, underfunding and the like. It's a complicated mess that too often gets boiled down to something like "math is mandatory, music is optional".

So now what? Well, this may be a place where virtual worlds can preserve if not reinvigorate the arts for kids.

SecretBuilders, a virtual world that immerses children in the creative arts, and San Francisco Opera, the second largest opera company in North America, have joined hands to bring Mozart, classical music, and opera to young adults.

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Meet Fellow Musician and Metaplace Founder Raph Koster

If you are a musician looking for your first virtual world experience, think about starting in Metaplace. Metaplace is the brain child of Raph Koster - a blend of passionate visionary, thoughtful scholar, pragmatic developer and best of all, a soulful artist, writer and musician.

UPDATE: Raph is playing a special Metaplace concert tomorrow, Friday Nov 29th 2PM PST.


I met Raph in person in 2007 to talk about Metaplace (then Areae). It was an informal business discussion and I watched over his shoulder as he flew through the basic tenants of Metaplace, talking at speeds normally reserved for livestock auctions. We talked more over lunch (slower this time, there was chewing involved) about the future of virtual worlds, the collision of the social web and gaming, music, guitars and poetry. I won't bore you with our excursions of thought and speculation, but if I boiled down the conversation one thing predominated - the power of virtual worlds is unlocked when people can create, connect, and have fun pervasively.

Imagine what that means for a musician.

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Grace's Liner Notes

photo credit: Paddy Wright

Do you have any idea how hard it is to write your own introduction? Seriously, this is entirely too difficult and even a bit unsettling. I guess we should just start with the basics and keep it short.

I'm Grace McDunnough and I am pleased and honored to have joined the Koinup team.

That's me there performing live at my cafe on Nevi in Second Life. You might call me a wandering minstrel; I'm a live musician in Second Life and a member of the ground-breaking virtual world live music tour called "Rocking the Metaverse" presented by Koinup.

Here I'm unofficially in charge of sass, and officially charged with writing stories about the magic of music in virtual worlds, affectionately labeled Grace's Liner Notes.

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Koinup and Active Worlds Europe Announce that Rocking the Metaverse will Hit Active Worlds Europe on 14th of July

After a series of succesful concerts in Second Life, Opensims, Metaplace and Twinity, Rocking the Metaverse, the most popular live music show of the metaverse, is moving towards Active Worlds Europe. The Rocking the Metaverse show will be held at the Active Worlds Europe on 14th of July in the central auditorium building. All details to join and attend the metaverse show are here .



The mission of Rocking the Metaverse is to bring live music in all the virtual worlds (all the metaverse) and raise the bar of entertainment in virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds are innovative and engaging stages to play, enjoy and interact with live music. During the Rocking the Metaverse show at Active Worlds Europe, the audience will have the chance to listen to some of the most appreciated and popular metaverse artists, as Doubledown Tandino, Slim Warrior, Grace Mcdunnough, MOshl Kumachi and many others.

Read the full release on PrWeb

The future of Virtual Electronica with Doubledown Tandino at Koinup SL6B gallery

The indefatigable Doubledown Tandino will perform on this tuesday between 1pm-3pm (SLtime) at the Koinup SL6B Art Gallery.



The show is called: The future of Virtual Electronica and Doubledown Tandino will entertain all the audience with skilled djings, great music and enthusiasm in the virtual scenery of VirtuoCity in front of the 3D Logo of Koinup, built by Talia Tokugawa

Visit the gallery now. Save it in your fav landmarks.


Image above by Rhysackmann

Sponsor the Rocking the Metaverse show

If you're a media company working in the metaverse, or a virtual world service provider or just a metaverse entushiast, probably you may want to have a sponsorship deal with the Rocking the Metaverse show.

Considering the enthusiasm of the musicians, the positive response and the active cooperation of the virtual worlds, Rocking the Metaverse will be live for some months, bringing live music in old and new virtual worlds.

To re-launch the Rocking the Metaverse project we decided to give companies and metaverse entrepreneurs the opportunity to sponsor the shows and obtain visibility and brand awareness during the show.

Considering the completely pioneristic approach of the initiative and the incredible success of all the Rocking the Metaverse shows, I invite the potential sponsors to consider such a sponsorship deal not only a philantropic initiative but a wide and real opportunity to increase visibility



Right now, we're defining the best practices for sponsors placements. Anyway, the sponsors will be prominently displayed during the live shows and featured in the official Rocking the Metaverse channels (RtM Koinup group and Rocking the Metaverse Facebook Page)

If you're interested, you can contact us at editor@koinup.com

Rocking the Metaverse. Bringing Live music in Second Life at the Orange Island

Rocking the Metaverse, the Koinup sponsored project aimed at bringing live music in virtual worlds, is going to meet you guys at the Orange Island.

The first live show will take place on 19th of May at 1PM SLT at the Orange Island in Second Life


In the incredible sceneries of the Orange Island in Second Life, the 4 musicians of the tour will perform live, entertaining the audience with an incredible series of tracks

During the show we will briefly introduce the mission behind Rocking the Metaverse project and announce the next dates in Reaction Grid, Metaplace and Twinity

Rocking the Metaverse is a project sponsored by Koinup and powered by Orange Island, Metaplace, Twinity and Koinup!

Bookmark this date (19th of may at 1PM SLT) and join the Rocking the Metaverse group to stay tuned on the events!



Direct slurl to the Orange Island


#(SLT is the Second Life time and it correspond to California time)

Rocking the Metaverse - Bringing Live music to Virtual Worlds

Koinup is proud to announce “Rocking the Metaverse” , the 1st Crossworld Music Tour powered by Koinup and sponsored by Reaction Grid, Twinity, Orange Island, Metaplace and Koinup.

Rocking the Metaverse is the first multiworld music show, aimed at bringing live music to the most important virtual worlds, particolarly: Second Life, Opensim (Reaction Grid), Metaplace, Twinity.

Four Musicians and a few Artists will cross the most important metaverse platforms, performing live and making live shows for the enjoyment of the virtual worlds members.

The first date is scheduled for the 19th of may at the Orange Island, one of the most important cultural venue in Second Life. Then the tour will move to Open Sims, the opensource metaverse platform, where the musicians will have the opportunity to perform at the Reaction Grid. You can get all the info on the first date and venue, here

Once left both Opensims and Second Life, musicians will move again for a series of dates in Twinity and Metaplace. Both Twinity and Metaplace are raising the bar of the metaverse entertainment, providing users with innovative amazing features to enjoy and express themselves.

Rocking the Metaverse mission is to support and empower the music culture in virtual worlds, offering musicians a new way to engage the audience and a new stage to show off.

All the people that would love to be part of the the project (and leave their feedbacks) are invited to join the http://www.koinup.com/group/virtual-world-music/ group on Koinup (link: http://www.koinup.com/group/virtual-world-music/ )

Images and group forums of the Metaverse Music tour will be available on the official Rocking the Metaverse group. Join the group and share your voice with us!

Koinup is the social network that connect all the virtual worlds people and make easier your access and discovery of virtual worlds. Koinup connects the creativity of virtual worlds users and give them a new social network to share contents and meet friends.

Would you love to know what are the musicians performing on the show? Would you love to stay tuned on the next events or become an official photoreporter? Join the group and keep it updated with it!

Music in Virtual Worlds. Join the group and share events and photos

Second Life, OpenSim and other virtual worlds are simply perfect as live music environments.

There are dozens of daily live show in Second Life. You can immerse yourself in 3d and join awesome shows, without leaving your home.

If you love attending musical events and/or would you love to share your experiences, you may also want to join the Photography & Video of Live Music Events in Virtual Worlds group. The community is for all people which love enjoying music in virtual worlds

Metaverse Music for Machinima projects. Extract from the Koinup Forums

Dizzy Banjo is an acclaimed, metaverse musician and he is available to collaborate with machinimatographers, helping them with soundtracks and sounds for their videos.

You can read more in the discussion board of the group: Machinima that needs Original Music