Jesse Li Starseed
Funny how the whole entertainment industry did a major shift towards online performances. It started first with sharing details or recorded footage of live gigs on social media, then to "live broadcasts" online to go with the live gigs. Then came COVID hitting over a year ago, forcing DJ's and musicians to perform "solely online" for a long time, and still causing many of us to do so.
However, aside from the usual video steams and online radio broadcasts, ...also came another opportunity to perform ....live in a room setting or dance club in a "3D virtual universe", such as VR Chat, IMVU, and Second Life w/ audio and video streams going to linkable sites like Caster.fm and Twitch. IMVU currently has a "lot" of DJ's playing rooms on their platform. I've been part of IMVU for awhile, and as such, I know all the tips, tricks, and ways of doing things in there, but I never decided to DJ in there until recently. OMG did it pay off! (...not in money, haha) First gig, Jessie the "unknown" advertised that day, and had a packed club for 4 hours. It was a damn blast! That being said, there are a lot of DJ's being "hired" in there to do club gigs, virtual weddings and events, ...and paid either in the platform's own "credits", VCOIN, or real currency via Paypal transfer. It's not going to be a lot of money, so let's face it, but it's better than "none".
I currently stream my virtualDJ to my Caster.fm broadcast site, and give everyone in the club a "welcome line" including the link to my live Caster station. https://jessieleestarseed.caster.fm/ Shout-out to DJ Silverado in IMVU for recommending and introducing me to VirtualDJ! (much better than SAM and MIXXX)
Anyone else out there using VirtualDJ to do sets or gigs in an online "virtual world" environment? Tell us all about your experience.
However, aside from the usual video steams and online radio broadcasts, ...also came another opportunity to perform ....live in a room setting or dance club in a "3D virtual universe", such as VR Chat, IMVU, and Second Life w/ audio and video streams going to linkable sites like Caster.fm and Twitch. IMVU currently has a "lot" of DJ's playing rooms on their platform. I've been part of IMVU for awhile, and as such, I know all the tips, tricks, and ways of doing things in there, but I never decided to DJ in there until recently. OMG did it pay off! (...not in money, haha) First gig, Jessie the "unknown" advertised that day, and had a packed club for 4 hours. It was a damn blast! That being said, there are a lot of DJ's being "hired" in there to do club gigs, virtual weddings and events, ...and paid either in the platform's own "credits", VCOIN, or real currency via Paypal transfer. It's not going to be a lot of money, so let's face it, but it's better than "none".
I currently stream my virtualDJ to my Caster.fm broadcast site, and give everyone in the club a "welcome line" including the link to my live Caster station. https://jessieleestarseed.caster.fm/ Shout-out to DJ Silverado in IMVU for recommending and introducing me to VirtualDJ! (much better than SAM and MIXXX)
Anyone else out there using VirtualDJ to do sets or gigs in an online "virtual world" environment? Tell us all about your experience.
geposted Sat 27 Mar 21 @ 2:40 am
SuperHarry Kingmaker
Really Jessie? “First gig, Jessie the" unknown "advertised that day, and had a packed club for 4 hours." I like that you are so enthusiastic about playing tunes in the virtual worlds, but my experiences are different. I currently still do gigs in Second Life every now and then, but when I started I soon discovered that in the first place there are more DJs and clubs, than listeners (almost the same in real life) and if there are a few people showing up in a virtual club, most of the time they don't listen to the the stream and probably having their own tunes or radio station at home. So those virtual worlds are not a real alternative for DJs who want to present their work to the world. And it certainly won't make you rich, with the tipping system as payment and the virtual currency (unfortunately no bitcoins) that is worth almost nothing. Excuse me for this negative reaction, it is not meant to be or taken personal, but rather a small glimpse (and my own experience) into those virtual worlds. It's just fun to have something to do and play some records for a bit of relaxation, but not to be taken seriously ... 😉
geposted Mon 24 May 21 @ 7:05 am
Jesse Li Starseed
“First gig, Jessie the "unknown" advertised that day, and had a packed club for 4 hours." It is true that my very first gig was very successful, ...we had 20+ people in a room, but at that particular time, there were two reasons. I really do chalk everything up to "timing" and randomness, and the same things happen in real life. I have a lot of friends and aquaintances in IMVU, and I had been talking of DJ'ing for an entire year before I actually did, as well as our C4 Club I was in was growing very popular ...and we had just launched plans to turn it into a club chain. Things were going strong at the time.
THAT being said (lol).... YES I have had "plenty" of bad nights with no one there, once again, mostly due to timing. I would usually elect to do what would be the 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm slot (my time zone). Many nights there were only 3 to 4 people. { Interesting note, ....as soon as it got past 10:30 pm or 11:00 pm at night, the room would go BOOM for whatever DJ was scheduled at that time. } I've had some very successful nights 30+ people in the room during 12:00 midnight to 2:00 am ( go figure...lol). But it is definitely a completely random thing. No one ever knows when anyone is going to be online, and if they are, if anyone is going to show up.
You are 100% exactly correct. I never said I was looking at this in any way as a real world alternative. Now.... I have managed to make approx. $150 over the past.... "6 months" (hahaha), and that was for services rendered (weddings & events where I got paid via Paypal). But I was never in this for the money (lol), or to be able to present my work, ...except to the people in IMVU itself. I'm definitely not a professional DJ that is trying to make a living from it full or part time. I have a regular full-time day job that keeps me busy.
My time DJ'ing is more of a "hobby" that I take seriously, as it provides me with a lot of enjoyment! It's new, fun, and very exciting, and during this whole time, I have been able to pull from my experiences in the music industry in real life and apply them to this hobby and watch the fun. IMVU provided something very important to me and to other people during the covid lockdown. It provided a place to go and exist (although it's virtual), allowed us all to be able to socialize, and allowed us to be able to continue doing certain things in the virtual world that we could no longer do in the real world, due to being locked-down. Even now in September 2021, I watch as some of the real professional DJ's in the arts center where I hang out at are still struggling to obtain real life gigs, and are still forging away doing their weekend shows video-streaming to Twitch, Facebook, YouTube.
For me, March til now has been a DJ bootcamp and a small business simulation....lol. It is extremely fun to do all this. Truthfully, I'm a much older person these days, and the things I'm doing now I could probably say, .....I would have never thought about, done, or embarked upon, ...unless I was actively doing the things I'm doing in IMVU right now. In that sense it has been positive for me. It has kept my sanity in-tact during a lock-down, and even allowed me to live again in ways I could never do in real life. You know how these virtual worlds work. It gets inside of our heads to a certain degree (depending on the "immersiveness" of it all).
Thank you for your comments, and I appreciate the things you have brought up. It's nice just talking to another DJ (even on here) that has been in and has had experience in a virtual world. :-)
THAT being said (lol).... YES I have had "plenty" of bad nights with no one there, once again, mostly due to timing. I would usually elect to do what would be the 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm slot (my time zone). Many nights there were only 3 to 4 people. { Interesting note, ....as soon as it got past 10:30 pm or 11:00 pm at night, the room would go BOOM for whatever DJ was scheduled at that time. } I've had some very successful nights 30+ people in the room during 12:00 midnight to 2:00 am ( go figure...lol). But it is definitely a completely random thing. No one ever knows when anyone is going to be online, and if they are, if anyone is going to show up.
SuperHarry Kingmaker wrote :
those virtual worlds are not a real alternative for DJs who want to present their work to the world. And it certainly won't make you rich
You are 100% exactly correct. I never said I was looking at this in any way as a real world alternative. Now.... I have managed to make approx. $150 over the past.... "6 months" (hahaha), and that was for services rendered (weddings & events where I got paid via Paypal). But I was never in this for the money (lol), or to be able to present my work, ...except to the people in IMVU itself. I'm definitely not a professional DJ that is trying to make a living from it full or part time. I have a regular full-time day job that keeps me busy.
SuperHarry Kingmaker wrote :
It's just fun to have something to do and play some records for a bit of relaxation, but not to be taken seriously😉
My time DJ'ing is more of a "hobby" that I take seriously, as it provides me with a lot of enjoyment! It's new, fun, and very exciting, and during this whole time, I have been able to pull from my experiences in the music industry in real life and apply them to this hobby and watch the fun. IMVU provided something very important to me and to other people during the covid lockdown. It provided a place to go and exist (although it's virtual), allowed us all to be able to socialize, and allowed us to be able to continue doing certain things in the virtual world that we could no longer do in the real world, due to being locked-down. Even now in September 2021, I watch as some of the real professional DJ's in the arts center where I hang out at are still struggling to obtain real life gigs, and are still forging away doing their weekend shows video-streaming to Twitch, Facebook, YouTube.
For me, March til now has been a DJ bootcamp and a small business simulation....lol. It is extremely fun to do all this. Truthfully, I'm a much older person these days, and the things I'm doing now I could probably say, .....I would have never thought about, done, or embarked upon, ...unless I was actively doing the things I'm doing in IMVU right now. In that sense it has been positive for me. It has kept my sanity in-tact during a lock-down, and even allowed me to live again in ways I could never do in real life. You know how these virtual worlds work. It gets inside of our heads to a certain degree (depending on the "immersiveness" of it all).
Thank you for your comments, and I appreciate the things you have brought up. It's nice just talking to another DJ (even on here) that has been in and has had experience in a virtual world. :-)
geposted Wed 08 Sep 21 @ 1:16 pm