Collaborative Consumption describes the rapid explosion in traditional sharing, bartering, lending, trading, renting, gifting, and swapping redefined through technology and peer communities. (collaborativeconsumption.com)

Short on time? Here’s the ultra-hip 2-min version:

This year’s Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference aims to focus on imagination. Themed Imagination Around the World, this free virtual event takes place in Second Life on March 12–13. Second Life is growing as a venue for education at multiple grade levels. According to Nielsen, Second Life is the second most popular PC game worldwide (behind World of Warcraft). Imagination is sometimes neglected in traditional education settings, but is actually IMO the most important area to develop. Without imagination and creativity what are we? The VWBPE 2010 committee wants to highlight the importance of stimulating the imagination as a means of “sharing knowledge.” Education in virtual worlds relies heavily on collaboration and communication, but would you say that it is more collaborative than traditional education? I guess the answer is, “it depends.”

In general I think that smart people will find ways to educate themselves. I’d like to see learning environments that give students the opportunity to specialize at younger ages. In other words I think it would be beneficial to gear high-school and even some middle-school students towards the subject areas where they excel rather than forcing everyone study every subject (even when they’re just not built for it). Each student might not be as well-rounded but as whole each generation still would be. There’d be more positive engagement and less dropouts. Virtual worlds may be a great resource for accomplishing this because of their ability to open the imagination and at the same time foster communication among like minds across the globe. Thoughts? Anyone planning on attending the conference?

Social Rocks.

The stage is lit—music has always been social, and the web continues to make it even more so. Communication is on the rise. People want to share and “everyone who shares is an influencer.” Music discovery is powered by your friends and by recommendation engines—the technology is only getting smarter, and, in their case, everyone who listens is an influencer. Web apps like Blip.fm and Twisten.fm rely nearly entirely on friend-powered playlists and realtime recommendations. Music streamers crave sharing, simplicity, and depths of controls for customizing their listening experiences.

Bloodred Erik Unedited by Luminis Kanto on Flickr

Shareability and community spin music in the social web. Pandora and Last.fm’s widely popular iPhone apps encourage users to share songs they like with their friends as they’re listening to them. Grooveshark’s web interface heavily encourages sharing, and its integration with Twitter via Twisten.fm and Tinysong have helped fuel its rapid growth in 2009. Nearly all of today’s free (ad-supported) streaming sites include links to purchase mp3′s via iTunes or Amazon. Vevo has them, but, YouTube—arguably the largest and most engaging music streaming site—does not.

The Delicious user base has a relatively high concentration of developers, designers, techies, nerds, etc.—individuals likely to have above-average internet savvy. As a group they are an acute filter for quality content. The chart below shows the popularity of the same music websites based on data from Delicious. You can see there is some divergence from the traffic heat map. The most notable difference is MySpace Music, which showed the highest website traffic, but shows the lowest Delicious rank. Pandora is the top-bookmarked music site on Delicious by far, with last.fm second, and Grooveshark climbing quickly. Pandora is also the top-ranked music site on Xmarks.

Musicians—many are at the center of the social mix lifecasting on Twitter, Ustream, YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace. They’re communicating like never before, and evolving the industry. Revenue comes in new forms. The urge to be “indie” is contagious. The amplifiers are on.

Mobility Rolls.

Seven of the top twelve are radio/streaming apps. But smartphones are not just for listening to music. Gigzee is an events app—a location-aware tool for finding shows/concerts in your area. With more people on smartphones, more people can take advantage of location-based services like this. Music creation apps like Virtuoso Piano, Drum Kit, freestyle, NLog Synth, Digidrummer, Looptastic, and Jamble Music Mashups are wildly popular. Every human is an artist in some way—as technology improves more people will find themselves creating, and collaborating remotely. Who’s at center stage now? Creative Commons-released music encourages open remixing via sites like JamGlue, ccMixter, Indaba Music, Jamendo, SoundCloud, and more. Maybe influenced by NIN, many musicians are releasing audio source files for open remixing, fan remix contests, remix apps, or fan music videos.

Indaba Music is one of many web-based remixing applications.

Remixing in the current, virtual realm is enabled by online, collaborative, remixing platforms like Indaba Music and JamGlue. Remixing is widespread through networks that share collaborated audio like ccMixter and SoundCloud. Our Remixed section is meant to tune into remixes created using virtual platforms and collaboration networks. We’re open to covering remixes from all genres—the more diverse the better.

If you are interested in writing for this section, then please email virtualmusictv@gmail.com. Please review our content guidelines before submitting entries. Not a writer? You can help contribute by letting us know the remixes that you’d like to see featured. For your reference, the ongoing list of remixing applications and collaborative production networks listed below is viewable at Delicious » ryanve » remixing collaboration apps.

Alkaline Trio’s Matt Skiba performing in 2008.

It was September 2000 and the course of my life was about to change. Attending school in Boulder in a time when punk rock was center stage in my life, one of my favorite bands—Face To Face—was coming to Denver for an event that I would not skip. My hazy recollection tells me that they put on two back-to-back shows at the Ogden Theatre and that I attended both nights with two different friends. The three opening bands—all then new to me—were New Found Glory, Saves The Day, and Alkaline Trio. The venue was uncrowded during the first set, New Found Glory. By the time Saves The Day was on stage, Denver’s punk-rock fans had begun to fill the room, and we had magnetized to a position right up front at the rail. The first two sets rocked, but it was the third set—Alkaline Trio—that altered the course of my life.

Alkaline Trio’s straight-up intensity and heart was undeniable and I was hypnotized. It was their performances those nights that inspired me to learn to play guitar and later write my music. Maybe it would have happened anyway—I’ll never know. This was the spark that started the fire. When Face to Face was up next, the venue was surging!

Let’s flash to the now and to Alkaline Trio’s recent “I Found Away” open remix contest—listen to the winning remixes here. Had I been in the loop earlier about this contest, I would have been all over it and contributed my own remix. There’s no chance I’d have topped the winner—MacLes Music Factory—who remixed pop punk into dub. Punk rock and dub both had their alpha stage in the ’70s. I think this song works so remarkably well as a dub remix because punk and reggae are similar in that they often share lyrical themes like social criticism, angst, and love—Alkaline Trio’s lyrics cover dark subjects in an upbeat way. Both punk and reggae also tend to share simple chord structure and 4/4 time signature. Regardless, there doesn’t need to be a reason—if it sounds good, then it is good—so why ask why? This is just a great example of creative collaboration and music 2.0 promotion. Open remixing gives genre-crossing artists a stellar way to broaden their fan base.

There’s no doubt that collaboration brings brilliance to life. Collaboration is king. Online collaboration is still embryonic. Open remixing will put more diverse and imaginative music into scene than ever before. Genres will blend. Interpretation is in the ear of the remixer. With the thriving emergence of virtual collaboration platforms, it’s easy to be a remixer. The music is there and you can be a part of it. You know you want it. Go remix the planet.

• Photos: “Matt Skiba” by Victoria Morse. “Soundwaves Mix 2″ by chrisharve
• 2000 Event Info: Past event detail via Last.fm

Gary Vaynerchuk has animatedly vlogged about how the internet itself just hit puberty. Online music collaboration and virtual jamming are even younger. The arena for virtual music is huge. The best music is live music, and this is what comes next: We’re going hear, feel, and see live music live in the virtual realm—a drummer in Sydney, a bassist in New York, a singer in Tokyo—connecting with their fans live through web-based applications. You’re going to virtually bump n’ grind across the globe in virtual clubs with DJ’s pumping sound to the world. There will be video chat so big, real, live, and interactive that it will be like being there. The experience, and the emotion, will be real.

Where changes to anywhere in the virtual realm, and the technology is breeding as fast as we can imagine it. The clubs and venues of today will have to embrace the technology to survive, and they could be some of the best portals for connecting to the virtual space in a hybrid mix between the techology and the old-school dance floor. By the way, these clubs will recycle their electricity from the music. It’s only a matter of time before video chat goes 3D and beyond. Imagine how people will connect from club to club, venue to venue, and party to party in the virtual space.

The video game industry has already tapped the music vein with massive success, and they will continue to play a major role in this dynamic shift to the virtual realm. Mobility is still vital in the virtual realm, but how might its role evolve? Bringing music to the phone was one giant leap for musickind. Berkleemusic started the #bmusic hashtag for musicbiz conversation. Their 2005 book The Future of Music, published by the Berklee Press, discussed how mobility trumps quality. They were so right. But what trumps mobility? I think virtuality is the answer. Virtuality trumps mobility? Virtuality and mobility will likely breed to create new offspring. Mobility is the ability to move, or the ability to be connected wherever you are. In the virtual realm you can be anywhere with anyone. Virtuality is reality. Music is an experience. The quality of the experience could become greater than ever.

Evolution has proven that the most valuable survival feature that any creature can have is adaptability. Those who adapt the fastest to change always thrive. The controversial survival novelist Ragnar Benson advised that those who fail to embrace the latest technology are at a severe disadvantage. Music and musicians will continue to adapt to new technologies. As for the designers and developers: bring it on. Your imagination has no limit. Every technology that you can bring to life will be used. Musicians will continue the shift away from selling tangible products, and will cash in selling experiences—via licensing, sponsored shows, endorsements, subscriptions, etc. Music will be everywhere.

This post might sound a little far out but I think it’s meaningful for us to think about. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and I’d love to spark conversation below in the comment section and via twitter (I’m @ryanve). What will the future bring? How will the ever-expanding music population contribute to our future, and future generations?