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Lexx: It wasn't meant to be a music place in the beginning, as I came over with my company and we had a few people called "Trendscouts" ho were in charge of exploring SL and telling us what were its highlights. We started a place called the "Trendscout Lounge", in order to share different experiences and knowledge. Then since I had this interest in DJing, I was asked to put on some music and to make it a fun atmosphere

Wurlitzer: Why is there such a big emergence of music themed DJs such as house/electro here in SL... and are most of these participants veteran or new DJs?

Lexx: It's a mix-up. Some are veterans, some others are new. The new talents are more into laptop DJing, whilst the veterans are more into analogical equipment. Of course the future of music and DJing will be in the digital field, but there are some DJs who still use vinyl and this earned them also a fame and a respect as mixing through vinyl is more complex than using digital equipment. Since some time there have also been a number of veteran real life DJs and Producers who just joined SL to perform, therefore you can find all sorts of people with different degrees of experience, style and skills

Wurlitzer: What can you tell us about the various features of Scoutlounge?

Lexx: It's like a beach club, minimalistic, not many gimmicks around also to focus on music and to avoid lagging. We felt that it would have been more important to focus on things like our website, interactive TV and especially the live radio station because we want to open ourselves to the outer world

Wurlitzer: How much does it cost to be a member of Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Nothing. As we are devoted into giving passion and commitment as our best token in exchange for being part of the Staff or the DJs. We give every DJ a chance to perform a trial set in front of our audience, to see if he complies with the rules we laid, we also ask our Hosts and Managers to commit at least to one DJ slot a week but these are the only entry barriers we have, apart from the capacity to interact well in an international environment

Wurlitzer: Who are the staff involved with Scoutlounge & what are their roles including yours?

Lexx: I consider myself the Founder rather than the Owner of Scoutlounge. You cannot own a Community, in my opinion. We also have a director who is responsible for general supervision and long-term planning and coordination. Then we have the Managers who are the people who take care of everything which happens during their assigned slots and help out the DJs and the Hosts. The latter are the most visible interface with the audience, as they keep the conversation going and make our Guests feel welcomed and at ease. Besides that, we have DJs and among these, we pick a number of them who besides performing regularly, are entrusted with the role of DJ Advisors and they help fellow Scoutlounge DJs with equipment or streaming problems as well as giving them useful tips to promote themselves efficiently

Wurlitzer: Has there been any press releases or reviews written about Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Yes. We were interviewed last year by AVENUE magazine, then we were reviewed recently by an interesting Blog on SL Clubs (HTTP://www.secondclubs.com). Also last year we entered Linden Labs' Showcase and we received the Ravelong Award for the best Club on SL. We are very happy about the positive opinions and the achievements we have reached so far, but of course we are always aiming at improving ourselves

Wurlitzer: What are some benefits of joining Scoutlounge?

Lexx: If you join in as a Group member, you would surely have the chance to attend all our regular and special events, being informed on the updates of our website with interviews and podcasts and especially you could join our web Forum to share opinions and take part in discussions. If you want to join as a Staff member or as a DJ, you'll be part of a friendly, fun and committed group. The common point is that you can really meet a lot of people from all over the world and make a great experience out of the time you spend on SL

Wurlitzer: Are there any companies that run businesses along with Scoutlounge or is it mostly used as a residential sim for enjoying music?

Lexx: It's basically a residential SIM. The idea is to give an image of how would a Swiss town look. Besides Scoutlounge, we do have a few shops in our SIM, but we are very careful about quality, so we don't house them in order to share our expenses, but because they are coherent with the elegant image we want to give

Wurlitzer: What kind of activities can you get involved with in Scoutlounge?

Lexx: It depends on people's attitudes. Many people come over as Guests, most of them are regulars and after some time they also like the place and the atmosphere so much that they ask to be trained to be part of our Staff. The same goes for DJs. Many of them come in from time to time whilst they don't perform in other Clubs and eventually approach our Staff members to ask how you can get in. I was definitely very surprised when some DJs and Staff members who work in other Clubs told me that Scoutlounge was their top choice. And I am also very pleased to see that our retention rate is very high, so this means that we keep growing and also that we are providing people with a very favorable atmosphere

Wurlitzer: Are there any regulations regarding the type of music one hears at Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Yes. We are a Club and a Community which is targeted towards the lovers and connoisseurs of the House Music style. Of course, over time and due to geographic influences, House Music has evolved into a myriad of genres, so we take that into consideration, but the bottom line stays the same, therefore only DJs who are into this wide frame are allowed to perform in Scoutlounge. Another very important feature is that all our DJs have to mix live. No pre-recorded sets of any kind are accepted

Wurlitzer: What kind of experience & knowledge do you bring from real life and take into Scoutlounge?

Lexx: I have been a DJ for the past 25 years and this helped me out a lot in setting up the music standards that would have to be performed at Scoutlounge. Besides, now I run a company which is focused on marketing and communication, so this experience proved to be essential for the organization. We started up with few slots we could easily manage with few human resources and over time, as Scoutlounge grew up, I delegated more and more tasks to the Staff members. Now I keep a general overview on things and I get reports on the activities and actions from the Staff. Besides, I keep DJing every Thursday for 3 hours

Wurlitzer: What are some factors that helps members decide on finding the music places for them while listening to Scoutlounge?

Lexx: I would say that it is an individual choice. It depends on your taste, on your mood and on lots of other factors. We have Clubs which are not only aimed at a particular kind of music, but also at many other segments, so we have Clubs which have a geographic focus, others which cater to categories of people like nekos, vampires, etc. In Scoutlounge we are just music-centered, so our Guests are definitely into House Music without any other segmentation. If you had anyway to find something which makes a Club successful, I would say it is the people who hang around it. That is the reason why we rather speak of Scoutlounge as a Community, more than a Club

Wurlitzer: How many listeners do you have occupied at Scoutlounge, and were most from referrals or just places they visited on their own regarding music streams?

Lexx: We have an average of between 20 and 30 people attending our DJ sets here on SL, but since we also stream outside SL through our website, we reckon these numbers are 10 times as much

Wurlitzer: How many times do you hold special group activities/events for Scoutlounge?

Lexx: We started recently to foster these relationships with fashion designers and modeling agencies, so pretty much is still on a go. We had anyway some very positive feedback by all parts who were involved, so we'll carry on this way. We also will host a big event on Thursday June 11th of June, to celebrate our 2,000 Group members. We decided to host a 24-hour party so that people from all over the world could attend easily. Since we have a worldwide attendance, we felt it was the best way to assure that nobody would have felt left out

Wurlitzer: What are your favorite ways of promoting Scoutlounge?

Lexx: As for the "Brand Awareness", surely word of mouth or people bringing in friends are important. A big role is also played by DJs and Staff bringing in their own fans and friends. Also, we rely on events we organize from time to time with fashion designers/model agencies and of course on our visibility on Linden Labs' Showcase. Apart from that, we don't have any commercial or advertisement initiative

Wurlitzer: What are your future plans regarding Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Letting it grow as a Community and also enhancing the possibilities of interaction between various tools such as Web TV, the Internet and also allowing the DJs to be seen in real life while they mix in front of a webcam. We are already experimenting this during the sets that I perform every Thursday

Wurlitzer: What are some various groups that members can join regarding Scoutlounge or becoming an affiliate?

Lexx: We have two Groups: One for DJs and Staff and one for Group members. Besides, we post regularly notices about our events on many Groups which address themselves to music lovers and which are not Club-owned

Wurlitzer: Does Scoutlounge have any sponsors?

Lexx: We have some business partners and our focus is to explore together the possibilities of interaction between various aspects of the WWW and SL. Our main partner is DBC Radio TV, which is a Swiss company which is most active on the broadcast of live or SL events through the WWW and more. We also have a partnership with Mediaedge:CIA and with www.sldjs.com

Wurlitzer: What are some your goals for the future of the Scoutlounge?

Lexx: We are not too much into worshiping traffic or Group members, I definitely think that if you just focus on numbers, sooner or later you'll lose the sense of your mission. Therefore, I would say that the ultimate goal is always to provide a fun and friendly place where you can meet people, have fun and listen to good music

Wurlitzer: If you weren’t involved with Scoutlounge, what would you have been doing?

Lexx: Music and DJing has always been my great passion, so I would probably have stayed in this field anyway. I started as a DJ here on SL, performing for a few Clubs, so I actually don't see myself doing any other greatly different things, although I have to say that prior to my SL experience I was very passionate about computer games of the flight simulator kind, so I would probably give it a try to fly a combat WW II plane here on SL as well

Wurlitzer: What do you like to do in your spare time in SL away from Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Unfortunately I don't log on SL for a long time due to work commitments. So Scoutlounge just takes my whole time here on SL. I don't see it as a work, but since we have so many DJs I like to listen to them and to their sets. I also enjoy talking and listening to our Staff and getting to know more about them

Wurlitzer: Where do you see Scoutlounge months from now?

Lexx: Hopefully still as one of SL's favorite hangouts and I surely hope technology will help us by allowing more people in and feel much less the lagging issue

Wurlitzer: What would you like Scoutlounge be known for in Second Life?

Lexx: Definitely as an international Community based on the enjoyment and passion for House Music, with fine DJs and a very professional and friendly Staff. I'd love it to be a place which would make people happy to log on SL and spend their time on it

Wurlitzer: What would you like to be known for in Second Life?

Lexx: As the Founder of such a place. Being one of the people who tried to bring into SL some good clean fun and make people listen to various styles and interpretations of House Music from all over the world

Wurlitzer: Whats your avatar history been like in Second Life?

Lexx: Like everyone, I felt very amazed and at the same time a bit frightened at the beginning of my experience here. I found my way pretty soon, but I cannot hide that I feel some discomfort when I see how many people leave SL too soon because they don't find themselves at ease or because they are also not welcomed because they are new. I think we definitely need a more friendly and caring support for the new entrants here on SL

Wurlitzer: What were your desires for joining Second Life?

Lexx: Exploring the possibilities of a brand new platform which was very different from the WWW. Find more interaction and see what this virtual reality world was capable of. I can't hide I was very keen on performing as a DJ even before joining SL

Wurlitzer: How do you see the future of music in Second Life to be?

Lexx: It can open a lot of very interesting possibilities. Artists, performers, DJs... All of them might get known also in the real world and who knows, maybe also getting real contracts. Musicians can perform live in front of an audience, by connecting from different places around the world, so we'd have international groups and also, believe it or not, some fine DJs learned how to mix here on SL. So, besides having a passion for music, they learned really new skills which hopefully will take them further

Wurlitzer: What are your favorite music themed locations outside of Scoutlounge?

Lexx: I don't spend much time outside Scoutlounge, but I enjoy for sure the relaxed atmosphere of some elegant ballrooms and jazz Clubs. The choice is virtually infinite

Wurlitzer: What is some advice you can give us if one wants to become more involved with Scoutlounge?

Lexx: Just come over. Talk with people, don't be shy, get in the mood for having a good time and be fun and friendly to everyone

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