The Top Second Life DJ Clubs of 2008 - The Ravelong Awards

What makes a great Second Life DJ club? It is a combination of the live DJs mixing their own unique sounds, the staff committing themselves to the project, the people making the ultimate unified enjoyed experience, and the background atmosphere of the club design.

A DJ club where you feel like family when you walk in, and you're upset if you log off too early is the kind of experience that puts the following clubs on the Top List of 2008 SL DJ Clubs. (These are clubs that survived through 2008 and the doors are still open.)

There were many great, and not so great, Second Life DJ Clubs that have come and gone. In 2006 there were only about 10 good DJ clubs total! By 2007 the clubs reached more than 50... 2008 reached clubs numbering well in the hundreds. ... and 2009??? Lets just hope that you won't have to walk THROUGH other clubs, just to make it to the club you want to go to.

Here are The Ravelong Award Winners!!
The list of the best DJ Clubs in Second Life for 2008:

* Scoutlounge - This Club wins the overall spot as the #1 Best DJ club of 2008. The growth from January 2008 to January 2009 has been stunning. The passion, the love, and the spirit of the entire team of Scoutlounge is why it is #1 overall best DJ club in SL for 2008. Scoutlounge was founded by Lexx Runo (owner) and launched by its initial founding team: Electra Liotta, DjGogo Dreadlow, Sonny Chevalier, Vianw Zerbino. All are still loyal existing staff. The concept was simple, which was to create a non-commercial non-competitive place with a friendly family atmosphere and a place to listen to great quality house music by live DJs. Scoutlounge success was then continued by the current Staff Team: Mlita Pennell, Eleni Leigh, Cesare Drucker, Duda Poulot, Nissatje Bravin, Pure Nikolaidis, Tweety Fall, Doubledown Tandino, Ewan Seetan who are supported by +100 staff consisting of dedicated and excellent Managers, Hosts & DJs, just too many to mention. During its growth in 2008, further staff joined and contributed to Scoutlounge success today. Although these staff have left the Club in amicable terms, they still remained loyal and supportive to Scoutlounge such as Anu Daviau, Sabine Blackburn, Monimare Morgath and Juli Cochran. ALL of the Staff above are the reasons why Scoutlounge is successful today and even more so, because all are Volunteers. Each individual contributed with hard work, loyalty, dedication whilst love and passion for Scoutlounge were their driving force. Scoutlounge started with a handful of DJs. By the end of 2008, they now have a roster of over 50 Resident DJs and about 20 Guest DJs who fill a 7 days a week schedule featuring live DJ sets & events for +12 hours per day! http://www.scoutlounge.net/

* Sintetika / "Poetik" - "PoEtik" is an unusual event created by Nur Moo and Juju Dollinger on the Sintetika Sim (Art Sim). The principe is that the locale changes every month, by calling on the best builders & artists. Their goal is to create a space where people discover multiple levels of sensorial experiences, surprising both the eyes and ears. Kicking off 2009, the team has started the Nap@Lm-Q group in Sintetika, a sim dedicated to art, music and experimentation in the SL Metaverse. Special PoEtiK thanks to : Eifachfilm Vacirca, Strawberry Holidays, Aragane Nishi San, Martin Ren, Hern Worsley, Dazai Voom, ColeMarie Soleil, Selavy Oh, Doubledown Tandino, 2nthoughts Brando, Beat Flow, Andy Seiling, Artec Amat, Radi Roffo, Bibdui Babenco, Yotan Korobase, Damon Dollinger and all great Djs. (Events Occasionally.)

* Vital Staff - Club Vital Staff was built and is run by Radi Roffo. Radi, from Japan has invited DJs from overseas, and created a solid lineup of resident DJs. Soon after, the Vital team released a first compilation CD featuring SL artists from her own label "Vital Records". Now, Vital Staff has parties almost everyday, and often the DJs broadcast a live video feed so the SL crowd can see the DJ in Real Life. (Events Very Often.) http://www.myspace.com/clubvital

* Bassline Junkiez - Bassline Island emerged as the #1 location for drum-n-bass, dubstep, breakbeats, and reggae/dub with an area built for each style. BassLineJunkiez is a collection of International DJ's, MC's, promoters, and multimedia enthusiasts all with the common addiction for heavy Bassline Music. BLJ formed the group and now is bringing together over 40 sl and rl djs. They are huge music fans seeking to create a hybrid of Audio, Video,and 3D experiences in a truly International multi location environment. The BLJ aim is to keep DnB, Dubstep, reggae, and breakbeats Alive in SL and to promote the artist who are all closely involed with the events. (Events Very Often.) http://www.basslinejunkiez.com/

* The FAC - The FAC is an underground house music club owned by Bowyer Hawks and Oda Swain and filled with great people, funny conversations & very talented DJs. The idealology is always the same : underground music, research, & chat about music. Fac is opened to every kind of person, most of their clubbers are djs and nothing is sold at the venue. Bowyer & Oda also run a real life techno house label called LAW recordings. The FAC will be moving to a new sim with fresh ideas and events for 2009 (Events Often.) http://www.facclub.info/

* Piranha - An underground venue for live electronic DJs. Piranha is one of the oldest DJ venues in SL that still remains active. PIRANHA was created for the sole purpose of bringing a virtual rave experience with live mixed electronic music to SL. For over two years, PIRANHA has been home to DJs mixing a variety of electronic genres, but it is probly most well known for it's well-regarded and prominent lineup of Psytrance DJs. Since the time of opening, the nightly crowds have congregated at PIRANHA solely for the music and good social environment, without the use of contests or other gimmicks to generate traffic. (Events Always.)

* Code 415 & Contrast Club - Code 415 opened it's door on the 26th of october 2007. Owners Jade222 Jewell, Longinus Fapp and DJ Kemmi Kamachi's objective have always been to create a hangout where good music can be enjoyed anytime and with live dj-sets on friday nights. The concept has always been to stageline dj's that spin live, deep, new cutting edge music with a minimal elements. The way things go on SL ... Code 415 changed sims a couple of times throughout the year. Now, due to the Lindens upcoming restrictions, situated on the Vania sim with 3 other similar-minded clubs; Contrast Club, Session One and Black Box; each unique in their own way, united under the name of "United Beats". The official opening of this new sim will be in the second week of 2009. Already over 12 area's and still building. People who made a huge difference are Maringo Serrati, for providing space on his land to make it all happen in the very beginning, IONIC Benton who, a part of being a favorite dj, joined his Contrast club on the second "Code -sim" and all the people that appreciated all the hard effords made by the 415 crew to keep delivering every week! (Events Often.)

* House Divaz - Known as "the International Party zone, House Divaz is co-owned by DJxHalloween Boa and Jasminx Saenz. 2008 was a fantastic year for House Divaz. They redesigned the entire club, and celebrated one year on the island. House Divaz would like to thank DJxHalloween Boa, Jasminx Saenz, GaryN Ansome, Yvonne Bourgoin, Lilian Howley, Nooky Lisle, and the 75 or so DJ's that keep the beat flowing year round. (Events Often.) www.myspace.com/housedivaz

* Club Enigma - Enigma started as a conversation in a treehouse between Silus Kappler (owner) and Lanne Wise (owner) over an Irish lunch & an American breakfast one July day. After Karizmah Avro built the club, Enigma was born. From the start, Enigma set out to showcase the finest talents currently playing in SL, featuring residents Silus Kappler and Dane Koba, as well as some of the biggest names in SL playing to a packed SIM. They have always attracted a really nice crowd and would like to thank all of our regulars who have made the club such a success and such a pleasure to be involved with. Their parties are packed with true house fans. (Events Occasionally.)

* HOME - HOME is a concept that was born long before SL existed. It was a place that young Germans gathered and had parties. The RL club has gone, but the the feeling lived on with Altern8 McMillan. In December of 2007 Altern8 shared his idea with Justine Perenti, (two people who live in countries far apart from each other but have a true love of music), and the building of HOME began. Altern8 and Humble Pinion invested a lot of time and much love in the building of the club. HOME is a place where all are welcome from the newest to the most seasoned SL resident. All types of electronic music is heard at HOME, and as said already, we welcome the veteran DJ as well as those DJ's who are new to SL to play their music. We have three party rooms and many places to explore both inside and outside of the club and encourage everyone to explore and come anytime to HOME whether there is a party or not. There are many people who have been of great support of our efforts, and to sum it up it's the DJ's who dedicate their time and energy to play their music, the wonderful people who come to the parties as well as our RL friends and families who understand how much we love what we do. Thank you to all who have been of such great support!! . "Always remember that HOME isn't HOME without you in it." (Events Often.) http://home.rezzidents.com/

* LunaCast Moonbase - More info coming ASAP. LunaCast broadcasts live original Downtempo, Techno, Trance and Dub over the internet on full moon eves. (Events Rare.) http://www.lunacast.com/

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Award Ceremony and Raver's Ball will be held mid-January. Details to be announced.

Selecting the top DJ clubs of Second Life 2008 was insanely tough. It included both subjective and objective criteria. Here are some of the elements that made the clubs forementioned appear in the list for the top DJ clubs of year (from most important to less important):

* The Music and the live DJ, first and foremost

* The crowd / the fanbase

* The involvement and positive engagement amongst the Second Life community

* The ability to create the "family vibe", the staff, and the ability to attract quality staff

* The commitment

* The desire to be better always

* The creativity of the events

* The build / the design

* The branding / promotion / marketing
* The tactics, gimmicks, prizes, and contests to attract attention

Ravelong would like to thank the entire Second Life community, and the entire SL live performance community for broadening the horizons of millions worldwide.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Foreverland/150/151/151