ABSTRACT
As should be readily apparent by now, the term “virtual music” is an all-encompassing, “umbrella” concept that, in its broadest and most general sense, includes everything from personalized ringtones to pirated phone calls, the online swapping and selling of digital audio files, to the creating of, and contributing to, new forms of online interactive art. If “the virtual is anything that does not culminate in mass,” as Dutch architect Rem Kool-hass says, then virtual music is everything of a musical nature that exists online in the digital realm.” 1 But this broad expanse of material—much of which shares few common traits or goals—is too unwieldy to consider en masse. Instead, I will take a detailed look at interactivity—the core and catalyst of virtual music—attempt to place its appearance and development in perspective, and examine the potential for future developments.
