By Jean-Julien Aucouturier

With nearly 1.5 million members, could concerts in Second Life be the future of music?

The two artists, both professional musicians, couldn’t be more different. One is a live-show powerhouse, playing more than 20 sell-out gigs per month. His fans travel from all over the world just to see him, and many have been following him since the early days. The other is not reaching the audience he deserves. Embroiled in a disproportionate network of industrial interests, his artistic freedom is jeopardized and his music denied radio airplay.

By Greg Lane -- What's new and what's hot -- Business Break: Mobile Moves, Second Life, Breakthrough for Skype, Web 2.0, The sun setting on DRM?, Power from footsteps -- New business & IPO -- Trends in Japan -- Eco fashion: Tokyo teen fashion Mecca, Shibuya, is having an unusual bohemian moment. Take a stroll through the trendy Shibuya 109 fashion building and you’ll see many a boutique offering ’60s-inspired flower-print dresses with flowing skirts and sleeves and fringed suede boots and vests.

By Peter Harris

J@pan Inc’s column concerning business possibilities outside of Japan

“Open a nightclub, sell jewelry, become a land speculator; the choice is yours to make.” No, not the text of one of Donald Trump’s entrepreneur seminars, but the opening invitation on the business page of virtual community Second Life’s website. Increasingly, Second Life (SL) is becoming a place where businesses naturally want to extend their operations to, or entrepreneurs decide to try out one of their latest ideas.