Audio from my appearance at Chicago Music Commission panel
The audio track (about 1 1/4 hours) from the Chicago Music Commission’s Musicians at Work forum in which I recently participated as a panelist was released a couple of weeks ago. Podcasters Jim Goodrich and Fred Wells, along with Gaper’s Block writer Graham Sanford and yours truly all participated an a Q&A about podcasting, blogging, and how to get started doing both with some sort of business-oriented motivation in mind. Hope you find it interesting!
I’ve done several blog/podcast/musical entrepreneurship events like this over the past few years, most recently for the Chicago Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) down at Roosevelt University. Though my blog and podcast tend to be more geared toward the classical side of things, I’ve done a lot of more general chatter about how this kind of stuff I do can benefit all musicians. It’s funny–I never set out to have a successful blog, but I now find myself with a popular music blog, a podcast (which feels like the most constructive thing I do online!), and a guy who manages a few other projects like these for different groups. In fact, I was sort of embarrassed that I had this site for a long time, but I continue to realize that life’s twists and turns can take you down the paths that you’d least expect.
Jason Heath ACM Chicago Presentation 1/14/09
I’ll be doing a talk on multimedia websites for the Chicago Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). I’m honored that I’ve been asked to speak (they get some pretty heavy duty guests for these meetings!), and I’ll be chatting about the evolution of my blog, how it became popular and profitable, and how to avoid some of the missteps I’ve made along the way.
We’ll also get into some of the specifics on software and hardware systems that I have used over the life of my blog (as well as why I discarded certain options in favor of others), how I record my audio and video podcasts, the benefits and drawbacks of various content management systems, and other technical nitty gritty. I’ll make sure that we also talk about broader concepts such as finding your niche, how to write for the web, linkers versus thinkers, balancing the preferences of readers, watchers, and listeners, and how to make a vibrant and compelling multimedia site for the long haul.
Since I am a musician, after all, I’ll definitely be addressing what my multimedia site has done for my own career and how it has affected my day-to-day life as a musician, and offer advice on how musicians (and other creative spirits) can harness new technologies to further their art, craft, and business.
Details are available at www.chicagoacm.org, and this video covers a little more about my presentation:
The benefits of keeping your independent voice
I’ve been blogging for several years now, and doing this kind of writing on a daily basis (there are over 2100 posts on doublebassblog.org right now….and counting!) has naturally made me take some time to think about the benefits and drawbacks of independent publishing.
I’ve also done a fair amount of writing for other blogs and publications during this same time period, and while most of these have been positive experiences, I still love being able to implement ideas and projects on my own timetable without having to answer to any higher editorial authority.
I fervently believe that there is great power in having the final word on your own content. Anyone who has spent time on committees knows how inspired ideas can be ground down to a group think pulp as everyone tries to add their own spin or personal agenda to a project. Having to vet your ideas in group settings can kill innovation and make for bland, boring, “safe” projects that engage no one.
International Musician features yours truly
The February 2008 edition of International Musician, the monthly publication 
from the American Federation of Musicians, contains a feature on this site and the various satellite projects that I have developed during these past few years of blogging and podcasting, including Arts Addict, Inside the Arts, and Contrabass Conversations.
This feature contains several references to bloggers that I work with and have been influenced by, like Drew McManus (Adaptistration) and Patty Mitchell (oboeinsight).
International Musician staff writer David Allen writes:
Jason Heath of Locals 8 (Milwaukee, WI) and 10-208 (Chicago, IL) has been a fixture of the online classical community since launching his website, doublebassblog.org, in 2003. In November 2007, he added another online writing venture with the site Arts Addict, hosted by the popular blogging network Inside the Arts (www.insidethearts.com). As readership has grown, so has his playing career.
” I loved writing in college, so I started writing and it started getting popular with other bassists and my classmates,” he says.
” It’s less about me, and more of a community site. For nonmusicians it’s fascinating to get a glimpse of what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Heath launched Arts Addict through Inside the Arts, also home to the popular orchestra management site Adaptistration by Drew McManus. Arts Addict’s subtitle, ” on life as a classical music bottom feeder” comes from, as Heath puts it, ” playing all the low notes and not being the number one player in town—running around, working all the gigs that other people don’t want to do or are too busy to do.” He transmits stories, links, videos, and the occasional bit of breaking news—people starting new jobs and winning auditions.
American Federation of Musicians members can log in to the AFM website below to access the rest of the feature–the online version of International Musician is only available to AFM members:
afm.org/im/2008/february/upbeat/heath-built-a-fan-base-from-the-bottom-up
The complete article is also posted at Inside the Arts through this link:
insidethearts.com/International_Musician.htm
Though I am of course thrilled to be featured in such a prominent publication, I also think it’s great that the emerging cultural blogging scene is getting this kind of press. I sincerely believe that what people like Patty Mitchell, Drew McManus, Bob Shingleton, Charles Noble, John Grillo, Elaine Fine, Josh Nemith, and many other fine arts bloggers are doing is revolutionary, and I will be very interested to see what changes these new technologies will bring in the near future. These days, individuals can create their own daily digital newspaper, radio show, or video program (I do all three) and reach people across the globe for virtually no cost. Talent, ambition, dedication, and a sincere interest in a niche topic propel motivated individuals into the public eye, the only limiting factors being one’s energy and imagination.
Every few days, I open the Chicago Tribune (my local paper) and read despondently about impending layoffs for reporters and staff. I then flip a few pages and read more bleak news that the Sun Times (the other Chicago daily) is likely to disappear in the very near future. As traditional media publications continue to flounder, young voices of new media are rising to take their place, and I am pleased to be grouped in with this new generation of content creators and disseminators.
I’ve written extensively about these topic here in the past. Some good places to start reading more about traditional versus new media include:
- Top 7 ways that blogs are different from regular websites
- Dynamic Growth Possibilities of Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, and User-Generated Content
- Differences between old and new media
- Viewing American class divisions through MySpace and Facebook
I firmly believe that new media (blogs, podcasts, wikis, social networking, etc.) is challenging and will continue to challenge all of our assumptions about communication, information dissemination, education, entertainment, and community. These new forms of media tap into the knowledge of the masses and empower individuals to collectively build information architecture that helps everybody. Check out what’s happening at Contrabass Conversations, and just wait until we get another few years of content in our archives. Check out all the current resources at doublebassblog.org, and think about what this project will look like 10 years from now. With new media, one can have a daily double bass online newspaper, double bass radio station, and double bass television channel–things that could simply never happen without these new forms of communication, and with full editorial control to boot! If this can be done for a niche content area like the bass, imagine what can be done for broader topics.
Drew McManus also recently started an excellent new series titled How to Connect With New Media. Drew outlines the new media clearly and concisely, and I highly recommend checking this post out for a primer on the topics I’ve been discussing in the above paragraphs.
Polish or Publish? – new and old media differences of opinion
“Publish my stuff? Online? What…..do you mean my writing?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“It’s just………..not…..good enough yet!”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past couple of years of blogging, it’s that new media (like blogs and podcasts) requires new attitudes toward content creation and publication. Quickly fading are the days when getting your voice heard meant either slogging it through the ranks of traditional media outfits, fetching coffee and filing papers for years, or else toiling endlessly on your own, churning out print zines, trying to get a slot on a college radio station, or worming your way into the public access television station programming.
Grim as these options were (how many people can even have access to your content under these older systems), they were all that existed for most people prior to the advent of blogging, podcasting, and other forms of social media. Online, the individual now has just as much theoretical access to the public as does the largest news outlet. Even a URL from CNN.com is just that–a single URL, no more or less accessible to anyone with an Internet connection than any URL from www.doublebassblog.org or www.contrabassconversations.com. Under this new system, the quality of one’s content rather than the financial influence of one’s network determines one’s success. While major networks still have an advantage (bigger budgets, more varied distribution channels like newspaper and television), individuals have never had a better opportunity to publish their content to a wide audience.
I generally follow the “good enough–tweak it later” philosophy in my online activities. Put it out, then tweak it to your heart’s content. For so many people, just putting it out there and getting some momentum going is the hardest step of all. Most find (and I have experienced this firsthand) that new media projects take on a life of their own, and the content creator becomes steward, librarian, principal editor, and captain of their own little new media ship.
People will read your blog, and they will get in touch with you. It may take time, but you soon begin to develop a community of like-minded readers, and the knowledge of this community and their expectation of new content can motivate a person to put out more and better content, which leads to more readers….
Plus, just getting started and putting your stuff out there gives you time to practice your craft. Most people are not writers by trade. I know I’m not. But blogging daily gives you regular practice, giving you a chance to hone your craft and find your voice. I know that my writing has improved a lot since I started this blog–not that I was a total doofus writer when I started blogging, but anyone who clicks on the late 2005 or early 2006 archives can find some pretty ham-fisted prose on those past pages.
The same is true of podcasting, video blogging, or any other creative endeavor in which you are content creator and publisher.
Online projects are not created in a vacuum and dumped upon the world. They grow, slowly and organically, piece by piece, gradually creating a deep and powerful body of work. Pretty soon, you’ll find yourself wearing a lot of different hats. I spend my days alternating between creative writer, pseudo-journalist, talk show host, disc jockey, video editor, audio editor, ad pitchman, web developer, and system administrator.
Am I good at all of these jobs? No. But, much like the original writing on the blog, I am getting better and better every day. It’s all about practicing your craft, just like performing music!
Related Posts:
- Dynamic growth possibilities of blogging and podcasting
- Top 7 ways that blogs are different from regular websites
- Lasting impact – double bass projects with John Grillo and Andy Anderson
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