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
subscribe to the blog – subscribe to the podcast
Awesome Facebook group for the podcast
Facebook rocks, and the Contrabass Conversations group is turning into a fun community even only a few days into its existence. We’ve got some good discussions going, a lot of photos and videos up, show ideas, and much more, so check it out if you’re on Facebook!
CBC podcast Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17621298264
You can find my profile here and add me, or you can find the Contrabass Conversations group here. If you don’t have a Facebook account, just head on over to Facebook.com and sign up. It is a great user experience and a lot of fun.
Related Posts:
- viewing class divisions through Facebook
- CBC 34: Colin Corner interview
- Corner Violin Shop – great example of small business blog
- Dynamic growth possibilities of blogging, podcasting, social media, and user generated content
subscribe to the blog – subscribe to the podcast
Jason takes position on Board of Directors of the International Society of Bassists
I’d like to let readers know that I have been asked to take a position on the Board of Directors for the International Society of Bassists. It is a great honor and privilege for me to be asked to serve in this capacity, and I naturally have accepted this offer. I look forward to having the opportunity to help initiate and facilitate change and growth within this organization, and I will be sure to let the community know about new and exciting ISB developments as they get rolling.
It is always surprising to me what benefits and opportunities present themselves from running a blog, and how online activities can morph into real-world activities (and vice versa). I am still amazed at how sitting at a laptop in your kitchen and typing furiously into the wee hours of the morning can give one more credibility than all the hours, days, weeks, months, and years spent practicing prior to that point.
My main goal as a musician has always been to be a valued member of the musical community, and it is continually surprising how opportunities that have always been elusive to me in the past all of a sudden present themselves. I may not have landed that “big job”, but through blogging and podcasting, I have had the opportunity to interact with major musical figures in a manner at least as satisfying as playing in a bass section with them.
I have a few other interesting behind-the-scenes blog developments, and I’ll let readers know more about them in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, check out the following essays if you want to know more about my thoughts on how technologies such as blogging and podcasting can benefit organizations:
- Dynamic Growth Possibilities of Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, and User Generated Content
- Top 7 ways that blogs are different from regular websites
- On including user-submitted content in your blog
- Interacting with your blog audience
- Ideas for developing and promoting blog content
Taking the Bass Community to the Next Level – Dynamic Growth Possibilities of Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, and User-Generated Content
To me it is a no-brainer—there are exponentially more possibilities available to the double bassist using the digital toolboxes provided with blogging and podcasting systems than there have ever been in traditional print and audio distribution. Here are some reasons why:
Ability to communicate globally—quickly!
Even the most prestigious double bass print journals (Double Bassist, Bass World) only come out a few times a year. There simply isn’t the market to sustain a more frequently distributed print journal/magazine…. in traditional media, that is. That is why I believe that blogging will eventually beat up and take the lunch money of print media in just about all niche markets. The economics don’t make sense for niche producers under old models of content production. Print costs cash, and the size of the publication and frequency of distribution are severely curtailed by this reality. High production costs require a lot of advertising supported revenue, which tends to make the content within bland and mass-market oriented. Like fast food, print content seeking to reach people on a daily or weekly basis must cater to the lowest common denominator to ensure enough advertising and purchase revenue to support production costs.
Niche content can never generate the requisite advertising base needed to enable widespread distribution on anything more than a monthly basis. Print content producers run into a ceiling on distribution frequency. There can’t be a 25 page newspaper about, for instance, skateboarding that is distributed to every household in the world every single day. The numbers don’t add up. It can’t happen in print. And if it can’t happen with skateboarding, do you think it could ever happen with double bass?
Nope.
But it can online….
Lower Barriers to User Participation
Think about it—Bass World comes out once every four months. I make four double bass posts a day on my blog. If you want to submit to Bass World, you must:
- Compose and print up an article
- Type up a cover letter
- Mail these items to the ISB World Office (paying for postage, etc.)
- At best, wait many months to even hear about the possibility of your item being published
Even if it is published, how many people read it? Let’s be honest. How many people actually read every article and submission in every Bass World? I don’t, and look at what kind of a bass geek I am!
Also, when (or even if) your submission is published, that’s it. It goes on the shelves or (gulp!) in the trash of bass players, with a low probability of being easily referenced.
Submit something to my blog, and it goes up the next day or two. You get credited, and any links to your website, e-mail, school, a biography, or any other such information is included. As of this writing, thousands of people read the blog each week, and that number keeps going up and up. Your content will be read by the bass blog community.
Submitting is quick and painless (an e-mail with a link, something you composed in Word, an audio track, etc.), and your work lives online forever. Due to good Google juice for my blog (and that is thanks to the great submissions I keep getting), when people search for the subject you wrote about (bows, fingerboards, bass strings, repertoire), your submission comes up.
The same is true for any popular website featuring a niche topic. This type of system allows the masses (and not a publisher) to determine the merit of submissions. Popular submissions get links from other websites, get e-mailed around, and float up even higher in the search rankings. We all collectively determine the merit of submissions.
Also, there is no size limit or page limit that I need to worry about when putting up submissions. That is one of the cool things about blogging! The blogging engine neatly files away all old content but allows instant access to this content. This is not a luxury that print publications have! Bass World needs to limit itself to 100 pages every four months (with much of it taken up by advertising). I can put up 100 pages of content every day if I like, and the blogging engine handles it with ease.
I am not ripping on Bass World. I have been an International Society of Bassists member for 16 years. I have old journals stacked up on shelves all over my music studio (I do NOT throw them away!). When I was an undergraduate at
The same scenario is true for any magazine or journal, even mainstream publications like Time and Newsweek. As a long-time subscriber to Time Magazine, I have definitely noticed ever-greater references to Time.com within the print magazine. The print magazine almost serves as the tip of the iceberg to a whole world of online content through Time.com. The same is true for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, CNN, NBC, and any other mainstream media publication or news service. It’s all moving online. Print—even daily newspapers – becomes more archaic with each passing day.
I happen to be a person who enjoys print media. I subscribe to newspapers and magazines, and I like reading novels. I read print media all the time, and in many ways I prefer sitting down with a crisp newspaper to clicking around in my web browser.
But that’s the way things are headed. And we niche-content aficionados can take a cue from our big-media brethren. The possibilities on the page are limited. Four corners stapled together, delivered by mail or bought on the newsstand, printed and mailed at a substantial cost to a select number of subscribers. Compare this model to the infinite connections across all cities, countries, and continents that the internet provides, information zipping back and forth at incomprehensible speed. A blog entry can include video, music, interviews, text, photos, and links to other information. Try doing that with a page of text in a magazine!
I love knowledge and I love information, and more than anything I love easy access to information. THAT is one of the things that propels me to maintain and grow this blog, and it is the reason why I started the Contrabass Conversations podcast. When we come together as a community, whether it be a bass convention, recital, or even us all over the world sitting down with the latest copy of Bass World, we all learn, grow and become better musicians in the process. But Bass World only comes out once every four months. Conventions only happen once every two years. Bass recitals happen in disparate locations all over the world. We need to bring this material together as a community, because we all learn from each other. The tools are out there to do just this, and that is what I am trying to do with this blog and with Contrabass Conversations.
Bringing performances, interviews, downloads, educational resources, and daily news into one place with access barriers is the wave of the future, and we bass players have all the tools at our disposal to create and grow just such a community. Future generations will witness the democratization of content. Rather than accepting one content producer’s information blindly (whether it be NBC, the New York Times, or any other news source), we help to create content and let the greater community of users decide its virtue. The social news site Digg.com is a prime example of such a community, and I am trying to do the same thing (albeit on a much humbler scale) with the bass community here on this blog.
Building a Body of Work
Knitting the Bass Community Closer Together
____________
By keeping production costs low, blogs and podcasts have the luxury of creating content that is not interesting to the masses, but it highly interesting to a select slice of the population. This is significant. The wider a net one tries to cast, the more content needs to be watered down for the widest possible appeal. When Tide detergent wants to run a commercial in traditional media, they’re looking for advertising opportunities that reach the most eyeballs possible. The dumbing down of content necessary to assure those big numbers inevitably produces content that is somewhat interesting to a lot of people. The more specific and niche a topic, the harder it is to attract advertisers. High production costs and lower advertising revenue make regular production of niche topic programming quite prohibitive in a traditional media environment.
Blogs and podcasts provide another path to audience engagement. Costs are low. Expenses can be recouped more easily. An audience of thousands that is highly engaged can ultimately be just as appealing for advertisers as is a larger but only modestly engaged audience.
Even producing a journal for a few thousand members costs a fair amount of cash, and this cash must be recouped through membership fees. This cost also limits the number of publications possible each year. The nature of digital distribution and the low cost of blogging and podcasting allow for daily content with no membership fees, subscription requirements, or any other such barriers to entry. The purchase of supplemental materials (sheet music, T-shirts, calendars, etc.) and advertising revenue can ensure a profit for the content creator, and the social nature of such distribution methods encourages more audience and reader participation and, ultimately, a more satisfying and engaging experience.
I would love to hear reader’s thoughts on the impact of technology in the world of the double bass as well as music in general. I think that we are entering an exciting era for music, and adaptability to new circumstances is paramount for us to move forward in this new media environment.
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Recent Podcasts- CBC 124: ISB 2009 Impressions
- CBC 123: Klauss Stoll interview
- Guy Tuneh performs at 2009 Bodenseefestival
- CBC 122: Music School Choices
- CBC 121: Ben Jensen performance
- CBC 120: Ed Barker interview
- CBC 119: David Cardon and the Unfortunate Incident
- CBC 118: Jon Burr interview
- CBC 117: Mark Morton interview 2
- Audio from my appearance at Chicago Music Commission panel
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