In the name of shameless self-publicity (No.1)

The inimitable Dave Allen has penned an article on the genesis of Cul-de-Sac for the sparkling 4Talent Central England site. Despite much preferring to be the one asking the questions rather than answering them, I actually sound relatively coherent. Which is odd, because if I remember correctly the interview consisted of me rambling for 45 minutes in a pub while Cher songs blared out in the background. So, just like any other interview then.

It’s a nice way of generating publicity prior to the ’soft’ launch that is scheduled to happen before the end of August, and also gives a nice promotional push for the Media Enterprise MA. I’m yet to hear whether I will get commission from the tuition fees for students who sign up for September, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. Possibly the most amusing part is the fact that the article includes a cropped version of my Gardeners Click profile photo, standing in front of my shed. It’s only rock ‘n roll but I like it etc…

The yuppie guide to town planning

It’s only a few short months since the closure of the Jug of Ale, and now it looks like the Flapper and Firkin might just be going the same way. When I was asked to collate some research undertaken by Digital Central for their Music Matters booklet, one of the overriding opinions from people working in the music industry in the West Midlands was that we need a greater variety of spaces available for gigs, and a range of sizes. The aforementioned pubs have been integral in supporting acts who have gone on to play larger venues, and perhaps more importantly been vital in providing a platform for local acts, so this news is very disturbing.

Of course, it’s particularly worrying that – at a time when Cul-de-Sac is edging towards being unveiled to the public – the local music scene is being undermined, and independent venues and promoters are finding it increasingly more difficult to survive against the might of the big chains like the Academy venues and Barfly et al. Do people really want to see the further development of a derivative, identi-kit city centre?

There is a Facebook group here which you can join and show your support – what are you waiting for?

How to make money and influence people…

If you’ve ever wondered why this blog is called Safety in Numbers (I’m almost certain that literally none of you have done so) then now seems a good time to reveal all. As you’ll have already learned, this blog charts my efforts to establish the Cul-de-Sac webzine and explore potential business models for online journalism ventures. These models are, of course, still incredibly new and their effectiveness is far from definitively proven, which is where the phrase ’safety in numbers’ comes in; the idea being that, if we explore these issues together and share our experiences, maybe everything will turn out okay. That, and I thought it sounded quite cool.

New media business models are tricky things to grapple with, then. At JEECamp in March, guest speaker Rick Waghorn explained – with the useful assistance of a flipchart being scribbled into submission – his view for the future of online journalism enterprises such as his My Football Writer venture. Certainly, the main options, which arose from discussions during the unconference, included the following models:

• advertising
• subscription
• syndication
• sponsorship

Each of these come with their own advantages and disadvantages. The most common model used with this kind of site is the advertising model, but this raises the issue of how to make sure the advertising slots sold on the site are relevant to users. And it’s hard to think that, in a time of economic uncertainty, small music-related businesses in the West Midlands will be able to fork out for advertising space on Cul-de-Sac.

Subscription is also a tricky one, especially if you start off providing context completely free of charge. How willingly will people start to pay for something they used to get for free? I’m of the opinion that, if the service was somehow attractive enough, then people might buy into it but generally I think consumer-facing sites are unlikely to be able to survive on subscription alone, unless you really do offer people something that they can’t get anywhere else – what works for B2B titles and current affairs magazines isn’t necessarily going to work for an online music magazine as the audience is markedly different. Even then, you’re up against a seemingly prevalent attitude/expectation that information on the Internet should be free.

Industry-facing services, like Record of the Day, are perhaps more likely to lend themselves to subscription. And there’s the option of syndication too – maybe the BBC’s regional services, or other local media outlets, would be prepared to “buy” information they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to secure. As for sponsorship, I would personally be very picky about who I’d want the site to be associated with, and would be vehemently against any arrangement which compromised its editorial freedom.

The rather lovely Bearded magazine has recently launched Beardaid, where readers pay £2 per month in return for all manner of freebies while also helping cover the costs of advertising for small independent record labels. A noble premise, obviously, although I will wait with interest to see what the take-up of this offer is like – I have a bit of a problem with people subsidising the advertising for small independent labels, especially in these dark economic times, regardless of how much I might like the music released by the record label in question. I should commend Gareth, Bearded editor, for such a bold move though and the ’singles club’ style gifts which are said to come with your subscription do indeed sound impressive. Such transparency is welcome too, although as a paying customer I would want to know a bit more about what this “whole host of additional goodies” would entail, when there are so many worthy causes vying for your money.

As an additional thought, attacking formats where people are maybe more likely to part with their hard-earned cash (mobile rather than web?) might be a way forward. A recent post contributed to Paul Bradshaw’s excellent Online Journalism Blog detailed the launch of a mobile edition of Belgian women’s magazine Flair. Something powered by the cost of a text message does have potential, perhaps, although it would depend on the attitude of mobile phone users towards paying for journalistic services – online, there still seems to be some resistance, but this just shows that we need to listen to our audiences, and certainly there will need to be extensive market research conducted before we can establish whether there is a future in making money from the proposed website.

Everyone’s a critic?

If you’re like me then you’ll often read a few lines of a review – whether it’s about music, film, TV, radio or whatever – before you feel the need to scream at the top of your voice at the sheer inanity of it all. Of course, my reviews aren’t necessarily above such responses, but by and large many examples of what passes for readable criticism are likely to give you indigestion, or at least increase your blood pressure above what is considered to be healthy.

Blogging is a form of criticism too, and by writing a blog anyone is able to publish their comments about anything. Which is perhaps what has prompted the stories declaring the end of cultural/entertainment-based journalism. Frank Zappa once decreed that “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”, so maybe it’s not surprising that people are turning to each other rather than “professional” journalists to decide whether to buy the latest [insert name of new flavour of the month] album. Even the Observer are weighing in on the debate, asking whether it’s “curtains for critics” while an accompanying blog opens the floor to readers.

So what do you think? Is it the end for music journalism? If you look at circulation figures the music press hasn’t been hit as hard as newspapers, but it’s the niche titles like Classic Rock which are doing best. I’m torn by this as I can see both sides of the argument – as someone who is paid to write about music I’m obviously not going to be happy about something which poses a threat to my livelihood. On the other hand, I feel it’s a positive use of the Internet that communities of users are sharing thoughts and comments which act as a buyer’s guide for others, because it shows the influence which the web can wield in communication.

As a journalist, I feel that people (like me) have the necessary expertise and writing skills to do the job – and not everyone is equipped with these skills, which is why I think it’s justified for me to get paid for writing about music. That may sound big-headed, but I genuinely believe that it’s true (if I didn’t, I wouldn’t feel right doing the job). Realistically, the prevalence of blogs means that it may become increasingly difficult to make money from music journalism. And that also means that it becomes ever more dangerous to launch a music magazine, whether online or in print – so it has a massive impact on the future success (or failure) of Cul-de-Sac. Do people still want music journalists giving them information? Are people still prepared to pay for this? Or is user-generated content/crowdsourcing the way forward? And what business models can apply to this kind of site? Lots of questions, so few firm answers…

If music be the food of love…

This past weekend saw the sixth Supersonic festival take place – I went along and reviewed it for the Birmingham Post and Bearded magazine (the former is not online but the Bearded review is here). The festival is a treasure trove of music and film, curated by the Capsule ladies, and is just the sort of event that Cul-de-Sac would be made to cover. Having been named Festival of the Year 2007 by Plan B magazine, it’s fantastic that a festival in Birmingham has been receiving so much attention.

Highlights of the weekend included the Owl Service, Wooden Shjips, Einstellung, Parts & Labor, Errors, Pierre Bastien and ZX Spectrum Orchestra. Special mention should also go to Guapo – I saw 15 minutes of their set, which consisted of prog-metal, sequins and lots of lyrca. Do we really have to wait 12 months until the next one?

Talking and not talking…

It’s been a hectic few days so I haven’t had chance to write about the rather useful T-Shirts and Suits coffee club which took place last week. It was attended by a small group of people and was very informal, but nevertheless there was a great deal of discussion which pivoted on the subject of creative business. Thanks to David Parrish who organised the event and invited people along. A key conversation revolved around whether or not “business” is a swear word in the so-called creative industries. Are creativity and entrepreneurship mutually exclusive? My take is that culture-based works are commodities just like other retail products, and people should be able to make money from their work, although there does seem to be almost an acceptance that creative businesses aren’t capable of generating profit, and that if they do it demeans the artistic nature of their wares. Discuss…

After the event had finished, Rooty’s was also the location for a group discussion among fellow students on the Media Enterprise MA, focusing on the progress of our respective projects which are being undertaken as part of the course. This Action Learning Set has raised a number of issues around the idea of how to make money from a consumer-facing, journalism-led website – I’ll address these in a later post.

Suited and booted

The T-Shirts and Suits coffee club (named after the David Parrish book of the same name) is taking place on Thursday at the Custard Factory (or specifically Rooty’s) in Birmingham. I’ll be attending and blogging about it afterwards, as it’s a networking event for people working in the creative industries and will hopefully inspire some new ideas…as well as being a great opportunity to meet some new people who are working on interesting projects.

David Parrish will be in attendance too. Further details can be found on the Facebook event page, for those of you who are that way inclined. Or for anybody not currently signed up to the time-guzzling delights of social networking sites, you can take a look here instead.

Aspen Ideas Festival panel on ‘Media and the Campaign’

This doesn’t strictly fit in with this blog, but the way that different media strands are reporting on the US presidential election campaign – and the ways that the candidates use media platforms to help their campaign – is of interest, as part of a discussion about democratisation, the roles of 21st Century journalists and how newsrooms or publications can use online formats and new media to provide full coverage of events. Thanks to the No Fact Zone blog for providing links to these videos, recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Emily Lazar, producer of The Colbert Report, is one of the people discussing ‘Media and the Campaign’.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The fourth clip isn’t very good quality and goes all static-y about 01:20 in, but it’s an interesting discussion nevertheless, if only for hearing Colbert referred to as “the barium of the political colon”.

This week I have been mostly…

I have been busy this week working out ideas for the Cul-de-Sac project, as well as my usual freelance work. This has included working on a press release, and press coverage, for the Fabric of Folk EP – a collaboration between the Owl Service and Alison O’Donnell, formerly singer with prog-folk legends Mellow Candle, and to be released on Static Caravan Recordings. I’ve also been busy writing and editing copy for the relaunch of Gardeners Click, which is looking good thanks to a nice new redesign.

The online frontier

Here is a bit more of an introduction to Cul-de-Sac and what I hope to get out of the project. The idea of producing a fully-fledged magazine (or in this case webzine) about music in the West Midlands has been floating around for a while, and it’s one which was born out of several discussions with Andrew Cowen, music editor and chief arts sub at the Birmingham Post, Geoff Dolman from Static Caravan and the Capsule girls. I’ve been writing about music and arts for the Birmingham Post for nearly four years now, and there aren’t many other major print outlets for writing about the region’s musical activity – at least not journalism-led publications which present paid opportunities for writing.

The idea for Cul-de-Sac has largely come out of a desire for editorial freedom – a freedom to produce content, being liberated by the apparently limitless space afforded online. We’re often presented with the notion of a ‘war’ between traditional, old media and new or online media, suggesting that the two can’t co-exist – certainly, this is an issue which has been articulated well by Catherine Bray in a recent discussion which argued that the two formats complement each other. Indeed, the way that online formats allow journalists to tell stories and present audiences with links to sources and added information, the Internet lends itself well to the aims of Cul-de-Sac; namely, to present information about the region’s music activity not only to people who live here but also to those who do not – to bring communities of people together and offer a sense of collective ownership in producing a resource which popularises the West Midlands’ music activity in lieu of significant coverage in the mainstream music press.

The relationship between old and new, print and online, is something that I’ll talk about in more length at a later date, including why I think the Internet offers greater opportunities than a printed magazine – aside from the obvious reasons like 1) it’s more environmentally friendly, 2) it is more efficent when dealing with information which is time-sensitive, 3) there are countless ways of connecting with your audience (using audio and video, for example) and 4) production costs are significantly cheaper when you don’t have to think about printing. Of course, point number 4 is maybe the most pertinent for a fledgling enterprise. Business models online, apart from securing revenue via advertising (yes, that old chestnust), are still relatively new and it’s hard to tell what will work and what won’t make any money for the web journalist entrepreneur. Rick Waghorn has discussed this eloquently in relation to his own hyperlocal journalism-based enterprise, and I’ll attempt to gather my thoughts on it as the project progresses, as we move towards the crucial point of evaluating whether Cul-de-Sac can become a viable business venture.

For now, though, Cul-de-Sac will exist as a feasibility study, and I’ll continue my freelance work alongside it until I get the results which suggest it’s worth pursuing full-time and that it’s possible to make some money in the process. To keep you up to date, the website has been designed by Stephen King (no, not that one) of SJK Designs, and its logo has been designed by Ben Javens. A provisional version of the website can be found here, although please note that I have not uploaded any content yet – which would explain the irrelevant pictures and stories Steve has used to show me what it would look like. I particularly like the way that it uses a very ‘blog’ feel, with journalism and Web 2.0 colliding to provide the perfect platform for writers – whether it’s ‘professional’ journalists or fans with opinions and experiences who want to share their ideas with like-minded people – to congregate and discuss what’s important to them. Or at least that is the idea. It’s probably a bit late to be asking this, but “What’s with the name?” I hear you say. It’s a reference to the Roman Polanski film of the same name, and more importantly its soundtrack composed by Krzysztof Komeda. Ben’s logo is marvellously inspired by the typography used in the film’s artwork.

More focused and articulate points will appear here soon…