A brilliant merchandising idea

One of the websites I administer is for my brilliant jazz friend, Brian Groder. Brian has, apart from CDs for sale on his site, a couple of older recordings that don't exist in physical form, and we wanted to make them available for sale as downloads.

It's still difficult for independent artists to set up secure download stores; iTunes won't let you upload directly to their service (you need to be a "vendor") and CDBaby, as great as they are, wants physical product to sell before they make downloads available. So being the research maven, I discovered Nimbit, which allows you, for free, to build a store and a download widget, that looks like this:



Here's the "killer app", a brilliant idea they sent out in email the other day: download cards. Say, as a musician, you're playing a gig, and on top of selling your CDs, you have these download cards. As Nimbit says, "Ever notice that new people show up at shows and then leave without you knowing who they are? Simply tell your audience that you are offering a free song that they can pick up a download card at your merch table. Explain to your fans that they can redeem the song at your official store by typing in the information on the card. This brings them right where you want them: your online store where they can find the rest of your products for sale. You end up with their contact information, and a very happy fan!"

Now imagine doing that at a reading. Sit in your comfy home and record a few poems or short stories, and upload them. Now, at a reading, tell your audience that the stories they just heard are available on your website, and just because this has been a very special crowd, the can have a card good for one free download. You get a list of fans, they get a free poem to share with friends. It;s an idea we had many (many) years ago, and finally here's a way to do it.

Try it out, all it costs is some time.

Quote of the day

"Yahoo called me eight weeks ago. They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? 'To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.'" -- Ray Bradbury

What's in a name?

Earlier this year I was asked to write the liner notes for a jazz artist's new album.

Of course, in this age of digital music and twitter, the words "liner notes" and "album" are already passé, like "dial the telephone" or "I didn't know you had eggs for breakfast". But even a musician's Facebook page has to say something, so I wrote an introduction to the band and its music. He called me yesterday to ask about the byline: what name do you want on it? I use my middle name for so-called "creative" work; that is, stuff I'm generally not expecting to make a lot of money on, like plays and photographs (I didn't say no money, just not very much). When I write on assignment, the middle name is absent. Or absinthe, but that's another story.

I've found over the years that, while I still say "Joe" when introducing myself casually, people have come to call me "Joseph". Which is what I prefer, but it still looks strange to see in an email. What does that say about self- and projected image?

The UK's Independent newspaper has an article about the links between mental illness and creativity, and it's an exercise in naming. According to the article, a study, based on 291 eminent and creative men in different fields, found that 69 per cent had a mental disorder of some kind. Scientists were the least affected, while artists and writers had increased diagnoses of psychosis. Attention Deficit Disorder is a debilitating and frustrating condition, and I certainly know that aspect of it, but I'm absolutely certain that, if not for my ADD, I would never be able to do the range of things I do. One of our fellow Inked-In members is a brilliant poet/artist/designer, with flights of fancy and astounding left-hand turns of thought, and my ADD-dar lit up the second I met her. Name the number of writers you know who aren't depressives -- it will be shorter than a list of those who are, I'll bet.

One of our newer members posted an introduction, saying that he's "trying to break into freelance writing," and wanted to know how. My response was, "Write." My bigger response is, call yourself a writer. Whatever name you put out, Hepson Worthington III or Binky, make that name stand for a writer: "branding", if you'll pardon that horrendous term. In a Hindu namkaran, the baby's new name is whispered into its ear before anyone else knows it. Naming ceremonies are part of a christening or baptism; Jewish and Japanese traditions call for an announcement of a name to the sky. The Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesh (my favorite) has 108 names, all with power and beauty - even Lambodara, which means "the huge-bellied lord".

Names have power, and the name you chose, whether a private ceremonial name or one shouted from rooftops, is a totem that can change your attitude and thinking. By publicly calling yourself a writer - or artist or musician or chimney pot - you take on the aspect of that thing. In our case, the name is the thing named, and it is important.

So call yourself crazy if admitting that helps. Take the leap and get business cards with the word "writer" under your name. What you do with them is up to you.

Signed,
Joseph

Frugal Gourmet?

I'm looking forward to the new Top Chef Masters spinoff that pits name chefs against each other. Partially because I just need a show to watch now that Heroes and Lost are winding down for the season, but also because I want to watch what these people say about each other. How does Rick Bayless really feel about Roy Yamaguchi? Will the kitchen resound with "Not that chemistry crap again?" whenever Wylie Dufresne makes something like frozen squid jello? It should also be fun if the judges throw a classic TC challenge at them, like make a meal out of stuff you find at 7-11. Will Hubert Keller really know what to do with Vienna sausage and a Slurpee?

There's quite a disconnect between restaurateurs and us poor and getting poorer diners. In the latest newsletter from the James Beard Foundation (I was a judge for several years) there's a piece about "cutting costs when cooking at home".

" 'I’ve definitely been eating a lot more chicken and vegetables,' said chef Michael Carrino of Restaurant Passionné in Montclair, New Jersey." I guess the chateaubriand 5 nights a week was just showing off.

"Mark Quitney, executive chef of 5 Fifty 5 in New Orleans, who said his family is making fewer trips to Whole Foods and more stops at Winn Dixie.” I can't even make a snide comment about that one.

Must be nice to live in a reality show.

We get mentioned ...

I don't think there are many bloggers out there (meaning, in here) who take being read for granted. Yes, Seth Godin and Arianna Huffington and Heather Armstrong know they are read, because they are insanely popular and everybody tells them so. You and I, we ain't so sure.

So it's nice to stumble upon (not to be confused with StumbleUpon) a mention of The Burry Man. Susan Gabriel blogged about our blog about Henry Sapoznik and its message on creativity. Which got me thinking about Henry again.

I met Henry in college in the early 70s (yes, I'm that old), we used to borrow guitars and play odd tunes together. Before Henry ever thought of reviving the all-but-dead genre of Jewish klezmer music, he was, and still is, one of the best bluegrass banjo players in the country, and after college he recorded several records with his band, the Delaware Water Gap. And he was, and still is, a grand musicologist, and would travel the mountains searching out old-timey bluegrass players and learn their music. He spent time with fiddler Tommy Jarrell, soaking up the knowledge, until one day, as Henry has told it, Tommy turned to him and said "Henry, don't your people got none of your own music?"

We can take several lessons from that. Don't annoy a mountain man is one. Make yourself available to any teacher: from that one question, Henry began a career that has influenced not only other musicians but generations of other artists.

And ask yourself: don't you got none of your own music?

Here's Henry on banjo, with Trip Henderson and Parrish Ellis. You should enjoy.