No longer a New Media Apologist

March 23, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

This last week has been an eye-opener for me in regards to New Media. Twice I was placed in the position of being a New Media apologist, trying to explain to someone why New Media was important even though they were very resistant to some of the basic ideas behind New Media. Everything I said was met with a hundred reasons why something wouldn’t work from “that’s not the way that business works” to “I don’t want to become an “XXX” where you insert your favorite old media job (i.e. publisher, promoter, manager, etc.)

Most of these conversations started with the phrase, “tell him/her how they could use New Media to do X, Y, Z.” This is always doomed to failure, of course, as they have most likely made up their mind already that New Media is not for them. Hence, the conversation goes nowhere.

These conversations have taken me back to the days of the old PC vs. Mac wars. I realized a long time ago that this and many similar discussions, are fruitless exercises and don’t warrant the breath expended on them. As they say, “Never teach a pig to sing, It doesn’t work and it annoys the pig.”

So, in this way I say that I will be a New Media apologist no more! My job is to teach people how to use New Media to improve their businesses, their careers and their lives. If they haven’t figured out that New Media can help them, it is not my job to convince them. That is simply “teaching the pig to sing.” In fact, some might say that it is impossible to convince someone out of a strongly held opinion, They have to come to that understanding on their own. Only then can I help them.

So now, I will wait for the “When you are ready, the teacher will appear” moment and save my energy for more important battles.

Opinion: Not enough podcasting at Podcamp Toronto?

February 24, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

I’ve had some similar thoughts about other unconferences (and paid conferences, as well). I always tend to think about the beginners, the newcomers, the “just getting started” folks. Things simply get more complex once the ball starts rolling, but there are always new people joining in and I think their needs need to be addressed as well.

Not enough podcasting at podcamp?

from Bob Goyetche – Community, Technology and Content by Bob

This was my third time at Podcamp Toronto, and I want to congratulate the organizers and volunteers on putting on a great event! I have an intimate appreciation of what it takes to put an event like this together, and you guys did an amazing job all around.

There were so many things right about this event, the sessions, the perfect facilities, the free coffee!, the great support organization. I almost feel guilty saying the following…

An interesting thing happened to me Saturday. It was towards the end of the day, just before the Audacity audio editing session Sean McGauhey and I were doing, someone came up to me and asked ”

‘Will this session have anything to do with podcasting?”

“wha…?” came my carefully-formulated reply.

“It’s just that it seems it’s all about measurement and metrics and stuff, but I’m trying to find out how to podcast “

It was at this moment I started wondering if the Podcamp model had jumped the shark.

Read the entire article

Audio: State of the Music Industry Panel Discussion – Feb 9, 2009

February 8, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (56.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

On February 7, 2009, TK Promotions in association with the Coalition of SoCal Music Organizations (COSMO) and New Pants Publishing, Inc., presented the 2nd in a Series of Pitch-A-Song™ Industry Panels at the Guitar Merchant.

A “State of the Industry” panel proceeded the “Pitch-A-Song™”, moderated by Steve Scott, Pres. of COSMO (Coalition of Socal Music Organizations) with industry guests including writer/podcaster/new media consultant Douglas E. Welch, producer Mandi Martin and film/tv professional WinJow speaking on hot topics covering the music industry.

Listen: State of the Music Industry Panel Discussion

[audio:http://welchwrite.com/cip/audio/2009/cinm-cosmo-industry.mp3 ]

New Media: What are you waiting for?

January 28, 2009 by Douglas E. Welch

In my on-going effort to show everyone how new media can help them in their business, career and life, I am often meet with skepticism and resistance. Years ago, the Internet created a huge opportunity for everyone to create their own media and, for the first time ever, easily distribute directly to their audience. Still, despite the relative popularity and success of sites like YouTube, only a fraction of the population creates media, despite the obvious benefits.

More and more I am inclined to ask, “What are you waiting for?” In that regard, I offer some typical excuses for not using new media and, hopefully, a few good answers that might give people a reason to adopt new media as one of their tools.

I don’t have anything to say

If you truly don’t have anything to say about your business, your career or your life, then you have larger problems than simply ignoring new media. Regardless of what you do, life is about sales — selling your products, your services or yourself. If you can’t articulate what makes you and your work special, then no one can. We all have a unique set of skills and experience that make us special. Communicating that uniqueness should be of the utmost importance and new media is the best tool we have to it with the world.

It’s too hard — and too expensive

Several years ago, new media was too hard. It required expensive computers and lots of time. Before sites such as YouTube, you needed to be quite knowledgeable to distribute your audio and video. Today, though, creating your own video and audio and distributing it online is easy and cheap. Using a free online service like YouTube or Blip.tv, you can create your own channel today for no more cost than that of you existing Internet connection. If you are producing short pieces and can shoot them in one or two pieces, there is little editing to be done. You can even record directly into YouTube or Seesmic and your video goes live almost immediately. Even more, most sites allow you to easily embed your newly created video in any web site or blog, merely by cutting and pasting a few lines of text.

Even more, you can learn all you need to know through online sources, as part of a free user group, like my own New Media Interchange (http://newmediainterchange.com) or through relatively inexpensive training at community colleges and universities.

I don’t have time

Whenever someone tells me they don’t have time for new media, I tell them they will have plenty of time after their business fails or they start losing their biggest clients. While traditional advertising methods might still work for a few very traditional businesses, their overall power is rapidly diminishing. When was the last time you used a traditional Yellow Pages?” When did you last make a purchasing decision based on a television or newspaper ad. Instead, you probably looked to the Internet for more information and reviews. You might have asked your online friends for recommendations. In many cases you are already using new media in your own life, why not use it in your business?

I can’t make money?

First, you don’t typically make money on new media directly. You use it to sell products and services. You give away some information for free — educate people — so they come to trust your skills and knowledge. Sure, some people might make money on their new media shows, but even that typically comes from sponsorship and advertising sales, not direct viewer payments. The first use of new media is to build your existing business and reputation.

No one will watch it

The fact is, most of us have no idea who the audience is for something we might produce. You can never tell what might catch the world’s attention. This is why you must create something, put it out there and see who watches. You can never tell where you next big business deal, your next big client or your next great job might come from. Your goal should be to make yourself and your company as visible as possible so that people can “stumble across” you. The chances of you being discovered is nearly zero, if you don’t produce new media. Producing something and distributing it via the Internet raises your chances above zero, sometimes to an amazing level. Don’t pre-suppose that you have no audience. You won’t know until you actually do something.

What are you waiting for?

Elsewhere Online: Twitter Landing Page

December 18, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

I came across this interesting article today on why you should have a custom “landing page” for people who discover you via Twitter.

Develop a Twitter Landing Page

from ProBlogger Blog Tips by Darren Rowse

Over the weekend I created a landing page for my Twitter account.

I got the idea off Laura Fitton (@pistachio) when a guest post on TwiTip highlighted what she’d done with her own Who is @pistachio landing page.

What is a Twitter Landing Page?

In short – a twitter landing page is a page on your blog or website that is specifically written for those arriving at your blog having clicked on the link in your twitter profile.

Read Entire Article

Get the most from Twitter through a balance of Systematic and Unsystematic uses

November 5, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Whenever a bunch of tech folks get together, as we did this weekend at PodCampAZ, talk soon turns to Twitter and its uses. While the discussion is wide ranging it eventually turns to the use of Twitter as a branding, promotion and business tool. Everyone has their own idea about how Twitter should be used. Some want no business or promotional messages and others see it only as conduit to reach potential customers.

As with most things in life, the effective use of Twitter is dependent on balance. A balance between systematic and unsystematic uses. I think a combination of both yields the greatest ROI for you and your followers.
Systematic Uses

Systematic uses include the automatic tweeting of blog posts, new Flickr pictures, reminder and more. When I first started using Twitter I had to make a decision whether to use TwitterFeed.com to automatically post a tweet when I posted something new to my blogs. In thinking about this, I realized that it was ok for me, as it still directly answered Twitter’s main question, “What are you doing?” The fact is, the last thing I was doing was posting to my blog. The same went for photos and other content I may have posted elsewhere. What I am doing online is part of my life (a large part most of the time) and I want to share it with others.

Unsystematic Uses

Of course, I think my Twitter stream would be incomplete with unsystematic uses. Unsystematic use of Twitter includes the random thoughts that occur to me about where I am and what I am doing. I don’t typically tell folks what I eating or drinking, but a review of my Twitter stream turns up lots of posts about coffee. Most importantly, unsystematic use also includes engaging in the on-going Twitter conversation. @ replies to comments from the people I follow and others often bring out information about my thoughts and ideas that others might not know. They help to “fill out” my personality to my followers and give a more complete picture of who I am. One rule I use on Twitter is this…if I would lean over to a friend to say something, or if I find myself shouting something at the television screen, then it is probably worth a personal tweet. If I would comment back to someone in a face-to-face conversation, I would think this a great reason to @ reply on Twitter.

I believe that in order to enjoy the most benefits from using Twitter you have to have a balance between these 2 uses. Constantly twittering offers from your business, links to your business or links to other sites misses the conversational side of Twitter and can leave followers with a limited view of who you are, what you do and what you are trying to accomplish. Look at your Twitter stream and try to get a feeling what others might feel when they see your stream for the first time. Would you follow yourself if you stumbled across your stream?

Of course, you can engage only in unsystematic uses of Twitter and still have a great time and build some great relationships. It is just a more social use of Twitter and that is perfectly fine. That said. if you are not using systematic tools to include some of your other content in your Twitter stream, you are missing out on some great opportunities to tell folks more about yourself. Whether these systematic uses includes business pitches or not, followers will be accepting of them if they somehow give them a better picture of you.

Balance in all things is difficult to accomplish, but seeking that goal in life and on Twitter is a great way to share your life with others. I think that mixing business and pleasure is one way to make Twitter the most useful to you and your followers. Give it a try.

New Media Prescription 003 – Capture your content

October 1, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

So, if you have read the previous 2 installments of this series — Get a Blog and Start/Build Your Email List — then you are ready for the next step. Now that you have a place to release your new media and have started a mailing list to promote your new media, it is time to create some new media!

Too many people I talk to look upon this as a challenging task. “Where am I going to find the time to create all this content?” The truth is, you don’t have to make more time to create your content. In most cases, you are already creating content every day. The sad part is, you are probably throwing away this content because you don’t recognize it when you see it.

Every person, every store, every charity, every restaurant, every business creates content every day…or should be. You have a unique message you want and need to communicate to your customers. You goal is to integrate new media into your work and business so that you take advantage of every opportunity to create new content.

Here are some examples from a variety of businesses:

Retail Store

Did you just receive a new product, new product line, an enhancement to an existing product or a promotional video from a vendor? Look for a way to make a short video, a piece of audio or a blog post about this product. Look for opportunities to interview manufacturers about their products. Have your staff create videos about products they really like. Your customers are there to buy your products. Give them as much information as you can to make their purchasing decisions easier. Even more, using your existing staff in your new media productions brings a personal feeling to them. Your customers will see the same people online and in the store and feel a closer relationship with your business.

Restaurant

Many restaurants work on a very seasonal menu. Peaches are in season one week, raspberries the next, strawberries another. Fall calls for comfort food and summer for lighter fare. This gives you a ready-made schedule and reason for new media. Show your customers how you are developing a new seasonal menu. Show them the special ways you are using the seasonal product. Celebrate the change of seasons with menu items, entertainment ideas, party information and more. You can also produce mini-series of cooking classes and recipes, showing some “behind-the-scenes” action that everyone loves.

Charities

One of the biggest goals of any charity is out-reach — telling potential donors what you do and why it needs to be done. If you are a medical charity, I would guess you have regular panel discussions and speakers that come to present to your staff and donors. Make a point of recording these events. While you may have 10-20 people at the in-house discussion, you have a potential audience of thousands on the Internet. If you have influential visitors to your offices, record an interview with them that can be used on your web site or sent out as a podcast.

If you have a yearly event, capture as much media as possible during your next event. Done right, you will have enough content to power a weekly or monthly podcast. This show then becomes a regular promotion for the next yearly event. Instead of making your PR push a few months before your regular event, you now have a series of regular promotions throughout the year leading up to the event. Your goal here is to be make the yearly event a culmination of a year-long event that you have been fueling using your new media productions. Ideally, by the time you open up ticket sales for your event, the demand will be so high that you will sell out almost immediately. Then you repeat the process, gathering more media at this event to fuel your show for another year.

Build your personal brand

Many of us are in the business of providing information and advice. Too often, we wait until customers come to us for information instead of proactively reaching out to them. In the case of one financial planner, the current mortgage and stock market crises has led to frightened customers rushing to their office to inquire about their portfolios. Imagine how you might allay fears by providing a regular informational update to your clients. When customers are clamoring for information, new media is a great way to provide it.

Providing this information also goes a long way towards building your own brand as an expert in your field. Your audience might begin with your clients, but it can quickly grow to include others who might eventually become your clients. It could even raise your profile enough to bring traditional media outlets like newspapers and television to come seeking your insight.

Content surrounds you and your business. You only need to reach out and capture it when it occurs. Starting a new media program isn’t about creating information out of whole cloth. It is about sharing what you already have and know. Start capturing your content and building your New Media future today.

Link: Prescription 001 – Get A Blog
Link: Prescription 002 – Start/Build Your Email List

Stay in touch with everything happening at WelchWrite.com

September 18, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

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New Media Monetization

September 14, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

There was a recent comment on the blog regarding the monetization of new media. Making money from your new media is certainly a good topic for discussion, but I am wary of it for a number of reasons.

Too often, the person asking the question is not asking how to make money in new media, they are asking “How do I get rich in new media…TODAY!”

The fact is, the market is much too immature to fuel get rich quick schemes and instead requires someone be in for the long term rewards that it will bring. To discuss how to make money on a project that doesn’t exist a truly putting the cart before the horse.

Here is the value I see in new media in the order I consider most likely.

1. New media project as PR and marketing for those involved.

Marketing and PR provide very important value as without the attention of an audience and the market there is little chance of making any money. I believe attention comes first and only then money.

2. Advertising and sponsorship

As your attention and audience grow, you will have opportunities to sell advertising on your show. The nature of the market means that this will likely be much less than is typical for traditional media, but I see these earnings rising rapidly as the power of the new media market starts to come into its own. Sponsorship models hold more interest for me as they are relatively easier to sell and service, especially for smaller viewership shows.

3. Distribution deals with the new media wings of traditional media companies, such as the one recently signed between Rocketboom and Sony.

4. Sale of a new media property into the traditional media market

While this might prove the most lucrative, I would consider it the least likely. It also can mean the loss of control over your property. I also wonder if the traditional market is the place for shows with such marked differences in sensibilities.

Finally, the new media market is in it’s infancy and will probably develop money-making models we have not even considered.

A Web Radio Intervention – It’s time to get out…please!

August 20, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

A word to the streaming web radio providers around the world who stream predominantly music. This is an intervention. You are in an abusive relationship. In order to preserve your life and sanity, you need to realize this fact and get out. Please remember, we’re only saying this because we love you.

Despite what you might be telling yourself, the RIAA, BMI, music producers, etc don’t really love you. They don’t love you when you help to sell their artists music. They don’t love you when you help introduce listeners to new artists and new styles of music. They especially don’t love when you play their music for free (or cheap).

I know, I know. You always tell me, “They’re not that bad when they aren’t being greedy!”, but how often does that occur these days. How often are they not on a bender against you, Guitar Hero, peer-to-peer file sharing or sending lawsuits hither and yon? When are the good times you talk about?

Here is the truth about your relationship with the music industry…

The don’t love you. They never loved you. They equate you with an infected pimple on the backside of their business.
They see you as profiteers and pirates, stealing their hard earned work and providing nothing in return.
They will never find an “equitable payment plan” for you, even though they have one for terrestrial radio, because they fervently wish you didn’t exist.
They don’t care about you, your listeners, the striving musicians you help. They only care about trying to maintain the status quo that is rapidly slipping from their grasp.
You can’t change them. They can only change themselves, but it seems they must destroy themselves first before they can re-emerge into the 21st Century.
Take the kids, take the car, take the computer and get out! Separating yourself is the only way to break this abusive relationship — the only thing that will force some change on the side of big music.

It’s painful, I know, but your life will be better for the trouble. Heck, join us over here on the podcasting side of the house where musicians and broadcasters work for the win/win instead of the win/screwed.

I know of several resources to help you out in this trying time. Drop me a line once you have escaped and we can explore your options.

In deepest friendship and care…

Douglas

New Media Prescription Intro and #001 – Get a blog

July 13, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Image via Wikipedia

Talking with people about new media in all its forms is always interesting. I see such opportunities in new media and I want everyone to benefit. In my discussions, though, I find it is so easy to overwhelm people with all the possibilities new media can provide. After 10 minutes or so, they glaze over and we find it hard to move onto the next level. There are simply too many options and people start to move into analysis paralysis..unsure what to do first.

After a long talk with a client today, I realized that on of the best ways to approaching this problem is to provide a series of “new media prescriptions” to start them on their way. Taking a lead from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, we need to establish the next, concrete action to take. Over the next several weeks I will be presenting a series of prescriptions to help move people into the new media world, one small step at a time.

New Media Prescription 001 – Get a blog!

One of the first steps anyone needs to take is to create a blog. In order to start moving on any of your new media plans, you ned to place…a home…where you can start to post everything you are creating. In most cases, we all produce content every day, but without a place to share this information, it lanquishes.

So, today, I want you to start a blog. You can use Blogger.com, Typepad.com, Tumblr, My Space, and any number of other free sites. If you have your own web site already, you can start a blog there as well. It matters little where you set up your blog. it is much more important that you set it up somewhere.

Next, if you do have your own web site, find some way to place a link to your blog on the main page of your web site. Get help in doing this, if you need it, but please do it. It will go a long way towards exposing your new blog to the world. It also helps to mail a link for your blog to friends and family. Ask them to share it with thier friends, too.

Finally, start posting content to your blog. What content? Whatever strikes your fancy. If you have attended an event, write up your feelings about it, shoot some video, post some pictures. Blogging and podcasting need not take up extra time in your day. You simply need to capture the content that is part of each day and share it with others. You’ll find that capturing your content will be much easier, since you now have a place to put it. Don’t believe me? Give it a try.

Need help getting your blog started? Ask your questions using the comments link below. You can even leave a video comment, if you like.

Next time: Podcasting, Video and audio without a web site

Make it very clear that you own your new media project

July 9, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

For all of you current or incipient new media producers, writers, directors, etc out there, let me offer the first rule of new media.

Be very clear from the start that you, and you alone own your project.

I know, it might seem obvious that you own it, but as your project continues there will be those who think, even demand, that they own all or part of it. It is becoming a common occurrence in new media, just as it was in traditional media. Common enough that I was compelled to write this post.

Typically, the scenario plays out like this…

You get a great idea and start to develop a project. As your project starts to gain steam people, both friends and strangers, will start to offer their help. They might offer editing for a video show or “free” studio time for an audio podcast. They might offer to write sketches or bumpers or essays or music.

Soon, your project starts to garner some attention. Perhaps the press does a small story on your show or a traditional media producer comes calling. The is where the troubles begin.

It is very important to remember that success changes everything. Money changes things even more. Once either of these two things start to appear, people will change, too. People who freely offered their time or space will start to feel possessive of the project. They will want a say in any deal-making, try to control the content of the project or even try to do deals of their own without consulting you at all. With enough effort, they could take your project away from you.

Welcome to the world of a successful new media producer.

How do you protect yourself against having to face these ownership issues? Get it all in writing, from the very start. I don’t care if you think you are just doing something for fun. Many fun things quickly turn into a business. Above all, make it very clear that anyone who does work for you, whether writing, acting, editing, is working FOR you. At no time should they assume any percentage participation in the project. Sure, this might be something you negotiate later, but they don’t need to know that. Do yourself a favor and never, ever even mention that they might own part of the show. You want no misunderstandings and now is the time to make that very clear. They are “helping you out”, “working with you”, “working for you”, but they are not co-creators, co-writers, or co-owners.

If they are volunteering their work, be very clear that, while you would love to hire them full time if and when the show starts to make money, there is no guarantee that will ever happen. The fact is, if you sell your show, the company who buys it will have final say over anyone who works in it, not you. So don’t offer anything you can’t assuredly provide.

The trouble is, in new media, just like in traditional media, there are plenty of people willing, nay hoping, to ride your coattails and turn your project into their ticket to success. Certainly everyone you meet will not be thinking this way, but here in Los Angeles, it can be a very common attitude. You only need to read the daily entertainment journals and the tabloids to find evidence of that, witnessed by the current lawsuit against Survivor producer Mark Burnett. By making clear your relationship and their relationship to the show or project, you can quickly short circuit these attempts.

In the end, I would even go so far as putting any understanding in writing and having it signed and notarized. It might seem silly when you are just a couple of buds “putting on a show”, but I can guarantee you that when money enters into the equation, you will be glad you did.

Remember, success and money changes everything. Don’t be fighting a battle over ownership, when you should be enjoying your success.

Elsewhere Online: Bravery and Wall-e

June 30, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Seth Godin has it right when he says…

“Marketing isn’t always about pandering to the masses and shooting for the quick payoff. Often, the best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all”

…in this short blog post on Disney/Pixar’s Wall-e. Pixar certainly provides and example we should all follow, in new media and traditional media.

Read the entire post Bravery and Wall-e

(Via Seth’s Blog.)

Douglas and Rosanne participating in New Media Panel this evening

June 16, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Rosanne and I will be joining some other LA New Media folks for this panel on The Future of Online Content, tonight, 730pm, at Blankspaces (5405 Wilshire Blvd, LA).

Douglas

Recorded video of the event

Live .TV show provided by Ustream

Here is the information on the panel…

Panel on the Future of Online Content
June 16th, 2008 — Tiger Team, mytvshow, online video, socialmedia, television

[I’m going to ask my panelists about this eMarketer chart from last year showing advertising spending for online video and projections until 2011. I would like to know if they are heartened or saddened by these projections, and if they think they will remain accurate. Considering that advertisers still spend around $65 Billion a year for television ads, $4 Billion in 2011 is a comparatively small piece of the pie. See Paul La Monica’s pithy blog post on these facts.]

I’m moderating a panel on the future of online video content, from the perspective of those who are actually creating online content in a professional manner. I created this panel for the premier of atelevision show I co-created for Tru TV. Rather than go on about my experiences with network television, I thought it more appropriate to look to the future, especially because my primary profession is that of emerging media specialist, not a creator-producer in the entertainment industry. After the panel I will update this post with my thoughts on the bits of wisdom from my panelists.

Panelists include:

Amanda Congdon, the host and executive producer of Sometimesdaily. http://sometimesdaily.com/ and blogger at http://amandacongdon.com
Gilad Lotan – Technologist / Digital Media, Endemol USA -http://endemolusa.tv
Ken LaZebnik from http://www.Strike.tv
Hayden Black of Goodnight Burbank: http://goodnightburbank.com and http://www.abigailsxratedteendiary.com
Michael Pilla of http://www.indieflix.com
Tim Street of http://www.frenchmaidtv.com/
Doug and Rosanne Welch, http://welchwrite.com especially with regard to podcasting

Many-to-many media (m3) is best description for our new media world

May 19, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

These days I am talking less and less about podcasting and more about new media. It is a superficial change, but one that I think reflects changes in the online media space. Of course, just as am in the middle of this transition, a better term has appeared that more accurately reflects the work I do for myself and others. — many-to-many media (m3). Many-to-many media encompasses all the current aspects of new media, which I believe should be parts of a whole, not something where you use only one part.

For me, many-to-many media includes (1) podcasting, (2) online video sharing sites like YouTube et al, (3) live video streaming sites like uStream et al, and (4) social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, etc. All of these areas involve many people creating media for many people, hence many-to-many media (m3).

When talking with people who are interested in many-to-many media, I make a point of explaining the need for using all aspects of this model. Podcasting provides am automatic subscription model that brings content directly to a viewers PC, television or portable player so they can enjoy that media whenever and wherever they wish. Video sharing sites provide easy-to-access “one touch” video players which can be easily shared and embedded on your site and others. Live video streaming allows anyone to set up a LIVE show whenever and wherever it serves them best. Finally, social media sites provide a way to showcase your content while also raising the level of conversation and interaction between you and your audience.

Taken as a whole, many-to-many media takes us far beyond the traditional media environment.

Taken as a whole, many-to-many media takes us far beyond the traditional media environment. For little cost, we can create content in a variety of formats and share that content with tens of thousands of viewers with little more than a computer and and Internet connection.

I am seeing now that, for me, the term many-to-many media is going to start supplanting both podcasting and new media as my descriptive term for the new media world we live in.

New Media Ascendancy is Inevitable

May 12, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Everyday we read about the on-going conflict between new media (podcasting, YouTube et al, live video streaming) and traditional media (television, radio). While I believe there is a place for both in our media diet, there is a clear inevitability that new media will displace television, just as television did to radio.

Many-to-many media is quickly on the way to supremacy. The success of TiVO and video on-demand services makes it clear that the audience wants more control over their media and they want to consume “what they want, when they want, where they want it”. No matter what traditional media companies might create, anything that follows the old “broadcasting” model will continue to lose ground to media that provides interactivity and an on-demand accessibility, whether that is on a television set, computer screen or even our (ever more capable) cell phones. It would be folly to assume that new media is simply going to dry up and blow away.

The new media genii can’t be put back in the bottle. The audience has experienced the freedom that comes with new distribution methods and they like it. In time they will even come to love it.

The new media genii can’t be put back in the bottle. The audience has experienced the freedom that comes with new distribution methods and they like it. In time they will even come to love it. The Internet has changed the media playing field and it will never be what it once was. A once scarce resource, broadcasting bandwidth, has now been rendered obsolete. People have more and more opportunities for entertainment, created by people who would have never had a voice in traditional media. It is just as likely that you will be watching a show produced by your next door neighbor as one produced by NBC, ABC, and CBS, Worse still, without some major changes in the industry, the cost of network production will eventually outpace their advertising revenue as advertisers discover and adopt the new media advertising world. We are already seeing the beginning of that today.

It is my hope that traditional media workers will come to recognize this inevitable progression and bring their talent and creativity to what is, after all, merely a new distribution channel. They have skills and talent that can be better used in a new media world where projects actually get produced instead of suffering endless succession of pitch sessions that result in nothing but disappointment. Yes, budgets will be smaller, but just like new media’s ascendancy, it is inevitable that money will continue to flow into new media until we are seeing show budgets much like their traditional media ancestors.

Are you interested in the interchange between new and traditional media, join New Media Interchange, a group dedicated to bringing technology, creativity and entertainment together.

Join the online mailing list or join us at one of our face-to-face meetings

Visit http://groups.google.com/group/newmediainterchange

RSVP to our first meeting on Wed, May 28 @ 7pm in Studio City, CA

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/649596/

PodCamp Boston to charge $50 for admission

April 15, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Chris Brogan writes a long blog post explaining why the next PodCamp Boston will require a $50 registration fee.Unfortunately, this is only the biggest in a long line of “unconferences” that are turning from a community-driven, open access event into a closed, money-making conference. Here is my response which I posted as a comment to his blog.

Well, this certainly puts the stake in the whole “unconference” philosophy. Once again we see how something great is eventually turned into a money-making enterprise that serves the few instead of the many. I have been fighting this same battle with nearly every tech event here in LA.So $35K for an unconference? This is absolutely ridiculous. No one says there has to be breakfast, coffee, snacks, lunch, dinner, free beer at an unconference. We are there to converse and learn. If the price of these items to so onerous, simply don’t provide them. Ask people to bring something to share, bring water, etc. That fact is, we have come to see an unconference as a big party, with all the associated accoutrement and the price keeps going up. Give us space, intelligent people and a few borrowed projectors and we will have a conference. The rest is absolutely superfluous.Maybe if we turned it into less of a party, fewer people would flake out on it, since fewer people would sign up to begin with. Size is the curse of an unconference and Boston PodCamp clearly proves that. Strip it to the bare, and useful, parts and a PodCamp will shine. Overload it with fees, food and flakes and it dies, crushed under its own weight.

Follow the great on-going discussion here

Perfect Example: The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper

April 3, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

I have been talking for a while about how podcasting can help to promote sales of books and it seems some authors are starting to get on the podcast bus.

I love The Splendid Table with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, but I found I was rarely around a radio when it aired. As podcasting started, I found myself wishing that more shows would podcast after air, simply so I could enjoy them. Well, The Splendid Table crew started to podcast a few months ago and I am an avid listener. I have to imagine that their listenership jumped dramatically once folks could listen on their own terms.

Now, Kasper and producer, Sally Swift have created a book entitled The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper. (Available April 8, 2008) More importantly for this blog, they have also started a podcast to accompany the book. The first episode is casual and comfortable and discusses topics expanded on in the book.What a great way to expand their exposure, starting first with their loyal listeners of the radio show, and then branching out to a whole new audience via podcast.

What a great way to take one audience and bring it over to an entirely new product. Every author should be doing this regardless of whether they are writing a cookbook, novel, short stories, essays, whatever. Of course, writers often tell me “oh, my readers aren’t interested in what I have to say outside my books.”…and they’re wrong. People love insight and insiders knowledge. They would love to hear how you came up with the idea for the book, the basis of the characters, and your trials and tribulations while writing it. Writers shouldn’t sell themselves short. There are people interested in them and their work, even they only reached out and engaged them.

If you are creating anything, you should seriously consider creating a companion podcast. If you could have your own personal television of radio station, dedicated to your products — why wouldn’t you? This is exactly what you have in podcasting.

Perfect Example: Book reading/talk by Clay Shirky

March 26, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Here is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier when I said that all authors and booksellers should be recording their talks and presenting them on their web sites and podcasts.

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, presents a talk on the ideas in his latest book at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Harvard made a point of recording the talk and released it on their web site and via podcast. Shirky was then able, through no extra effort of his own, to re-post the video to his own site.

Harvard wins. Shirky wins. The publisher wins. We win, since we can see a talk we would have been unable to see otherwise.

Link: Book Talk at Harvard’s Berkman Center

New Project: LA Book Readings on audio and video

March 24, 2008 by Douglas E. Welch

Last week I wrote an essay on how booksellers and authors could make great use of new media to help get their message out. The first step in the process is to simply capture the content they are already creating each time they host a book reading in their store. In that regard, I am looking for booksellers who might be interested in having me in to record their readings so that I can share them via a dedicated web site.

In that regard, I am looking for booksellers who might be interested in having me in to record their readings so that I can share them via a dedicated web site.

I would start here in Los Angeles, but I can foresee accepting media from all over the country (and the world) into a larger system broken down by location, genre, etc.

So, now I am looking for my first partner in this endeavor. Are you a bookseller who regularly hosts author readings in your store? Are you an author has an upcoming reading in the Los Angeles area? Do you already have audio or video content of a reading that you would like to share? If so, drop me a line in the comments below or send an email to douglas@welchwrite.com.

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