A Modest Proposal

cafreemacafreema
edited October 2011 in Diversions
jonahpwll has inspired me.

We have a tremendous community here with a ton of knowledge across the musical spectrum. The joke was made in the thread congratulating jonah that he is the first step in a takeover of eMu, but as with most good jokes there is a kernel of truth to it. From Jazz to Country and Drone to Afrobeat we have folks here that really know what they are talking about, so even if no one else joins our small group why don't we really share that knowledge?

My proposal: We start a 'zine.

The goal would be just to have fun and provide a platform for us to really share our knowledge with each other.

We're all busy with our regular lives so my thought is that it could be quarterly, and folks could just write something when they have the time/are inspired.

We probably don't want to invest real money in it, so it would be online only.

There wouldn't be limitations on what could be in it, so reviews, histories, fiction, artwork, whatever, would all be fair game.

Thoughts?

Craig
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Comments

  • amclark2amclark2
    I like the idea, but I'd say make it a blog that people contribute whatever, whenever rather than a quarterly. And we need a clever name. Something that seems funny at first, but gets less and less funny every time you hear it...
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    edited October 2011
    I think there may be something to this. I also think there are a smattering of good pieces scattered here around various threads already that could be collated/revised so that it started with a core of existing content rather than a blank space.

    Oh, and yes, you're right, we have a recently revived thread full of clever names, don't we...
  • DoofyDoofy
    This is a great idea, of course, but we'll need to get the OK from Pitchfork.
  • BigD-BluezBigD-Bluez
    edited October 2011
    Good idea. I'd be very interested in more in depth coverage of what people like and why, beyond the newly available or good deal type stuff. This would be especially valuable since the days of taking a shot in the dark on a rec when it was free (Amie we miss you) or cheap are past us for the most part. Hell, I have to think twice about my own likes sometimes now.

    Edit - Had to work a little before I could finish, but the gist of it is although I (we) may have jobs, in the immortal words of the Treniers, "Rocking Is Our Business".
  • cafreemacafreema
    A blog would certainly work too, my only concern is keeping new stuff on it. Since my anticipation was that it would be primarily (if not almost exclusively) for us that wouldn't be such an issue though.

    Craig
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    There are some things that would be easy to post to keep something new-ish on there, such as the notable new releases recs, which could just be cross-posted.
  • amclark2amclark2
    Name idea: we have joked about emu, and emus, the bird - I liked cassowary, a relative of the emu, but it's damn hard to spell, but then I thought of flightless, which covers them all, and almost sounds like "fight list".
  • cafreemacafreema
    I actually really like "Flightless", but do we want it to have any association with eMu? Obviously we aren't affiliated with eMu officially, and many of us aren't even members there any more.

    Craig
  • Bad ThoughtsBad Thoughts
    "Emus"? I like the idea of giving download music the "bird."
  • jonahpwlljonahpwll
    Pitchfork has signed off on it.

    No ideas for a name, yet.
  • elwoodiciouselwoodicious
    edited October 2011
    Pitch:Fork::Catch:Spoon

    That's all I've got.

    Back to bed.
  • cafreemacafreema
    The bird is the word, BT.

    Sleep well elwood!

    Craig
  • DoofyDoofy
    Just for kicks, I grabbed catchspoon.com. There are squatters on flightless.com!
  • cafreemacafreema
    Heh. I'm pretty sure I'd vote against catchspoon.com as the actual title, but it would be an awesome redirect address like the eMu goodmusic.com or whatever it is.

    We could also go the opposite of the hipster random name and just call it: Music is Good. It appears that musicisgood.com is available!

    Craig
  • mommiomommio
    Lend Me Your Ears
  • amclark2amclark2
    We could name it after a muser - doofy, mommio, badthoughts, brighternow, anything that's not a real name (I apologize if that is your real name).
  • kezkez
    edited October 2011
    I like this idea! - the general concept, that is.
  • ScissorManScissorMan
    edited October 2011
    Well, you don't want to point out that any given domain name is available, or someone like Doofy will come along and grab it!

    The more important question with these kinds of things is always platform. If it's going to be a real magazine-style thing with page layouts and everything, that would require a fair amount of time-commitment from whoever's running it, even if it's just quarterly.

    Right now I guess scribd.com and issuu.com are the two big players for self-published e-zines, and I get the general impression that Scribd would be the preferred choice for a less-formal arrangement... But if anyone knows of a specialty site for music e-zines, that might be better still.
  • DoofyDoofy
    Music Is Good might be too good to pass up
  • BrighternowBrighternow
    - Excuse me my ignorance, are we talking about a maga 'zine ?
  • amclark2amclark2
    Yes. Or maybe a blog?
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    edited October 2011
    I like "music is good" - simple and easy to remember. The problem with most average levels of cleverness is that they come across as puzzling inside jokes, and I find myself happening across many of those kinds of blogs and then a few weeks later being unable to remember what it was called if I want to find it again. I will grant that some can rise to exceptional cleverness and really work.

    I also have this feeling that if something as obvious and central to the marketplace as "music is good" has been missed it's hard to pass up at least parking it. But I look forward to hearing more suggestions.

    I would have thought a blog platform would be easier for our likely level of collective free time to manage that a full-blown zine format? But I haven't really looked at how the zine platforms work.

    ETA: I'm also inclined to think it would be better to go for a more modest platform that is sustainable rather than a larger edifice that it ends up falling to a couple of people to fill once the initial enthusiasm wanes.
  • cafreemacafreema
    I didn't even know there were zine platforms, but am not wedded to either idea. The biggest question really is the time involved

    I will admit to forgetting the names for Pitchfork and Stereogum after I first found them.

    Craig
  • amclark2amclark2
    Can somebody who knows how grab music is good?
  • NereffidNereffid
    I'm on board for a blog, certainly. Contribute as much as you want, at will.
  • DoofyDoofy
    Looks like Craig was mistaken, musicisgood.com is occupado
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    edited October 2011
    "soundsgood.com" is available for $50,000. "soundsgoodblog.com" is $9.99. The moral: Anything that uses simple and obviously meaningful combinations of directly relevant words is unfortunately likely to be expensive unless we are very lucky.
  • cafreemacafreema
    It is? I'm not smart with this stuff, so I apologize.

    Craig
  • elwoodiciouselwoodicious
    It's unfortunate that yourtasteinmusicsucks.com is already taken. :-/
  • GermanprofGermanprof
    edited October 2011
    musichuddle.com?
    earsopenwide.com?
    (both unregistered)
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