Jody Gnant in the Podsafe Cafe

You’ve described your music as Bohemian Geek Soul. What exactly does that mean?

Bohemian Geek Soul is musically a cross between Janis Joplin and Jan Brady – at least that’s what I say…

Tim Sweeney (author of “Guide to Releasing Independent Records”) once told me, “When people ask you, ‘What kind of music do you play?’ The entire goal is to make them MORE interested in your music than they were when they initially asked you the question. Be descriptive. ‘Melodic rock’ doesn’t mean anything to anyone anymore.”


That really struck a chord with me, so I tried to pick three words that described myself and my art – Bohemian. Geek. Soul. – or BoGeSo, for short.  You know what?  Tim was right.  People usually are more interested in hearing the music after asking me what kind of music I play, than they were prior to asking.

That’s the whole goal. Each time someone is interested in the music, give them something to hang their hat on. Don’t let them wander away. Keep them engaged.  They might just stick around long enough to realize the brilliance of what you’re doing.

How did you first get involved with podsafe music?

The people in my IRC channel, #jody-gnant-live, would constantly ask me if my music was on the Podsafe Music Network – and I finally did it.  If I had known it was so easy to upload my music and get signed up, I woulda done it a lot sooner! 

What kind of impact has making your music podsafe had on your career?

For all the obvious reasons, making my music Podsafe has granted the opportunity for thousands of new people to hear my music without traditional radio promotion. 

My music is not only Podsafe – it’s free to anyone that wants to download it.  The business model of the music industry is changing, and I believe that the actual music is an independent artist’s ‘calling card’ to everything else monetizable – music licensing, merchandising, live shows, exclusive fan-based programs, etc.

I always say that, “Obscurity is far more threatening than piracy.”  All of my music is available on my website for free; And, you know what? I still get a check from iTunes every month.  I feel offering my music for free on the Internet has only increased the number of sales I’ve seen, as I find that people want to support the efforts of their favorite independent artists.

Where did you get the idea to start lifecasting? How has it since affected your life?

Kyle MacDonald (of www.oneredpaperclip.com) was really the first person to introduce me to the world of Social Media.  I had been looking for a way to fund the recording of my next album, and here was this guy trading up from a paperclip all the way to a house – using the Internet as his only means of getting the word out.  Somewhere along the way, Kyle had a “recording contract” up for trade; and I offered to trade Kyle a year of rent in my apartment in exchange for the studio time – which he accepted.

What made Kyle’s story so unique (especially for 2005/2006) was that he blogged his entire adventure, start to finish, utilizing free tools like Flickr, and YouTube, to aid him in telling the story.  It was fascinating to see people interested in tracking the progress of his journey via his blog. On the day Kyle finally traded for his house, his website got more than a million unique views in 24 hours – quite the information distribution center for an independent guy like Kyle!

Around June of 2007, I discovered Ustream.tv.  They had only been around since April of that year, so the company (and live streaming) was just getting off the ground as a new medium available to people on the Internetz.

If light bulbs actually went off above people’s heads, you would have seen one above mine the day I discovered live streaming. I knew that we were going to release the record, that we would need to find a way to promote it, and that people love to follow the adventures of people they support – via the Internet.  It only seemed like the next logical step – even though looking back, the concept of it see,ing “logical” is laughable.

Initially, I viewed lifecasting as a promotional vehicle. I thought it would be an interesting journalistic process to document the life and times of an independent artist.  What I did not know is that, in addition to promoting the music, I was also building a community of people – a legion of fans – many of whom I will now know for the rest of my life. They affected me just as much as I affected them.

What else do we need to know about you and your music?

Ha ha. After broadcasting my every move on the Internet 24/7, there’s really not a lot of new information to know about me, per say…Did I mention you can download all of my music for free at jodygnant.com? 
All of my contact information (including my phone number) is also on my website and I encourage people to reach out and say hello.

Also, I lurves the Interwebz.