“iProng” for sale on craigslist

I’m selling “iProng” on craigslist. I want to be clear that I’m not selling my publication, or any of its intellectual property. It’s just that we’ve changed our name from “iProng” to “Beatweek” and so the iProng name is no longer of any use to us and I thought it might come in handy for someone else. I know, you’re skeptical. But having helmed a publication under the name “iProng” for years, I can tell you first hand that this name has unique powers. A few examples:

- Under the name “iProng” you can publish well rounded content focusing on music, iPhone, iPod, and social media, and yet all you’ll ever get asked about is how the name is pronounced.

- You can become sufficiently influential in the music world that you can land interviews with chart topping musicians and living legends alike, and you can have correctly identified today’s biggest pop stars while they were still obscure, and yet most people will misperceive your publication as either being an “iPod site that dabbles a little in other things” or a porn site.

- Friends and strangers alike will congratulate you for having the guts to publish under such an “intentionally dirty” name, and when you try to explain to them that there’s nothing dirty about it and that it’s actually a clever take on the word “multiprong,” you’ll find that none of them has ever heard of that word – leaving you with the warm and fuzzy feeling that you must be smarter and better educated than any of them.

- You can attend multiple trade shows in which a vendor sees the name “iProng” on your shirt, asks you with a straight face whether it’s pronounced “I pee wrong” and then proceeds to pitch you on his product. Talk about an ice breaker.

Can you think of any other brand name that could put you in the above scenarios? Exactly! This name is magical. And I haven’t even gotten to the best part. After a few years of publishing under the name iProng, you can switch away from it in favor of something more mainstream-sounding (sorry, “Beatweek” is already taken), and when you do you’ll find that the number of people who want to work with you, be interviewed by you, or have their product covered by you, will shoot up tenfold in a matter of days. Review samples will magically start arriving in a quicker timeframe. People will congratulate you on the total redesign of your website, and when you point out that nothing has changed about the design of the website, they’ll swear that it “looks a lot better” anyway. Your email inbox will instantly swell up to the point that you’re working sixteen hour days just to keep up with all the amazing opportunities being hurled your way.

And really, will you be able to enjoy any of the above changes unless you first slave away under a name like “iProng” for a few years? And that’s why I’m offering the name to someone else who might want to try it out for awhile. In fact, you might want to hurry up and head over to craigslist before I change my mind; I’ve been so busy trying to keep up with the new world that’s just opened up to me that I’m thinking of changing Beatweek’s name back to “iProng” for awhile just so we can be less desirable and people will leave us alone and I can get caught up and get a good night’s sleep

—–

In all seriousness, a big thank you to all of you who have stuck with us through the name change, and to all the new people who’ve just recently found their way to us – it’s been a truly exciting few weeks. It looks like I should also thank those of you who stuck with us for all those years when we were publishing under a name that everyone apparently hated. But the past is the past. In fact, and this is saying something considering how many years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never been more excited to see what comes next than I am right now. Beatweek it is, and the sky’s the limit – but do hurry over to craigslist before I change my mind and change our name back. After all, I really could use a good night’s sleep.

Much thanks,
Bill Palmer
Editor in Chief
Beatweek Magazine (formerly… eh, nevermind)

http://beatweek.com

CES 2010 preview

And we’re off to the races. Barely a week into 2010, and it’s already time for the first major conference that relates to the iPhone and iPod universe. While CES is a massive event spread over several exhibit halls, and the vast majority of it doesn’t have much to do with said iPhone and iPod universe, iProng will be in Las Vegas with bells on once again this week in order to provide you with first hand coverage of all of the iPhone and iPod related products that make their debut at the event.

This year’s CES will likely offer more in that department than in previous years. While the number of worthwhile products for iPhone or iPod that debuted at CES last year could literally be counted on two or maybe three fingers, that total should easily reach double digits this year thanks to the inclusion of a couple dozen new iPhone/iPod related exhibitors. While rumors of Apple’s participation this year turned out to be unfounded, and claims of unifying the iPhone/iPod exhibitors into a single pavilion have turned out to be overblown (I think half of our iPhone and iPod related appointments are scheduled to take place away from that pavilion, with various vendors choosing to park themselves far away from the pavilion for reasons that only they know), the good news is that the “off the record” sneak peeks we’ve been sent suggest that there will indeed be something to write home about. Our CES 2010 coverage, including our “Best of Show” winners, will be included in the January 12th issue of iProng Magazine – and when the event kicks off on January 7th you can follow along with us for up to the minute updates on iProng.com and on our Twitter feed. While Macworld 2010 in February is likely to produce far more new products for iPhone and iPod users, CES in January should at least tide you over in the mean time.

Soundgarden reunion in 2010

Many of us had been hoping that the calendar-end of this largely wasted opportunity of a decade might symbolically signal a return to the cultural riches of the one that came before, but it’s doubtful that anyone was expecting such a return to happen in so soon – or so literally. As the clock was counting down to 2010 last night, Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell used his Twitter account to inform the world of his intentions to get the old band back together:

The 12 year break is over & school is back in session. Sign up now. Knights of the Soundtable ride again!

While his post includes a link to new official website SoundgardenWorld.com (did the band even have an old official website?), the new page includes no details as far as tour plans, whether the reunion will involve a new album, or even which band members will be participating (bassist Ben Shepherd replaced Hiro Yamamoto in 1990, and drummer Matt Cameron has been a member of Pearl Jam since 1998).

Although Cornell had always deflected questions about a possible reunion by stating that he liked how the band ended its long run the first time around, the door for a return seemed to be wide open after the recent rebirth of fellow Seattle rockers Alice in Chains (despite the death of singer Layne Staley) along with recent re-ups from other 90’s rock bands like Stone Temple Pilots and even Creed.

Despite the lack of details given regarding the Soundgarden reunion, and the casual nature of the announcement (on a holiday no less), the news appears to be generating significant interest and discussion; although Cornell hasn’t made any additional Twitter posts since last night, the word “Soundgarden” has been been used on Twitter today at a rate of about once every ten seconds.

More news when there is any.

UPDATE: Twitter user Jared Rose, who currently possesses the (never been active) @Soundgarden username on Twitter, has publicly offered the name to Chris Cornell, stating “I didn’t think you’d ever need it!”

The risk well taken

On a day that found me a few thousand miles away from headquarters, and on one of the few days in 2009 that I didn’t have my mind focused on work at all, I actually learned the same lesson twice in the span of a few hours while attending a Dolphins game in Miami – and interestingly enough, that lesson applies squarely to what you can expect out of iProng in 2010. Allow me to try to explain.

Of the twenty-seven issues of iProng Magazine we released this year, the majority of them featured musicians on the cover who were widely considered household names at the time. It’s something we’re often congratulated for, but the truth is that even famous folks tend to make themselves available when they’ve got something to promote; our job, then, is to figure out which folks are worth talking to at any given time, based on the quality and significance of their latest project, how interesting the conversation with them is likely to be, and most importantly, how satisfied you guys are going to be after having read the interview. That last part might theoretically suggest that we go out and get the biggest name possible for the cover of each issue. But as it turns out, the relatively few times we’ve gone in the other direction have ended up netting us (and by extension, you) some of the biggest payoffs.

Some of these decisions have been very, very easy for us. The chance to interview Carlos Santana and put him on the cover? Your pet dog has enough IQ points to know enough to greenlight that one. Black Eyed Peas? Ditto. And sometimes you admittedly get a little lucky. Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were both pitched to me before their debut albums had even been released, the album advance I’d been sent having caught my ear in both instances, and in the relatively brief period in between conducting the interview and the scheduled publication date, each had risen quickly enough that putting them on the cover at that point was not that difficult of a decision – even though in both instances we were the first magazine to put either one of them on the cover.

Perhaps the biggest risk we took in all of 2009 came back in November when we decided to put a then-little-known guitarist on our cover by the name of Orianthi. It’s not like we discovered her or anything – by that time she’d already been tagged as the “next great guitarist” by Carlos Santana, Carrie Underwood, Steve Vai, and Michael Jackson – but I’d be willing to bet that at the time we published that issue, more than ninety percent of our readers looked at the cover and wondered who she might be.

Yet since that time, I’ve gradually received more feedback about Orianthi than just about any other cover we’ve ever done. And it was all positive; no one wrote in to complain that we’d finally put a musician on the cover who wasn’t famous. Instead, the feedback was along the lines of “Thanks for telling me about her” and “Glad I heard about her from you early on” and even “I wondered who that blonde guitar player was in the Michael Jackson movie, thanks for filling me in.”

Of course the Orianthi cover was greenlighted in the first place because we thought she’d probably be a household name eventually. And while I’m often too far on the inside of the industry beltway to be able to judge just how far into “household name” territory someone has or hasn’t reached, it was a fairly obvious indicator today when it was time for the national anthem at the Dolphins game and onto the field walked Orianthi with her guitar.

The payoff for you is that, as our readers, you get to hear about (and hear from) someone like that before just about anyone else does. And the payoff for us is that we get to make you happy. But it’s a risk, and while I’m very proud of what we delivered to you in 2009, that’s the kind of risk that we didn’t take as often this past year as I wish we had. Of course the only reason for not taking those risks is that you don’t want others looking back later on and second-guessing why you put someone on the cover who was ultimately never heard from again. But that’s nothing more than ego, isn’t it?

As I was chewing this over, as if on cue, the other half of today’s lesson presented itself near the end of the game. Football coaches are routinely lambasted by observers if they go for it on fourth down and don’t convert it; in fact one of the game’s most accomplished coaches was roasted earlier this season when he went for it in a scenario where all the math in the world said that it was the only logical decision. Punting would have all but guaranteed a loss, going for it on fourth down gave his team a greater than 50-50 chance of winning, so there was no way anyone could claim that he made the wrong decision – yet everyone did just that. And this is a guy who’s won several Super Bowls this decade.

So sure enough, the Dolphins coach finds himself in a situation late in the game today where going for it on fourth down would have given him a chance to win but punting basically guaranteed he would lose, and yet he punted anyway. How certain was it that this cowardly call cost his team the game? After the punt, half the fans in the stadium got up and left, because there was nothing else to watch at that point. It was a logicless enough call as to border on temporary insanity, one that effectively ended the Dolphins season today, and one that gained the coach nothing beyond being able to dodge outside scrutiny. If he’d gone for it on fourth down and failed, the armchair analysts would have lit him up for it. So instead he punted, knowing that he’d lose for sure, simply because he knew he’d take less blame for losing in that manner than if he’d had the guts to make the move that would’ve given his team its only chance to win.

My learned lesson for 2010, then: don’t ever be that guy. Don’t ever back down from taking an editorial risk worth taking, simply out of fear of looking foolish later on if the risk ends up not paying off. In the span of three hours today I saw someone else not have the courage to take a risk that needed to be taken, with the result being that a year’s worth of his team’s effort went down the toilet – and on that same field I saw evidence that one of my own relatively few major editorial risks in 2009 is going to pay off for us in spades. So if a risk is worth taking in 2010, and the only downside is the potentially wounded pride of guessing wrong, then we’re going to go for it. We owe you that much.

And it’s not just about who goes on the cover, either. One of the reasons why we began releasing issues on a more frequent schedule in late 2009 was so we could push more content out the door without making each individual issue too long. Our plan is to use that extra flexibility to bring you more kinds of content in each issue so that you’ll find the issue worthwhile and entertaining overall even if you’re not a fan of who’s on the cover – or perhaps haven’t yet heard of them

There’s more coming down the pike and it’s a long year, so I won’t tease you with too much future-speak that we’re not ready to put in front of your faces yet. Don’t worry, we’ve got interviews with plenty more household names, living legends, and super-hot artists coming your way throughout the year. But don’t be surprised if you see us doing more things that surprise you.

September 2nd issue with podsafe musician Jonathan Coulton and more!

Natalie Coughlin interview

Six is the age at which Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin first began swimming competitively. Six is the number of iPods she owned when I first met her late last year during a west coast Olympic promotional tour. And six is also the number of medals she’s bringing home from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, whose closing ceremonies took place just last night. I caught up with Natalie late last week to ask her about her just-concluded Olympic experiences – and of course to talk some more iPod and iPhone.

You just won six more medals, including two gold, in the Beijing Olympics. Is it fair to say that you surpassed your own expectations?



Although I am very happy with my performances, I definitely did not exceed my expectations. It’s important to aim high. (Also, only one gold.)

You developed the iSH2 for iPod shuffle with H2O Audio. How were you able to use the product for your own Olympic training and  preparation?

There are several different training groups while you are training  prior to the Olympics.  On the days that I was in my own group I used my  iSH2 to help keep the workouts interesting and so I wouldn’t get too  lonely.

Last time we spoke, you said you couldn’t wait to get an iPhone. Have you taken the plunge and what do you think of it so far?

I’ve had the iPhone for quite a while now and just got the new one.  I absolutely love it and all the new Apps are incredibly addictive.

Now that the Olympics are over, what’s next for you?

A nice long break :)

•••••

And for the complete story, here’s the full text of my earlier interview with Natalie from late 2007…

“My first iPod was probably the second generation of the original iPod. I held out for a little bit,” Natalie told me as we sat poolside during a break from a campaign which included promotions for the U.S. Olympic Committee and NBC. Life isn’t always this hectic for her, but the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are fast approaching and “things are pretty crazy.”

“I have not been to China before but I’ve seen pictures of the facility and it looks like a giant glass bubble. It looks really, really beautiful and I can’t wait to see it,” Natalie said of the Olympic facilities being constructed in Beijing. The 2008 games will be halfway around the world from Athens, the site of the 2004 games where she cleaned up with two gold medals and five medals in all.

Natalie has different goals for Beijing. “I feel like I have less pressure this time, just because the way swimming works is you’re validated through the Olympics and you only have that opportunity every four years. Going into the last Olympics I remember having these interviews where the interviewer would say, oh you have world records and American records but you don’t have that gold, and things like that and it puts so much pressure on me to get that Olympic medal and I feel like I’ve done that. And now I can just focus on myself in the next games.”


Traveling the world means that Natalie reaches for her video iPod the most often, downloading shows including The Office and Ugly Betty and watching them when she finds herself in a part of the world where those shows aren’t available.

While the iPod has played a role in her life for the past five years, swimming has been a part of it for much longer. “When I was six years old I dreamt of being in the Olympics but that really meant nothing at that point. I had no idea what the Olympics even were let alone how you would get there. I was thirteen years old when I realized it was a possibility that I could make the olympic team and I didn’t even think of swimming professionally until that actually happened.”

It was during her junior year of college, right around the launch of the original iPod, that Natalie started to think that she’d continue swimming beyond school and do it for a living. But it wasn’t until recently that she was able to begin taking her iPod with her into the water.

“I just partnered with a company called H2O Audio and they are in the process of developing what’s called the iSH2 and that’s my signature line and it’s an underwater housing for the little shuffle,” making Natalie one of an increasing number of athletes involved in the development of iPod-related products. So far she’s used her iPod during a thirty-minute swimming competition in Fiji.

If the professional athlete’s signature sneaker has now given way to the signature iPod accessory, perhaps it only makes sense when placed in the context of the music itself. Training can be lonely for Natalie, so she relies on music to get her through workouts. As she puts it, “it keeps me going.”

When it comes to music, Natalie finds herself listening to every modern genre but country, with current favorites including Paolo Nutuni and Alicia Keys. But not all of her music fits into every aspect of her life as an athlete: “I love Jack Johnson but I’m not going to listen to his stuff on the day of a meet.”

Along with her current iPods, Natalie wants to make another addition to her collection. “I can’t wait to get an iPhone. I’ve played with it in the stores and that’s about it. And I love it. It’s the coolest thing. I can’t wait because the screen is way bigger and then I’m really into photography, so to have all my photos in such rich color and bigger than on my video iPod.”

Natalie was hired by MSNBC to help cover the 2006 Winter Olympics as a sportscaster. She envisions moving to the broadcast booth full-time at some point, but likely not until after competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Now at age twenty-five, she’s encouraged by the increasing career lifespan in her sport but eventually wants to have a “normal life” and a family.

One thing isn’t likely to change though. With six iPods already, an iPhone on the way, a MacBook in tow, and a penchant for editing photos in Aperture and cranking out web pages in iWeb, Natalie Coughlin sums it up best herself: “I’m pretty obsessed with Apple products.”

AppMinute for iPhone

Why are third-party applications important to the iPhone platform?

Third-party applications will create functionality into the iPhone that it does not have out of the box. This will appeal to a much broader spectrum of potential buyers. At the moment, there is no one “killer app” that sells the iPhone. Eventually, a third party iPhone developer will come out with an application or game that people will buy the iPhone just to get access to. This is what happened with personal computers back in the 1970s. It was not until VisiCalc came out on the Apple II that people started to see a reason to even own a computer. All of a sudden, you could use a computer to do your finances on, even complex stuff, fairly simply. That will happen with the iPhone, or maybe the BlackBerry, eventually. 


What can readers learn about iPhone apps by visiting AppMinute?

We (Myself and Sam Levin) link to both interesting iPhone / iPod Touch news and the latest cool Apps worth downloading. There are a number of really great iPhone focused websites out there, providing original content that people want to know about.

Our site is designed to point people in the right direction, making finding content worth reading easy. We also search the internet to find iPhone related video, and post those on the site as well. These could include video reviews, previews, or what have you. 

What future plans for AppMinute can you share with us?

We have many plans, but most we are keeping close to the vest for now. However, one thing we are looking at is creating an iPhone Developer Connection service (free) on the site that will act as a gateway between developers, as well as companies looking to hire developers. We want to become a “one stop shopping” site for all things iPhone App related. 

What are your favorite apps so far?

I love AOL Radio, mostly for the two comedy stations. Uncensored and full of really great content. I don’t know who programs that particular channel, but they have great taste. I also enjoy a few of the 80s channels on there. 

Both the MySpace and Facebook Apps are decent, and in fact they facilitate me actually using both those services more than I ever did in the past. 
My favorite, however, would still be a toss-up between the iPod and Safari. The iPhone has now replaced my iPod, and the ability to browse the internet no matter where I am has spoiled me to no end. 

What’s the latest scoop with MyMac, your “other” publication?

MyMac.com is still my passion, and while I enjoy AppMinute.com, I don’t have the emotional connection to it that I do with MyMac. We are moving into our 14th year of publishing, and while we have come a long way since 1995, I have not lost my passion for it. We only publish original content, and have some of the most creative and honest writers on the Mac scene. Companies, both Mac and iPod / iPhone related, have been seeking us out to review their products in record numbers over the last year, so that is exciting. Our large staff is once again already gearing up for Macworld Expo in January, an event we usually have ten or so staffers covering. Things are going really well in the land of Macintosh for us, and I hope my newest venture, AppMinute.com, can become as popular as MyMac.

Photos from New Media Expo

Photos from the 2008 New Media Expo in Las Vegas. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the iProng booth, we hope you enjoyed our non-stop live podcasting…

Photos from Coverville 500

Photos from the Coverville 500 concert at the 2008 New Media Expo in Las Vegas. We enjoyed the show and hope you did as well…

August 25th issue with Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin and more – read it now!

Musician Diary: St. Louis

It’s been almost a week since I got back from the Indie Buzz Bootcamp in St. Louis. I had such a great time there and have been so busy since then working on my music that it took me awhile to sit down and write you about it!

First off I want to say hello to all my new friends from the weekend. Whether I met you at the conference, while street performing in the loop or six hundred and thirty-two feet up in the air in the arch looking over the flooded Mississippi, you made my weekend awesome and I love you for it!

It all started out Friday when I flew to St. Louis and immediately after arriving at our hotel Griffin and I took off for the arch. It was incredible to see it in person and I recommend taking the elevator/train/carnival ride contraption up to the top when you have a chance. And stop by below for some delicious hot cocoa mixed with a wooden spoon in the “old time” coffee and sweets shop below the arch. It’s delicious and the people are dressed up like they were when Lewis and Clark came through town in the nineteenth century. Correct me if I didn’t remember that correctly – I’m not good with dates.



After that I tried to pull Griffin over to the lake to look at the baby ducks but it was getting late and we wanted to walk through downtown more so we didn’t. On our walk we passed a fountain that was dyed pink in honor of the breast cancer walk going on. We wound up at Union Station where we tried some fudge after the employees at the shop sang and teased us for not participating in a fun call and response thing they were doing.

Most of the weekend was spent at the Indie Buzz Bootcamp. It was an incredible conference put together by indie music marketing guru Bob Baker and his girlfriend Pooki. They set up all of these great networking parties and events, fed us and made me feel very welcome. The speakers were all very motivating and super accessible.

I had the chance to perform on Saturday night with some hit writers from Nashville in the Behind the Song Café. I met Rylee Madison and Wil Nance who are both based out of Nashville. Wil wrote “She’s everything” for Brad Paisley. He teased me a lot about performing on the subway but he’s not so bad!

Sunday I must have woken up on the lucky side of the bed because I won a copy of the Indie Bible and thirty-six custom t-shirts from StickersAndMore.com. Look out for those soon! That afternoon Griffin and I got a little tour from Pooki’s son down to The Loop. If you haven’t been, I definitely recommend checking it out when you visit St. Louis. It’s this strip of shops and restaurants about a mile long and on Sunday’s there’s this happening hippy drum circle that you would never expect in St. Louis.

I like to think I am a hippy but after seeing these free spirits I know I’m nowhere close! One guy who was wearing a turtle shell for a hat that he had made after finding the turtle on the side of the road offered me his guitar string earring. He had taken an old string and cut it off to about 1.5 inches after the round threading and just put it in his ear and bent it around. “It has its own built in clasp,” he said. I couldn’t: 1) Take a prized possession like that and 2) Worry about getting some disease from the metal. If I didn’t realize that I wasn’t a hippy before, it became clear as day then!

Anyways, We hung around for a while listening to the drum circle and then headed over to a restaurant just as it started raining. I wasn’t expecting much but I had the most incredible salad at this place. The caesar dressing was made with curry and I think I freaked out the waiter by telling him how great it was about eight billion times.

After our tummies were full and merry I went out on a search for a place to play my music on the street and hopefully make some new fans. I found a shady spot under a tree where instead of competing with the trains I was up against about a hundred sparrows tweeting loudly because they were so happy the sun had come back out. I started playing and it was slow at first but some people hung around to listen and I met three stellar guys who jammed with me on the Uke.

In the end I got rained out and I had to run half a mile to the train. Griffin and I got back in the shuttle where we met the owner of the hotel we were staying at. He grew up with Sheryl Crow. Small world! Back at the hotel we wound up hanging out in the computer room with some conference stragglers as I entertained myself learning how to make paper cut out streamers of girls in dresses, hearts, fish and a guitar. I left them for some stiff workaholic to find the next morning.

I woke up late Monday before we left and spent about 30 minutes enjoying the Jacuzzi and pool before having Panera Bread (aka St. Louis Bread Co.) for some late brunch. The trip back to LAG airport was pretty painless save for a little two hours delay in Atlanta where we again went to Panera Bread (aka Atlanta Bread Co.).

After writing all of this I’m not sure who would find it all interesting but it put a huge smile on my face to think of all the fun I had and most of all the great people I met!

Till next time St. Louis!

xo
Natalie

First Look: ColorTilt for iPhone

Most games have a goal. Get to the finish line. Collect all the items. But ColorTilt is a “game” in the same sense that an Etch-a-Sketch is a game: there are goals, no checkpoints, no timers, in fact nothing specific you’re even supposed to be doing. A color screen flashes and you draw on it with your finger. Tilt the iPhone in any direction and the colors will change. That’s pretty much the gist of the application.



As such, your level of fun is dependent on your imagination and your willingness to participate a “game” that has essentially no structure. Write your name, draw a picture of a house, or just doodle. Use it as a time-killer, stress reliever, or because you like the pretty colors. And when you’ve filled the page, just turn your iPhone upright and shake it – just like an Etch-a- Sketch in fact – and the screen will erase itself so you can start anew. Kids will obviously enjoy this one, but I suspect adults with a sense of whimsy will as well.



ColorTilt is so simple that the ninety-nine cent price tag seems appropriate. That having been said, it’s probably worth the dollar even if you only use it as an occasional diversion. And you just know you want to use the shake-to-erase feature to impress all your friends who don’t have iPhones.

Matthew Ebel interview

Singer-songwriter Matthew Ebel made his iProng Radio debut back in September 2007 with a live interview at the Orange County Podcasters booth at New Media Expo, and later appeared in the debut issue of iProng Magazine in December. No stranger to podsafe music, Matthew recently took things a step further by giving away free downloads of three of his songs to anyone who wants them. We checked in with Matthew to find out why he’s giving away free music and what else he has going on…



What have you been up to since we last caught up with you in December?

Well since we talked last December I’ve actually moved from Nashville to Boston. I’ve been here almost five months now and I still feel like I just moved, though, it’s a totally different world. I definitely made the right move, though, since there are a lot more conventions and seminars up here that relate to what I’m doing. I’ve already been to a couple of new media events and a PR boot camp for musicians. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to start playing more shows soon!



You make a living by selling your music, so why are you giving it away?

I do make a living selling my music, but good luck getting people to buy music they haven’t heard. Some people will take a chance on an album based off of one listening, but I’d rather give people the chance to mull it over. I’m pretty sure that the more they listen to some of my songs on their good headphones or speakers, the more my music will grow on them. If not, they haven’t lost anything but time… but if they really dig it, I hope they’ll go for the rest of the album.

I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think the albums were worth buying.


What happened to the House Tour?

The house tour… well, a few things happened to the house tour. I mentioned a few things specifically on matthewebel.com recently, but the drift of it is that I would have gone broke trying to do it. God knows I wanted to make it work, but there just weren’t enough people buying tickets in advance to make the trip break even. At $4 a gallon, I literally would’ve come home from that 3,000-mile trip and had to get a day job. I’d rather try again later in the year and give myself a LOT more lead time to book other shows and promote more.



What have you got coming up next?

Right now I’ve got a couple of things on the horizon. First and foremost is Block Island; I spent a month there last year, but this summer I’ll be on the Block for 10 straight weeks. It’s going to be a hell of an experience, I know it. I was just getting into the rhythm last year when I had to go home, so hopefully it’ll be as great this year. I just hope my voice can survive singing 4 hours a day 5 days a week. The other thing I’m hoping to do by year’s end is release a Christmas album. I’ve been wanting to do that for a while, but I don’t want to just crank out some cheesy pop album where I’m butchering O Holy Night with vocal ornamentation. I want to do something classy and original, and if I can do that you’ll see it on round plastic by year’s end.