the dotmatrix project

(originally uploaded by paulcollinsbeat)

We’re coming down the homestretch to the first show and yes, I’m feeling a bit antsy.

Nothing is wrong, I mean, so far we’re all on point — the media crew is collaborating with the bands, the bands are actually putting together set lists so we can make sure we film the right songs, Andy just bought a light fixture for the filmmakers at the show to use, Justin is knocking out posters to go out this weekend around town, Molly has been contacting the local media…

You know what it is? I just want everybody to have a great time. And as the show approaches each day, I guess I’m realizing that I have less and less impact on that happening.

I’m not performing. I’m not shooting. I might be helping with sound, but probably by simply staying out of the way.

I’m not used to this — this not doing thing.

Which is fine, because each and every one of the people who are making this gray matter burp a reality are ridiculously talented people, who have all done this before.

I need to get over myself and stay out of the way.

T-minus 8 days.

After a bunch of cat wrangling through acres of honey-drenched fields, I’m happy to announce that the kick-off dotmatrix project gig has finally been booked.

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UPDATE: David Bartel had to cancel his trip, but The Radials have stepped up to open for SAD. It’s going to be a great show.

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David Bartel and I go waaay back, all the way to the days of CD-Rom game development — yes, there was life before the internets took over. We teamed up as sound producer (David) and animator/illustrator (me) deep in the belly of Soho’s edutainment production row. When we weren’t twisting pixel’s arms to make them dance to our whim, we’d catch the Thursday night Mingus Big Band show at the Fez like clockwork — it’s where I learned to love jazz. Those were the proverbial days.

Soon thereafter, David dropped a tune on Abstraktions, Volume 1 and then started Deep Sound Channel, on which he dropped his second collaborative album, 01. If you dig avant-garde, ambient & abstract music, you’ll enjoy David’s set. I’m psyched and honored for him to make the journey down from Philly just to play this gig.

Our featured act, Sorry About Dresden, blew me away last year at a Local 506 show in Chapel Hill. I originally made the trip to powder blue country to meet my buddy, Nate Aune, who was in town for a conference. Due to SAD’s killer performance, I ended up focused in on the show like nothing else existed. Sorry Nate.

Aside from their distinct indie rock sound, SAD represents exactly the type of band that we’re looking to promote — a local/regional act, playing to succeed, either unsigned or on an indie label. A big shout of thanks to James and the fellas for agreeing to kick-off our event.

So get your cameras recharged, your recording devices fine-tuned and we’ll see you at the show!

If I wasn’t planning on attending the Original Music Showcase in Raleigh this Sunday, there’s no doubt I’d be shopping for free at The Hive.

You gotta love the anarchists.

Tag your flickr picture with “hopeactchange” and join the party.

Fun stuff, but I’m patiently waiting for the McCain version of this 2.0 remix — the directions will probably be to tag your flickr pictures with “noyoucant.”

(via Joho)

The deeper I get into Greensboro’s music scene, the more I hear musicians complaining about the propensity of support for cover bands over original acts. And while it’s true that some local bands enjoy a steady following — The Mantras, Old Stone Revue, The Urban Sophisticates, to name a few — it’s a fact that most venues can’t consistently draw a crowd to check out (read: pay a cover) original bands, unless they’re retreads from the eighties like Pat Benetar or Van Halen.

And at that point, that’s kinda like listening to a cover band, you know?

There’s no silver bullet out there that will radically increase Greensboro’s patronage of original music to reflect, say, a Chapel Hill or Asheville, but I do believe in the power of cross-promoting community — from artists collaborating on projects to jamming together at shows to showing up as a band to listen to and support other acts, bringing new fans with them.

More can be done; I’m sure of it.

That status line from Stephen made me smile. Big time.

You’ll probably digest it differently from the next person — those familiar with the current state of the dotmatrix project have the best context — but I’m taking a positive drop such as that as a sign that I’m progressing in my attempts to become a community-centered entrepreneur.

My last project, The People, Yes, fell on its face — and is currently on life support in a coma — after more than a years worth of effort from a number of super talented people. While working with the homeless community isn’t an easy venture to begin with, we ultimately closed up shop due to my stubbornness — locking onto my initial vision with titanium clamps rather than to allow talented people do what they do best.

I won’t make the same mistake twice.

I’m sure I’ll continue to toss ideas into the mix that complicate everyones plans, but I’ll do so with an explicit understanding and respect towards the agreed upon and established roles of the dotmatrix project team.

Above is Stephen Charles, our Lead Coordinator, Photography Community. If you’re not familiar with his work, you should be.

I’ll introduce the entire team in a couple of days.

The Wigg Report: It Won’t Take Long from Sean Coon on Vimeo.

It took three months, but here’s the first music video from ConvergeSouth Music 2007.

A big shout of thanks goes to my uber talented brother, Andy Coon. His skills on The Final Cut Pro is only matched by my ability to futz around on The Internets.

Up next: Thacker Dairy Road

(originally uploaded by CharlesMedia™)

Turn up the volume; the dotmatrix project is about to cross-over into the real world.

Beginning in April we’ll be putting on a monthly show at The Green Burro in downtown Greensboro, building upon the collaborative format of ConvergeSouth Music 2007.

Along those lines, we’re actively working to align with folks representing the diverse creative communities within this region, particularly photographers, filmmakers and musicians, to plan live events where each community can contribute to the promotion of the others by simply performing and creating art.

Here’s the ballpark concept for the project so far:

Pre-Performance

• The film and photo community leads book media creators interested in participating
• The creative team and sound engineer meets with the band(s) to collaborate on ideas and discuss strategy

The Performance

• The musicians play their set and sell enough merchandise to become filthy rich
• The filmmakers shoot songs, green room banter, the audience, etc.
• The photographers shoot the event
• A multi-track recording is made of the show
• The audience contributes by shooting via cell phones, cameras, whatever and uploads their media to specific spots online

Post-Performance

• The filmmakers edit together their videos based on pre-performance conversations, taking audience submitted media into consideration
• The photographers, well, they make each shot look great and tag/post them to flickr
• The sound engineer will mix down the recorded performance to a live CD format

Promoting the Hell out of Everything

• Our new media peeps will post the final videos across numerous online spots and distribute meat space copies of the video to regional public access channels and networks to promote the event, filmmakers, the band and original music in downtown Greensboro. We’re also working on a deal with Carousel Cinemas on Battleground to play the videos prior to each movie shown in the theater.
• Every three months we’re planning on putting on a photo exhibit of the best shots from the previous three shows to promote local photography and original music in… you guessed it, downtown Greensboro (venue TBD)
• We’ll also register each show recording with Creative Commons before uploading the tracks to numerous spots online, including the Internet Archive and Last.fm. The band will get the master for duplication purposes.
• We’re going to use each event as an opportunity to pimp media created at prior events, as well as educate the audience about how each of them can support indie artists by using the web

Aside from sponsor partnerships to help offset production costs and the dollars exchanged at the bar to quench the palette of the audience, the entire event will be run without exchanging cash. This is a barter deal for everyone involved.

Our long-term goal in putting on the dotmatrix project is to contribute to a sustainable, vibrant original music culture in downtown Greensboro. The Green Bean, Solaris, Greene Street, The Rhino, Fishers, The Press; each venue has added a dimension to the mix, but we’re not yet at the point where original acts are wading in a culture amped to listen.

In the short-term, though, I’ll be satisfied with having a blast and pimping each other into perpetuity online.

All that said, we’re looking for bands that want exposure and the rights to crafted media of their performance in exchange for a few hours of jamming for free. With photographers and filmmakers, we’re looking for talented and skilled eyes to cut their teeth on capturing the vibe of a live event and their time in post-production to receive multiple avenues of exposure in return.

If you’re any of the above — including a business or individual interested in sponsoring the event — contact me at sean at dotmatrixproject dot com.

(originally uploaded by michele pedrolli)

We’re not yet living in a completely digital world, but to say that the heyday of brick and mortar music stores is in the rear view mirror would be the understatement of the decade. Distribution — from CD sales to digital downloads to music subscriptions — has moved squarely online while music stores / chains of all shapes and sizes have been folding left and right.

While shopping online is a huge advancement from the good old days, the amazing thing about today’s internet isn’t its capability to support e-commerce ventures (we’re now a decade deep into that angle). What’s amazing is that for every major music “store” experience you find online these days (iTunes, Amazon, Wal-Mart, etc.), numerous innovative hybrid services have found their own markets to provide supportive elements (online radio, SEO event listings, artist social networks, etc.) that help all musicians — particularly independent and small label artists — become exposed to potential fans and customers around the world.

You know, the types of support services that once made music labels invaluable to an artist.

So, in my never-ending quest to deconstruct the music industry, I’ve decided that I’m going to profile each and every music service found online today, focusing on the user experience from both the customer/fan and artist’s perspective. And instead of waiting to publish a cumulative findings post, I decided that I’m going to use this particular post to:

• Add newly discovered services to the review list
• Iterate the service categories (store, radio, etc.)
• Establish the review criteria for individual categories
• Add links, one at a time, to each full-post service review
• Construct a succinct, at-a-glance comparison list to expose my findings

What I ask of you — whether you’re a long-time reader or you’ve just stumbled upon this post two years from now — is for your help in crafting the approach to this long-term focus. I’m open to all types of feedback for how I should structure this review to make it the most useful it can be. So, whether you know of a service that I’ve overlooked or you simply think that I should re-categorize a particular service or you’d just like to share your own experience using one of the services that I plan on covering, please let it all drop in the comments.

If your suggestion impacts this evolving post in any way, I’ll link back to your blog in the body of the post. And if you don’t blog, well, I’ll be greatly appreciative nonetheless.

Here’s the current list of services that I plan on reviewing:

Amazon MP3
Amazon Music
Amie Street
BroadJam
BuyMusic
CD Baby
CreateSpace
eMusic
Fiesta (mp3fiesta.com)
iLike
iTunes Music Store
IndieMusic
KnowTheMuiscBiz.com
Lala
Last.fm
Live365
Lulu
Magnatune
MOG
MP3tunes
Musicovery
MySpace Music
Napster
Pandora
Payplay.fm
Radio Indie
Rhapsody
SeeqPod
Social.FM

Songza
Review score: 3 out of 10

thesixtyone.com
ThePirateBay
Virb
Virgin Digital
Walmart
Yahoo! Music

It seems as though that I’m always trying to find that sweet, yet slippery point of balance that lies between the acts of consulting and creating. On some days the two overlap succinctly with my client work. Those are, by far, my favorite days to be alive.

Having a conversation with a client that expands both of our perspectives on information systems or content syndication or the difference between a usable and a useful interface and leads directly into the guts of a design approach, culminating with a clear deliverable for build… well, that’s what it’s all about. I get paid to listen, teach, learn, evolve and create.

Can it get much better than that?

Creation is a collaborative process, which in my mind, equates with the concept of consulting.

See, I don’t walk into a domain flashing my “expert” card as a well-paid consultant, ignoring the domain knowledge of the folks who’ve hired me. I’ve seen too many “professional” consultants do that, nodding and smiling to the client while emanating more noise than signal and then laughing behind their backs as they collect their fee for providing zero value.

But on some days, consulting has nothing to do with collaboration. Some days, consulting becomes relegated to setting a pace for pushing on through, remaining professional in the midst of an internal political firestorm or a rapid shift in focus and delivering the best solution possible under the worst of conditions.

On those days, I try to remember that without ebb, there can be no flow; without a crescendo, calando has less impact.

I have to believe that perspective is one form of “singing or dancing to the music,” as Alan Watts so eloquently states in the closing of the embedded video.

I must believe it.