Connecting the Indie Rock and Tech scenes

There was a great article at NPR.org about the goings on in Omaha, Nebraska. 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/06/03/136896920/the-indie-rock-club-behind-omahas-100-million-creative-boom

As many of you know Omaha has been a rising star in the tech/start up scene over the last few years. Big Omaha, a yearly event that this limited to about 600 people and attracts some of the best and brightest tech stars as speakers and attendees. I haven't gone but many friends have and they all rave about the experience. But back to this NPR article. 

The gist of this article can be summed up in this excerpt:

"While I was there, I met several architects and web designers who all said they moved back to Omaha, at least in part, because of this club (Indie Rock club The Slowdown) and the movie theater (Film Streams) next door."

I know my buddy Rebecca Ryan from Next Generation Consulting wouldn't be too surprised. This is what she, and others like Richard Florida, have been preaching for years. "Cool" cities attract and retain top talent. What makes a city cool? There is nothing, that I can think of, cooler than Indie Rock. I'm talking Pitchfork.com stuff here. If you have a city that has venues where Pitchfork bands regularly play then you basically have the foundation for a cool city. 

Here in Indy we have seen a local promotion company start to actively fill that void - MOKBPresents.com. This is an offshoot of MyOldKentuckyBlog.com, which is actually very much an Indiana blog but started by Kentucky native Craig "Dodge" Lile (who coincidentally works for Raidious a web content company here in Indy) when he moved to Indy in the early 2000s. Running the blog and a Sirius radio show lead naturally to booking shows. MOKB Presents brings a wide diversity of mostly Indie Rock acts to Indy. About 50 shows a year. I don't think you can find any entity that is changing Indy's national brand (at least for 20 somethings) as much as MOKB. Think of all the bands that come play Indy and then go tell everyone else about what a great experience, hopefully, they had here. Think of all the fans that see Indianapolis show up again and again on tour schedules, YouTube videos, etc. Word is getting out. Indie's coolness increases with every MOKB show. There are others doing great work in this area but I'm singling MOKB out since they are the clear leaders. How many of you reading this article know about MOKB? Did you go to a show this year? Chances are they were the promoters.

At the same time we are seeing a huge boom in the tech scene here. Monthly Verge meetings fill up almost immediately. Start Up Weekends are becoming regular, very successful events. New tech companies are popping up everywhere like mushrooms. Develop Indy and Tech Point are noticing and doing what they can, often behind the scenes, to help create the right conditions. 

Many of these tech startups are populated with 20 something kids that have grown up on Indie Rock. MGMT, Sufjan Stevens, My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Arcade Fire, etc. These tech "kids" love music almost as much as code. 

So you have a bunch of fans on one side that want to go to shows (local and national acts) and on the other side you have bands (local and national) that need tech help and fans. When you start to bring these two scenes you have some amazing synergies. This is what Omaha is witnessing and it is an affordable, effective tactic that Indianapolis should pursue as well. 

How do we do this? 

We need venues and we need audiences. Mostly audiences. Tech companies need to consider sponsoring bands, helping them with their tech and marketing needs. If Exact Target, for instance, wants to attract and retain top talent then they why not send out of state prospects a mix of local music? Why not sponsor a showcase at the Vogue? There are endless creative ways to cross-pollinate and collaborate between the tech and music scenes. So let's tear down the wall and start making it happen. Connecting the Indie Rock and Tech scenes will create new jobs and grow our economy. 

Screens, Screens Everywhere!

I just went to the post office. The clerk and I never met eyes. We spent the entire time looking at our respective screens. 

Same thing when I go to the grocery. If I don't pay in cash there is almost no human interactive whatsoever. Sometimes they don't even say hi or thanks.

I wrote a post a year ago about my experience of going off the grid at SXSW- Connectivity vs Serendipity. In brief my eyes were opened up to how much our eyes are constantly focused on screens. I became convinced that we have been trading down for a more connected but often inferior experiences. Trading a huge wide 3D world for a small 3" screen.

Maybe screens are transitional objects, to be replaced with fully augmented reality via my contacts, glasses or, gasp!, brain implants. 

But as we transition I worry that we are forgetting our manners and humanity. When we arrive at this promised, augmented land will we be living richer lives or just busier lives? I fear the latter and hope for the former. 

Please & Thank You opening in Louisville

My once Indy still buddy Jason Pierce (former manager of Luna Music) has been in Louisville for a while. His design firm MPerfect does great, opinionated design. Now he is opening a very cool coffee/treats/record shop called Please & Thank You in Louisville. Jason Yoder and I helped populate some of his record inventory.

Looks like it's time to for a Louisville visit soon! If anyone is down there in L'ville please stop by and say hey to Jason, have some coffee and pick up a record or three.

Seeking Scarcity in an Infinite Digital World

There is a big difference between renting and owning. It changes the way you connect to an object. It changes the impact that object has on your life.

Owners care for their objects. Renters have little vested interest in the objects they use. They use and abuse and move on. Think of a rental vs little old lady car. Which one do you want to buy?

I believe that digital technology, including the Web, is enabling a rental mindset.  This rental mindset is insidious. It is changing how we value the content we create and consume. We, myself very much included, toss content out almost at random with little thought to where it lands. No-one is saving letters in a box. No-one is saving anything. Why bother when It doesn't seem real? Is it Google's job to gather and sort all the scraps of our lives? Do we really want to trust third parties to manage our memories and experiences?

When you physically possess something you know it's real. But in the digital world ownership is a fuzzy thing. Every digital object exists in unreal, infinite abundance. It's like a tree that grows two apples for every one you pick. There is not a limit to how many times something can exist once it enters the digital realm. This reality makes digital content feel disposable and worthless.

Scarcity enables meaningful ownership. Human beings are wired for supply and demand.  I've seen this during my time in the antique/auction world. I see it, all too often, among record collectors. We want the thing we can't have. The saddest day for a collector is the day they finish their collection. They've scaled the mountain, seen the view and seek a new challenge. 

When scarcity vanishes, meaning begins to erode. The digital world is akin to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Almost no elevation or friction. No mountains to climb or views to see. 

How do we create scarcity in the digital world? Do we tie it back to the physical world? Do we move content into gated communities, like the NY Times has done with its recent paywall? How do we create mountains and views? Do we really want everything at our fingertips all the time? I believe that a world with instant access to endless digital content may bring more noise than meaning into our lives. Regardless, the experiment has begun.

Blogging Tips c.2011

Bold the most important sentence in each paragraph. Why? Because people scan before they read. You need to sell them on the surrounding content. If you aren't going to do this then make sure you really do the next one... 

Shorter is better. Write what you want then cut it in half, let it sit for a while, review and then cut again.

Write for humans not Google. Focus on winning hearts and minds not searches. Nothing wrong with a little SEO once you've finished the post but don't litter the Web with empty but well optimized content. Leave the Web better than you found it.

Build your network. Creating content without first creating community isn't going to work very well.

Harvest blogs from emails. This blog actually started as an email I was sending to a friend/colleague who asked for some input on blogging. I decided to turn it into a post and email him a link. Hey!

Broadcast your posts. Hitting submit is not enough. Even while you are creating community you can use share tools to broadcast the posts via Twitter, Facebook and your email accounts. 

Leave comments on similar blogs. Find other posts relevant to yours and leave comments and even links back to your related post. Stay engaged when others respond to your comments.

Don't sell. Provide value and expertise but stop short of a sales pitch. No-one trusts a salesman. They trust subject matter experts. 

Ask questions. Ever notice how hard it is to not answer a question? It creates, almost forces, engagement with your readers. By the way, who's your favorite blogger? 

When possible, be funny. Humor builds bridges and opens doors. It lowers our inhibitions and resistance. I wish I had something funny to add here but...I don't, firing blanks from the funny gun. 

Take a position. Relaying facts is for Wikipedia. Take a stand on something then cede ground if needed in the comments. Again, this will increase engagement.

So what do you think? Any other useful tips to add?