IndieFeed 2.0
The Future of the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel... Behind the cut.
This discussion is opened up on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/#!/IndieFeedPoetry?sk=app_2373072738. If you'd like to contribute, please respond there!
Hugz,
--M
Dear IndieFeed Performance Poetry Community:
As many of you know, the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel is nearing our 1,000th show! Right now we're in the early 900's, but we should hit show number 1,000 in early next year. And as you may have already heard me allude to on the show, I'm at a point in my life where I need to either end the show, or make some major changes in how it operates in order for it to continue. I'm moving into a new project that needs my attention (see http://poetrypreservation.org ), and I'm also feeling a great need to finally spend some time "working on my own damn poetry", rather than having all my otherwise free-for-writing time chewed up in producing and recording shows. {:{)}
I've loved my time with IndieFeed, but I need to find a way to have it take a more manageable, reasonable role in my life.
Over the past several months I've considered the idea of having a new, permanent full-time host take over the reins of the channel. But one thing this experience has taught me is that the commitment to keep the show running the way it does now may be too big for any one person. Between reviewing, seeking permissions, writing shows, recording shows, and posting them, running the channel has taken about 20 hours of my time every week for the past six years. So rather than trying to just hand it off (and destroy someone else's opportunity to be a poet!), and rather than just end the show (which was another option), I've been doing some thinking about a new, more sustainable model for the show.
The purpose of this discussion post is to share some of those ideas with the community, invite feedback, and see what everyone thinks about a new, "second generation" IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel. So please bear with me as I describe some of these ideas...
Right now, IndieFeed operates kind of like an on-line audio magazine. We take submissions, accept some, reject most, and "publish" three shows each week. That's certainly not a bad model. It engages the poets that are working today, and gives current poets another avenue for exposure. But taking submissions, reviewing them, and making acceptance decisions is truly a huge drain in terms of time and resources. Right now, I'm running at a full six weeks between the time I receive a track, and getting a chance to review and respond to the poet with a decision. I typically have anywhere between 100 and 200 tracks in my review queue at any one time. It's frequently quite overwhelming.
So I'm thinking of a different model, where we no longer have a submissions process. And (most critically!) where we no longer have just one host.
The model I envision would require perhaps four to six regular hosts, each of whom commits to putting out anywhere from one to three shows per month. The selections we each make would be totally our own, and would be completely drawn from our backgrounds and experiences in the performance poetry world. We'd share content that we happen to find in our travels, and content that excites us for whatever reason. But we would not draw anything from an open submission queue.
Personally, I'd like to shift my own show releases to content that I draw from historical recordings that we are capturing as part of the Performance Poetry Preservation Project (see link above). As part of this effort, we're going to be collecting recordings languishing in venues and poets attics, and getting them into a preservation repository before they get lost. I'd like to recover some of those early recordings and share them with the world, in order to help the poetry slam stay aware of our roots, and the importance of the shoulders upon which we are all standing.
Other hosts might focus on particular venues, particular areas of the country, particular styles of poetry, or particular subject matters. And we could still definitely accommodate "theme weeks" as we've been doing, if any of hosts want to do a string of shows. The show would thus become as much a showcase of the interests of our hosts, as it would be a showcase of the poets we feature.
As for the show format, it could remain pretty much the same as it is now: One track, with an outro and discussion not to exceed (by much) the length of the poem. Or, as I would like to do, we could have some hosts that elect to drop the extensive outros, and "let the poetry speak" for itself. For instance, I think I would personally like to move toward an outro that just says something like "That was Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz performing her poem 'Crack Squirrels' live at the Urbana Poetry Slam, December 2009. This recording, like all IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel recordings can be found at our website, http://performancepoetry.indiefeed.com Learn more about Cristin, at http://aptowicz.com." (Of course, those URLs would be different, but you get the idea.)
So, in summation: More regular hosts. No submission process. Shorter outros.
This kind of a model would be HUGELY easier than the current IndieFeed model. And if and when we find more folks interested in hosting, we could consider moving to a more frequent release schedule. I could imagine us going from 3 times a week to 5 times, or even daily, and spending less hours doing it than what it's currently taking. AND, probably, have a much more varied, much more interesting show!!!
So my questions to all of you include:
* Do you think this is a good model for IndieFeed 2.0?
* Am I being insane? What haven't I thought of? What would be the roadblocks to adopting this kind of model???
I'd love to hear your thoughts. We have some time to figure all this out, since I'm committed to seeing the show through to show number 1,000. But I'd actually like to suspend the submission process within a month or two, since I have more than enough content in my "parking lot" to get us up to that thousandth show.
Thanks all! I truly love and appreciate you all for the support you've shown to IndieFeed, and to me, over the years! It's been a great ride!
Best wishes,
--Mongo
http://performancepoetry.indiefeed.com
mongo@indiefeed.com
.
This discussion is opened up on Facebook, at http://www.facebook.com/#!/IndieFeedPoetry?sk=app_2373072738. If you'd like to contribute, please respond there!
Hugz,
--M
Dear IndieFeed Performance Poetry Community:
As many of you know, the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel is nearing our 1,000th show! Right now we're in the early 900's, but we should hit show number 1,000 in early next year. And as you may have already heard me allude to on the show, I'm at a point in my life where I need to either end the show, or make some major changes in how it operates in order for it to continue. I'm moving into a new project that needs my attention (see http://poetrypreservation.org ), and I'm also feeling a great need to finally spend some time "working on my own damn poetry", rather than having all my otherwise free-for-writing time chewed up in producing and recording shows. {:{)}
I've loved my time with IndieFeed, but I need to find a way to have it take a more manageable, reasonable role in my life.
Over the past several months I've considered the idea of having a new, permanent full-time host take over the reins of the channel. But one thing this experience has taught me is that the commitment to keep the show running the way it does now may be too big for any one person. Between reviewing, seeking permissions, writing shows, recording shows, and posting them, running the channel has taken about 20 hours of my time every week for the past six years. So rather than trying to just hand it off (and destroy someone else's opportunity to be a poet!), and rather than just end the show (which was another option), I've been doing some thinking about a new, more sustainable model for the show.
The purpose of this discussion post is to share some of those ideas with the community, invite feedback, and see what everyone thinks about a new, "second generation" IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel. So please bear with me as I describe some of these ideas...
Right now, IndieFeed operates kind of like an on-line audio magazine. We take submissions, accept some, reject most, and "publish" three shows each week. That's certainly not a bad model. It engages the poets that are working today, and gives current poets another avenue for exposure. But taking submissions, reviewing them, and making acceptance decisions is truly a huge drain in terms of time and resources. Right now, I'm running at a full six weeks between the time I receive a track, and getting a chance to review and respond to the poet with a decision. I typically have anywhere between 100 and 200 tracks in my review queue at any one time. It's frequently quite overwhelming.
So I'm thinking of a different model, where we no longer have a submissions process. And (most critically!) where we no longer have just one host.
The model I envision would require perhaps four to six regular hosts, each of whom commits to putting out anywhere from one to three shows per month. The selections we each make would be totally our own, and would be completely drawn from our backgrounds and experiences in the performance poetry world. We'd share content that we happen to find in our travels, and content that excites us for whatever reason. But we would not draw anything from an open submission queue.
Personally, I'd like to shift my own show releases to content that I draw from historical recordings that we are capturing as part of the Performance Poetry Preservation Project (see link above). As part of this effort, we're going to be collecting recordings languishing in venues and poets attics, and getting them into a preservation repository before they get lost. I'd like to recover some of those early recordings and share them with the world, in order to help the poetry slam stay aware of our roots, and the importance of the shoulders upon which we are all standing.
Other hosts might focus on particular venues, particular areas of the country, particular styles of poetry, or particular subject matters. And we could still definitely accommodate "theme weeks" as we've been doing, if any of hosts want to do a string of shows. The show would thus become as much a showcase of the interests of our hosts, as it would be a showcase of the poets we feature.
As for the show format, it could remain pretty much the same as it is now: One track, with an outro and discussion not to exceed (by much) the length of the poem. Or, as I would like to do, we could have some hosts that elect to drop the extensive outros, and "let the poetry speak" for itself. For instance, I think I would personally like to move toward an outro that just says something like "That was Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz performing her poem 'Crack Squirrels' live at the Urbana Poetry Slam, December 2009. This recording, like all IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel recordings can be found at our website, http://performancepoetry.indiefeed.com Learn more about Cristin, at http://aptowicz.com." (Of course, those URLs would be different, but you get the idea.)
So, in summation: More regular hosts. No submission process. Shorter outros.
This kind of a model would be HUGELY easier than the current IndieFeed model. And if and when we find more folks interested in hosting, we could consider moving to a more frequent release schedule. I could imagine us going from 3 times a week to 5 times, or even daily, and spending less hours doing it than what it's currently taking. AND, probably, have a much more varied, much more interesting show!!!
So my questions to all of you include:
* Do you think this is a good model for IndieFeed 2.0?
* Am I being insane? What haven't I thought of? What would be the roadblocks to adopting this kind of model???
I'd love to hear your thoughts. We have some time to figure all this out, since I'm committed to seeing the show through to show number 1,000. But I'd actually like to suspend the submission process within a month or two, since I have more than enough content in my "parking lot" to get us up to that thousandth show.
Thanks all! I truly love and appreciate you all for the support you've shown to IndieFeed, and to me, over the years! It's been a great ride!
Best wishes,
--Mongo
http://performancepoetry.indiefeed.com
mongo@indiefeed.com
.