501 Local Guitar Hero

Project URL: http://www.501blog.com/local-guitar-hero/
http://billingsgazette.com/entertainment/enjoy/article_d767b16e-364a-537e-bc51-9deca5146d24.html

Name: Jaci Webb

Organization: The Billings Gazette

Tell us about you/your team: I have been awarded two NEA fellowships, which were experiences that helped me understand national issues in the arts and ways of addressing shrinking numbers, both among arts supporters and the arts coverage in mainstream media. The rest of the team is made up of online folks who are innovative and have a great deal of expertise in their field.

Description of your project: The idea was to help grow the local live music scene as we increase traffic moving from print to online. I wanted the newspaper to see how relevant the arts are to our subscribers and to our online readers, and for the community to get excited about live music. We invited Montana guitarists to enter our contest and shot video of the top guitarists. We put the video online for a month while more than 600 people voted on their favorite guitarist. We then held a free live concert showcasing the finalists. People could also vote at the concert. The finalists were then profiled in our weekly entertainment magazine.

Date your project launched: December 2008

How your project works/what it does: The plan is to hold annual contests that help showcase regional vocalists and instrumentalists. In upcoming projects, we will feature singers, drummers, bass players, etc. It boosted the online audience for the arts (the 501 Blog topped out at 75,000 hits a month during this project) and helped us gain sponsors for other projects, including a sponsored Twitter and news alert for arts and entertainment.

Why is your project a model for Arts Journalism? Because it is self-sustaining, it builds excitement about live music and local musicians, and it paves the way for more online projects featuring the arts. Several guitar participants booked gigs due to the publicity they received through the Local Guitar Hero project. The venue owner is excited and fully onboard to host another live event.

Explain (briefly) your business model: Advertising was sold to support the online blog that hosted the contest and  the venue became a sponsor, donating the space for the concert and providing sound. The project launched with no cost to the Billings Gazette. The event generated money through print and online advertising.

Anything else we should know? In June, the Society for Professional Journalists awarded the 501 Blog first place in the lifestyle/arts online category among newspapers in the Northwest and we feel it was primarily because of the success of this project.

1 comment
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