The New Media Artist

An inexpensive book webmercial

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:44:00 +0000

One of my clients, Kim Canazzi, wrote a book and was thinking of how she might better promote it on the web without spending an arm and a leg. We were able to come up with a short, simple promo video using only artwork from the cover of her book, royality-free music and some Final Cut editing. It's a good example of what you can accomplish even when you are on a tight budget.

The New Media artist is here to help you. Let me know how to make it better by leaving a comment.

Next: The New Media Artist talks to...you?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Are you an artist or performer? Would you like to be featured in an interview on TNMA? I'm looking for people to talk to about their art and what they do to promote themselves online. I can't use everyone, though, so here is the criteria for possible guests:

Your art/performance must be interesting, compelling, unique or any combination thereof.

You must have a recording of your art/performance (images or video).

You must have a web presence that you use to promote yourself, such as social networks (Facebook, MySpace, Tribe, Twitter, Google Groups, etc.), "New Media" (podcasts, blogs, webcasts, video blogs), or other "Web 2.0" channels.

So, if you think that you have a good story to tell, let me know.

R.I.P. George Carlin

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:01:00 +0000

Rest in peace, George.

TNMA Podcast #4 - James Morrison

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:12:00 +0000

James Morrison is a yoga instructor, a discipline whose goal is the path to peace and enlightenment. So, it is somewhat ironic that James' "day job" is co-starring on the hit TV show, "24", on which he plays Bill Buchanan, the head of a counter-terrorism unit here in Los Angeles. But, as James will tell you, it's all about balance.

On a related note, my mission for The New Media Artist is to inform artists and performers about new media. Well, with the James Morrison interview, I learned a lesson myself.

I usually try to include video clips of the subject into the interviews I do. I had chosen a great scene from "24" between James and the actress who plays his wife on the show, Jayne Atkinson. Not wanting to get James or myself in trouble, I contacted Fox to get permission to use the clip. Someone from Fox got right back to me. The short version is: a) Fox is not licensing its material for new media such as Vimeo embeds or iTunes podcasts at this time and b) Even if I did use a non-downloadable channel for viewing, Fox charges $4000 a minute per year for use.

$4000 a minute. Remember that the next time you hear a news story about the entertainment guilds negotiating payments for "new media".

James Morrison's website

Yogaworks: Center for Yoga, Los Angeles

"Showing Up" movie

James Morrison on IMDB

Buy "24" on iTunes!

TNMA Podcast #3 - Anah Reichenbach

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:36:00 +0000

Anah Reichenbach, aka "Hoopalicious" is one of the premiere hoop dancers in the country. She has helped to elevate hoop-dancing to not only an art form, but to a livelyhood as well. But, be aware, this is not your father's hula-hooping (though it may be your mom's).

www.hooprevolution.com

Hoop Revolution on Tribe

The OhTony Ecosystem featured in Softpress Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:16:00 +0000

How cool is this?

Softpress, the makers of Freeway Pro and Freeway Express asked if they could feature one of my websites in their newsletter. I said, sure. Pick anyone you want. Well, they picked all of them!

Thanks guys!

"Featured Freeway Site
This month's feature is Oh Tony, the home of actor, Mac consultant and podcaster Tony Edwards. In creating each of his sites, Tony uses some of the most cutting edge features of Freeway, including media embedding, Blogger templates and RSS feeds. Check out his sites here:

The Church of Mac
http://www.thechurchofmac.com

I'm Your Genius
http://www.imyourgenius.com

Oh Tony
http://www.ohtony.com

The New Media Artist
http://www.thenewmediaartist.com

What is a fan?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:42:00 +0000

Not too long ago, Tanja Barnes of Brave New Media, Steve Boyett of Podrunner and I sat down over drinks and talked about podcasting. Eventually, the conversation came around to the topic of fandom. Tanja had just gotten her now famous Flip video camera, so she recorded part of our discussion.

What is your definition of a fan? Leave a comment and let me know. And if you haven't visited Brave New Media yet, you should. By the way, it was Tanja who turned me on to the Kevin Kelly "1000 True Fans" quote. Thanks, Tanja.

TNMA Podcast #2 - osseus labyrint NSFW

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:04:00 +0000

*Please note: This video contains non-sexual nudity and may not be appropriate for work or unattended children.

osseus labyrint is a performance laboratory founded by Hannah Sim and Mark Steger. They might be compared to sculptors, except that the medium that work with is their own bodies. Hannah and Mark, working with collaborators from various multi-media disciplines, strive to transform themselves by removing normal references to the naked human body, leaving the result free to interpretation by the observer.

The artists admit to having let their innovative website lapse in terms of current information, but they say that an update is on the way, so if you visit it now, make sure to hit it again later on.

About This Website

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:15:00 +0000

I thought that it my be helpful for people considering building or updating their own website to tell you about how The New Media Artist site was created.

Firstly the website is hosted on Blogger. For some, this may come as a surprise, as it doesn't look like a normal Blogger site. This is because it has been customized using Freeway Pro. Freeway Pro (and it's little brother, Freeway Express) come from a U.K.-based company called Softpress. The Freeway products have features called "Freeway Actions", which allow people who don't have any experience using JavaScript (like me) to do really cool stuff.

FW includes a set of Actions called the "Blogger" suite. Using these actions, you can build your website using drag-and-drop editing, then add Blogger post, archive, header and profile sections to your site. On TNMA, I have used only two actions, the Blogger post area, which you are looking at right now, and the Archive section on the lower right column.

If you are interested in learning more about Freeway, check out an interview that The Reverend Doctor Bobby Newton did with Ian Schray, the U.K Marketing Manager for Softpress.

You may also notice that the URL http://www.thenewmediaartist.com will bring you directly to this page. By having your on personal domain, such as www.yourdomain.com, you can then point that domain to your blogspot-hosted blog. You can also mask the Blogger URL, in this case, http://thenewmediaartist.blogspot.com/, although the site is reachable through either URL.

Videos are viewable directly on the page using Vimeo. This means that the files don't have to be stored on your on hosted (paid for) site. However, I want people to be able to download interviews to their computers or iPod, so in this case, they are also uploaded to my GoDaddy hosting. When someone goes clicks on the iTunes subscribe link, then clicks to download the videos, they are downloaded from my GoDaddy shared hosting.

I chose Vimeo because, in addition to having great quality (Although the TNMA videos are not HD, Vimeo can handle that), I like the way the videos are presented on a webpage. Once you start a video, the rest of the controls fades away, allowing a distraction-free viewing experience.

Many artist/performers are intimidated not only by the knowledge required to put up a website, but by the cost as well. Don't be...

Blogger site and Blogspot hosting - Free

A personal domain name - about $20 a year including 1 email address.

The cost of having your on hosting (a place on the web to store your stuff) varies, but you can get GoDaddy hosting for as little as $50 dollars for a year. There are other, just as reliable services available for even less.

My suggestion is that you get started with a free and easy blogging solution like Blogger or Tumblr. Then, if you want to upgrade and customize your site later, you can.

And, if you need help, you can always contact me.

The New Media Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:32:00 +0000

"A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living."

Kevin Kelly - The Technium

My name is Tony Edwards. I have been involved in the entertainment industry for many years as an actor, comic and writer. I also had the privilege to work for Apple as a Mac Genius for several years. My experiences in these two worlds introduced me to video editing first, then podcasting and on to the learning more about website building, social networks and web distribution.

Although I have a fair amount of knowledge on the technical side, I am first and foremost, an artist. I was lucky in that I was able to take what I had learned from technology and apply it to my art. Many other artists and performers also want to harness the power of the Internet, but feel like it would be too hard to learn or cost too much money. Mostly though, they feel like they don't know where to begin.

The New Media Artist is where to begin.

The New Media Artist's mission is to share the information and experiences of artists and performers who use "new media" (podcasting, social networks, blogs, viral marketing, etc.) to increase their visibility, positive perception and fandom.

TNMA features video interviews with artists and performers from a myriad of disciplines. The videos can be watched directly in the website, or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or the RSS feed via Feedburner.

Now, if you don't really know what an RSS feed is, that's actually good. You are who The New Media Artist was created for. This site has been designed with both non-techie and advanced visitors in mind, Please feel free to comment on any of the posts. You can reach me directly via email to comment on the site in general. TNMA just launched, and your input would be helpful.

And, if you are an artist or performer with a great new media story, let me know. If you are interviewed, your podcast will be available on iTunes, Vimeo, FeedBurner and other channels.

Your creation will become available to many new people. Some of those people might download your podcast, or click on a link to your website.

That's visibility.

Some will "get you" and like what you do.

That's positive perception

Some may even like you enough to subscribe to your work or even, to give you money.

That's a fan. And, I'd love to have you as a fan.

Tony Edwards

TNMA Podcast #1 - Tanja Barnes

noreply@blogger.com (Tony Edwards) — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:43:00 +0000

A co-production of The New Media Artist and Brave New Media.

On a hot afternoon in the San Fernando Valley, where can you find a place to do an interview that's cool, quiet and serves Javanilla Milkshakes? Borders, of course.

Tanja Barnes has interviewed an incredibly interesting mix of people on her blogs. There are even some secret ones. Sure, I know them, but if I told you...

So, now we turn the camera on her and find out how she went from being totally "analog" to being hopelessly in love with her
Flip video. And I thank her for being on our very first podcast.

The New Media Artist

An inexpensive book webmercial

Next: The New Media Artist talks to...you?

R.I.P. George Carlin

TNMA Podcast #4 - James Morrison

TNMA Podcast #3 - Anah Reichenbach

The OhTony Ecosystem featured in Softpress Newsletter

What is a fan?

TNMA Podcast #2 - osseus labyrint *NSFW*

About This Website

The New Media Artist

TNMA Podcast #1 - Tanja Barnes

TNMA Podcast #2 - osseus labyrint NSFW