Month: December 2006

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Today Joanne, Chuck and I are out in New Orleans for a Rocketboom exclusive.

We just filmed John Edwards’ first announcement that he is running for president.

It’s actually an announcement of an announcement, so to speak.

I then uploaded the video to YouTube and there ya have it folks, the rest is history.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1etlZaf6zUw

We also got an interview with him which I will post early in the morning on Rocketboom, well before the rest of the press will meet him for his formal press announcement:
http://www.rocketboom.com

(BTW, it may look like a photo op, but Edwards has been working out here all day and has been providing major support since last year when Katrina hit).

Joanne and I are heading back to NYC and Chuck will follow Edwards around the US till Friday to shoot footage which we’ll edit for the official John Edwards website.

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Ive spent quite some time investigating Podshow and Podtech. I’ve watched both of them form and grow. I’ve met the people behind the businesses and I’ve asked a lot of questions.

In my investigations, I have spent the most time getting to know content creators. I’ve met and pal’d around with a lot of them over the last few years and most of my best friends “have a show”.

I’ve shared in discussions about their visions and dreams for their shows and I have heard and shared in a lot of frustration, concern and uncertainty.

The typical scenario is much like a band who “signs” onto a label for all their business and production support.

So whats wrong with these new networks? Nothing is wrong with them! They seem to be working. I’m very thankful they exist because my friends have jobs doing what they love to do and the audiences are happy.

It’s just that these networks appear to be more focused on ad sales than generating content.

This is not very exciting to me. I don’t want an ad sales business. Why try to enter into a market with another one of the same thing? Think Zune – there was nothing that the Zune had to offer consumers that they couldn’t already get.

If I did want an ad network, I would prefer one like Federated Media. FM stands to make a percentage of the ad sales but only needs to spend on generating ad sales.

The typical new network stands to make a percentage of ad sales but must spend on a whole lot more to provide adequate support, such as bandwidth, design, production, talent management (drama), IT, PR, legal, to name but a few.

All of this added expense requires a lot more share in the ad sales and show equity for the network to make it.

It then becomes natural for the network to provide weak support in areas beyond the ad sales.

This leaves many content creators stuck in a box and disgruntled.

Abbey Corps is about enabling content creators by building community.

When the emphasis is shifted towards supporting great quality content and the options for monetizing that content remain open to outside partnerships and community support (as well as our own in-house options), the health of the organization and thus the quality of the content can continue to grow in the most natural direction.

As with Rocketboom, there is no need for Abbey to compete against anyone. When there are so many good support services like YouTube, Revver, GoogleVideo, Blip.tv, Podtech, Dotsub, TiVo, iTunes, Akimbo, Federated Media, Datagram, MoveDigital – it’s silly to isolate yourself. One show may work great on YouTube and another one may not work there at all. One show might enjoy a wikia wiki and another might have it’s own.

There is no one answer and there is no umbrella that has it all.

Thus Abbey is not intended to be a brand network for shows, it’s a creative studio for people.

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Joe Lewis at WebProNews picks Joanne as a top Web 2.0 personality.

“When it comes to researching topics and reporting breaking news in the Web 2.0 world, one has to be careful to avoid falling into the trap of monotony. Sometimes, the news isn’t all that exciting, but it’s often the people associated with the story that makes all the difference.”

“[Joanne] is sharp as a tack, charming, and has a delivery style that you simply can’t teach; it’s just a gift. ” – More.

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One thing that I kind of like about Rocketboom is that I have never
done any press releases. I also dont have an email list; Until now, I’ve always
just fielded the incoming. I’m not against that kind of outreach, it’s just
interesting that there has never been any.

Well all of that is about to change.

I’m going to post some news on my blog! ?

I’ll post it in pieces over the next several days. I’m calling it
blog post suspense.

And so, since Rocketboom began, the biggest most important step of my
independent career has been made.

Clue #1
Jeff Pulver and I have co-founded a new studio network.

And so begins Abbey Corps.

My next clue will reveal which other shows are a part of the studio
and then I will go on to explain why I believe it’s a much better business than
Podshow or Podtech.

Onward and Upward.

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At first I thought it was one the 200 daily spam mails, the subject of this one read “Windows Vista: A Present”.

After glancing the body, I noticed the word Rocketboom and looking a little closer, the email said “I wanted to give you a heads up that Microsoft has sent you a laptop with Windows Vista for your use, no strings attached.. . .The laptop was sent to Rocketboom’s mailing address.”

When I noticed the “no strings attached” part, I knew something was up. The email was sent from Edelman, and then a followup email confirmed that the laptop had already been sent. That is, in fact it is true, they really did just send us a laptop.

When I mentioned this to Joanne she said “Shall we start dissing other companies too and see if they respond with freebees?”

Quite the olive branch, thanks guys. I’ll post again when the computer arrives.

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Bigger than Eat It, White and Nerdy has been played over 20 million times online and is Weird Al Yankovic‘s #1 top selling single of his career.

As one of the most downloaded videos on the internet, with a peak in popularity over the last couple of months, it might be worth it to take a deep look into the character of this video. There you can see the core root of internet culture today. The white and nerdy guy embodies the quintessential identity of the largest faction of the English speaking audience demographic online.

Even if you consider yourself a far cry from being this guy, can you relate?

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No need to get into the details, but worth mentioning that today I am the 100{303de987cc6916da36e13969c33ddde86941a7a7dd0e4e1455e523d98097d3da} owner of Rocketboom.

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Well, I feel as though it’s a mess around here this weekend for sure. I just put my chain saw away and had a look around at all the damage.

I feel like I just lived through an epic war film.

This all started a long, long time ago.

When Amanda Congdon quit and went public with major attacks on my character, that was the hand I was dealt and most who know me know I didn’t have the experience to deal with it.

And then I never really got to say my side of the story.

It’s okay to say what you need to say, get it out and move on, but that didn’t happen originally.

So this weekend, I finally set out to get it all out and off my chest and I did.

Over the last several months, I feel as though Amanda has misrepresented herself and has continued to speak out with personal attacks and so I became more and more effected by my own silence. Even today she is still making claims about “how I am” that are just meant to hurt me, in my opinion.

Most people probably don’t know the details of what I have been going through, and they probably also feel as though it’s still muddy and silly.

But I feel as though this weekend I have finally shown my side of the story. It’s only one side, yes, but its mine and its been missing all this time.

That is, I feel as though I adequately showed that she (a) gave up and left, (b) took the projects with her, (c) has not been forthright about all of this information, and yes, (d) it is my position that she forfeited her share when she quit (which is why she said she was fired).

There is more to come and more to resolve but I have said all I need to say publicly on this topic.

All in all, this has been the most difficult year ever, and its also by far been the best.

For the first time in my life, Im really proud of what I have accomplished.

Im ready more than ever to take on 2007 and I expect it to be the best, most progressive year of my life.

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“Turns out there is a game of Blog-Tag going around the blogosphere in which bloggers are sharing five things about themselves that relatively few people know, and then tagging five other bloggers to be “it.”

Thanks for tagging me Jeff!

Five Things about Drew that relatively few people know:

1. One of my greatest inspirations while growing up was the classical English romantic poets. I found a different source of inspiration for the same conclusions and thus edited the words in their poems to reflect a more inclusive view of the universe.

2. When I was in Austin during Y2K, I was watching TV in hiding for fear of Bin Laden attacks on New Years crowds. At 11pm, I watched and listened as Bill Clinton ushered in the millennium on the East coast. It was the most inspiring speech I have ever heard. And I survived.

3. Before I had the idea for Rocketboom, I was most excited about traveling around the world to setup wi-max towers in 2nd and 3rd world countries.

4. I am often critical, but rarely blame anyone.

5. Only the five people I tagged below know #5.

Your it:

Josh Kinberg, Narendra Rocherolle, Veronica Belmont, Gilles Klein, Drew Domkus

Blog-tag-tree.

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