I’d like to tell you about a cute little project that a new friend of mine is taking on called The Penny Jam.
The Penny Jam is an almost-weekly video podcast filmed in Portland, Oregon. In each episode the Penny Jam team films a different band playing in an unconventional (sometimes weird or akward) performance space, helping music escape from the often-drab environs of dark, neon, concert venues. They strive to document a diverse variety of musical styles, including indie rock, bluegrass, electronic, hip-hop, jazz etc, etc. They do an exceptional job (getting better every episode!) of camera work and production.
First of all, I highly recommend checking out The Penny Jam to see an unique and entertaining take on live performance videos from Portland artists. Check it out at:
+ The Penny Jam
In addition to it’s pure entertainment value, the series provides a unique promotional opportunity for both bands and small business owners around the city. They do a nice job of providing promotional info and corresponding web links for each episode. In fact, web savy folks can copy the html code for the videos and pass them along for a little viral action if you’d like. The Penny Jam sends out each episode as an email and a podcast, exposing artists to a wide audience of people who are interested in the Portland music scene. You can also download the original source video if you want to put it on a DVD or reproduce it elsewhere. Pretty cool, huh?
Independent bands and artists need to do a better job of taking advantage of available resources such as this to promote themselves and leverage relatively low cost guerilla publicity and marketing tactics like this. Those that simply sit on the sidelines, confused and oblivious as to why they can’t seem to get the attention or leverage they’re seeking, really need to seek out and take advantage of opportunities such as this.
Here’s one the recent episodes… a dynamic guitar virtuoso named Eric John Kaiser performing at Yarnia (a yarn shop in SE PDX):
Eric John Kaiser in Yarnia from The Penny Jam on Vimeo.
If you like Eric John Kaiser, you can check him out at www.ericjohnkaiser.com or on Myspace at www.myspace.com/ericjohnkaiser .
Rumor has it that a very talented yound lady that recently returned from a national tour with Colin Meloy will be featured on The Penny Jam in the coming weeks… If you are a band or artist interested in performing on The Penny Jam or if you have a favorite band that you’d like to recommend, please drop them a line at: thepennyjam@gmail.com . And tell Scott I said hi.
