After several failed attempts, two web-firm rip-offs, and a complete overhaul, Neworleansmusicians.com launched online at the beginning of 2022. It was still in beta testing and had too many kinks to cite. While addressing these issues with my programmer, I launched a podcast, a Youtube channel, a blog, and curated playlists on sixteen streaming platforms. Looking back, saying that I was spreading myself thin was an understatement. Ever a glutton for punishment, I learned e-commerce and launched a store as well. While all facets were off to a rough start, they were alive. Each began to take on a personality and attract eyes and ears to the abundance of talent within Louisiana’s state lines.
Fast forward to now, all of the technical issues have been worked out, including a victorious six month battle with Youtube permissions that has now enabled site members to upload to my site and have it simultaneously show on my Youtube channel. Many things have been redesigned and I believe I have a handle on the chaos that is this network. Or at least I thought I did. Though I was able to constantly produce media on all fronts, let’s just say the sacrificial lambs began to reveal themselves. The light bulb went off when I was editing video for posting one evening and realized the content was a year old. While life stories aren’t typically of a time-sensitive nature, it still bugged me that it had taken me a year to publish this musician’s interview. It was unacceptable. My stubborn nature had rendered me so short-sighted that I insisted on editing every video into talking points in addition to publishing the entirety. This compounded editing times and set me far, far behind.
For as far back as I can remember, I have always revered music and musicians as my own religion. Nothing has meant more to me than being able to involve myself in shoring their foundation at a local level. The catalog of work I have disseminated is essentially a hagiography filled with praise and idealizations for the beauty that is the human musician. I have done so while steering clear of click-bait and controversial tactics to inflate the vanity metrics to which the digital world has become enslaved. In order to remain true to this principle, I have had to pivot during this past year. Begrudgingly, those videos are now published in their entirety only. And the articles I write are less in number per year. This is all until I come across like-minded individuals willing to volunteer their time to cover the scene with me.
Fortunately, the Neworleansmusicians.com Podcast has remained untouched in format and has doubled in listenership each year. Aside from the artist being interviewed, each show features a “mid-show shout out” where I take time to discuss a new member’s band and play a snip of their music for the audience. Having listeners reach out to tell me they enjoyed the interview AND discovered a new band during the shout outs has been immeasurably rewarding. I decided to change out the person who signs off on the show yearly. So, I am able to showcase yet another local artist during these episodes. Levi Clark (formerly of Misled, Southern Brutality, and currently of 1016) was my spokesman for 2022. Dalton Steiffel (of nola funk band Pocket Chocolate) was my spokesman for 2023. And Alfred Banks (solo rapper and lyricist in SaxKixAve) became the spokesperson in year 2024. Though each artist benefitted from this arrangement, their interest in contributing to my efforts has been flattering. These gestures give me hope.
I also took on a sponsor this past year, Realmushrooms.com. After much research and trial, I fully back their products for purity and effectiveness. And there is no added cost for the commissions received when listeners purchase through my professional link. In fact, they actually get discounts when doing so. There is no doubt in my mind that I have helped listeners who have made purchases because of my podcast. And I am happy that I have been able to offer the information and discounts without sacrificing those mid-show shout outs for my members.
Some other improvements I made during this past year, I feel, helped extend the reach and increase the efficacy of Neworleansmusicians.com. I connected some back-end feeds to the Events Calendar to help cover the Louisiana music scene more thoroughly. And I redesigned the player on the Music Page (I went a little artsy with that one, lol). I created an 80’s inspired boom-box that has genres instead of stations and made each band’s display during their playtime a hyperlink to their page. I envision the new design as an attractive way for fans to sample their favorite genres in Louisiana. And it has made the mission of talent buyers easier to achieve. Last, I redesigned the Neworleansmusicians.com online Merchandise Store and introduced many new garments and designs, while culling a few that I found to be of lesser quality. This past year I aimed to max out my domestic sources and make prices as low as possible. This retains business (and jobs) in the United States, lowers shipping rates and times, and ensures that more people can afford to express their support for this Louisiana music community that is Neworleansmusicians.com. Last, I created a Paypal Donation Account should readers, listeners, viewers or anyone else want to donate to my efforts.
It hasn’t all been “work” for me. There have been times when I was honored for what I had accomplished. I was chosen to speak at the 2024 Cutting Edge Music Conference in New Orleans. While there, I was reconnected with people I had worked with previously and introduced to many new faces. I was also featured in Canvas Rebel magazine and Bold Journey magazine; two publications focused on passion and entrepreneurship in various fields. The people I’ve interviewed in the past year have been such interesting human beings, that they have left me feeling truly humbled to have a moment of their time. You have to realize, by the time I leave the interview, I have learned everything about them there is to know. And I feel as though I’ve known them their whole lives. I possess a love and admiration for these people that cannot aptly be expressed. Mike IX Williams and Kirk Windstein, juggernauts in the intoxicating potion that is our own southern metal genre, were two such specimens. Jack Meile, who has far too many production credits to name, was another. And lyricist Jayarson was a man of many layers I was delighted to discover. These are several high-achieving examples that needed nothing from me, yet gave me (and my audience) everything. And I am eternally grateful to them as well as all the other people I interviewed in 2024.
A good stack of stats for 2024…
25 Articles – musician interviews and album reviews. Special thanks to Ryan McKern for his contributions during this past year.
21 Podcasts – interviews with drummers, lyricists, guitarists, bassists, vocalists, a recording engineer, a label head, and a music magazine editor, all from Louisiana. “Neworleansmusicians.com Podcast” was downloaded in 41 countries last year.
74 Youtube Videos – music videos, interviews, and a news feature. These are not counting videos uploaded to the website by members of Neworleansmusicians.com. And I point this out because videos uploaded to my site by its members automatically post to my Youtube Channel.
71 New Members – This, by far, is OUR greatest achievement! There are many of you that I owe a debt of gratitude for this fact. Paying for the elements of this network out-of-pocket and charging nothing is incredibly expensive. I cannot allot finances toward advertising and worry I am not reaching enough people. Social media and word of mouth have been my mainstay. And it has remained fortuitous through the graces of my members, followers and fans.
148 Social posts – This is the amount of posts to social media that I averaged per week throughout 2024. Some of these were advertisements for my network. The majority were about the interviews, events, and album releases within the Louisiana music community.
141 Artists Featured – Because I produced articles, videos, and podcasts, I set aside spots to feature members in places like the podcast mid-show and at the beginning of every Youtube video.
If I had to train my vision toward the site’s priorities for 2025, it would be to somehow increase the amount of published content while maintaining a healthy balance between the site and my family time. I do not make money from any of this. My job takes me out of town for weeks at a time. As I mentioned, there were several moments this year when I was forced to pivot in order to keep up with the amount of media I had amassed. In lieu of that, I would like to see more people express interest in getting involved with Louisiana’s music scene using my site as a vessel to publish media of their own. The likes, follows, shares, streams, show attendances, and merch purchases we all bestow upon our favorite local bands help them incredibly. But through mingling at shows and corresponding with others, I know for a fact there is a bevy of talent in our midst that could be put to use. Many of you possess the passion to review your favorite local album. Some of you might even have the desire to publish a performance review. Perhaps others are players in the field and see where improvements could be made. Those people might be interested in publishing a short opinion piece. I welcome these types of ideas and will work with you on getting your voice out there. Whatever means attract you to supporting our state’s music scene, I’m always available to collaborate and get your works out to the masses.
As for my site in particular, I would hope 2025 brings more registrants to the Vendor Page (music industry businesses) and more activity overall. I see too many members that join and do not complete their bio or add music to their profile. And I think members could take advantage of the Events Page to list their shows, as well as the Classifieds Page to find or list gigs and used equipment. People are quick flock to social sites to accomplish these tasks not realizing that they are contending with so many other distractions in front of a crowd that is often irreverent to their message. Neworleansmusicians.com has one mission, Louisiana music. It covers that in every way possible and tunes out all else. I would be remiss if I did not include my invitation to those interested in making videos, selling ad space, or papering their town with stickers or fliers. These are, of course, ways of furthering the ability of Neworleansmusicians.com to propel Louisiana’s music community further.
I appreciate all of you taking the time to read about what 2024 brought and I look forward to publicly raising the bar in 2025. I am making myself accessible to everyone interested in Louisiana’s music community. Contact information and further details can be found at https://neworleansmusicians.com/blog/about-nom/.
Author: David Trahan
To register as a member, visit https://neworleansmusicians.com/registration
