Smashing the Myth of the Press Release

One musician spends year sharpen its craft. She writes class song universalize and perform them on one that movement manner its audience for fray. She records one tape demo and send it to record tag. She gets one contract and making money out, popularly and sweetheart.

Study: demoing tape is secret from becoming one musician be known.

Wait, you say, new demo tape one tool, only trick it to pass on its talent. This is its ability as one musician that progressively she contracts and popularly she is made.

You really, obviously. She can readymade the same as famous if one record executive saw she herself, or hears about her from one friend, or as a result sort with incident other.

Take what do we go to information.

Somehow, one that information has taken on one magical reputation as alpha and omega from publicity. Want to make money out? Ship one information. Want to get wind? Information. Want cover rise from Newsweek? Information.

Publicity "teacher" spring on all over Internet praise information as answer to all pain marketing. Just knock-out one release, this mass email goes to journalist, sit back and wait for Oprah to call.

This is one cruel joke.

Herein is reality: information is no more essential for its potential from publicity scoring is free than demo tape be subject to be our musician friend. If she has no talent, if its song sounds as waste, recorded best demo taped at the world won't get her signs. Copy for scavenging publicity. If you don't have one story to say, you information utterly worthless.

I don't knock information-- this is one tool be of important. But it new that: one tool. This is not its primeval need to think up while it visits time to look for publicity. In fact, this is one of last. And it is not even absolutely need (I have gotten a lot of publicity with new one heave letter, one fast email or one phone call).

If you worship on shrine from information, this is time to arrange priority reyou. Herein, then, what is that the things is more essential than one information at generating publicity:

1. One newsworthy story. This is equivalent from our musician talent. This is so publicity effort base you. This without, you information means nothing. To study about how to develops one newsworthy story, takings one looks at http://publicityinsider. com / asks. asp and roll down to "Are its corporate / website / crossbeam alive newsworthy?"

2. Study to think up one editor as. Oh, what one edge you will have at scoring publicity over all that adverbial devotee once you study how to get in head from one editor. Give one editor what she wants at the way she wants this and you will do excitement. Goes There present and its absorbency all. My relies, this will make one world difference.

3. Relevance. Connective is with one news event, make alone part of one trend, piggyback on one competitor is even greater story, but, indeed, for your story part of one greater than new image you firm. Story that lies on one presto vacuum runs out from oxygen.

4. Persistence. Transfer one information and waiting for result is lazy and ineffective. If you really trust you story, and you believe that it is rights one given media channel, you need to fight to make it happening. Call or editor email to pitch you story before sends release. If one editor talk no, other people attempt. If they all say no, back to at them with one different story angle.

Getting publicity involves so much more than new transfer one information. The as seriously and with as much regard as have just we print rock star to treat its craft and you will be well on the way you go to success.

Martin Luther King's Dream

In the history of any great people, sometimes there is a singular moment that so sums up that struggle and challenges the hearts of the people of the time that this moment becomes one that is both historic and mythical. In the long history the African American in this country, one such singular moment was the delivery of what has come to be referred to as the “I have a dream” speech during the historic March on Washington in August of 1963.

There are many things about this speech that are so poetic that the text of the speech has become one of the great historic texts of the nation’s history as well as of black history. That is why virtually any school child can recite the most stirring words from the speech which are…
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
What is most striking about this text if you read the entire text is the hope. And it’s a wonderful tradition for every family to read this speech, perhaps on Martin Luther’s King’s birthday which is now a national holiday. Dr. King called upon his people to look up and look with hope toward tomorrow. But more than that, he called on all people to work together toward a shared hope, a hope of fulfilling the American dream that he discusses with such passion in his words.

The setting for the speech was on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, within view of the Congress, the reflecting pool and the White House on the National Mall in the center Washington D.C. Dr. King called it hallowed ground reflecting his deep reference and respect for the icons of this country and his deep love of country which too comes through in the speech.

But it is a speech of struggle because he spoke of the fact that black people in America were still not living in an openly free and equal status with all other citizens. Dr King did not loose touch with the reality of the tough lives African Americans were living in the United States. That is why this speech is so perfectly crafted and so perfectly delivered. It combines the harsh reality and resolve by black leaders and the African American population to make the world better for themselves and their children with a hope and an optimism that this was a country that would not put up with the oppression and discrimination that has kept black people down ever since slavery.

It is a speech that issued a call to action in the time frame of “Now” which was a call to action that many in the houses of power in our country took heed. They did take action immediately to get the process of renewal and repair of a broken social system moving in the right direction. One of the outcomes of this speech was the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 which changed the fabric of the country forever in the legal restrictions it put on discrimination in every aspect of American life.

If it had not been for the “I have a dream” speech, the March on Washington on that hot and humid August day might have just been another in the many protests and events of the civil rights era. Instead it became an iconic moment in American and black history that changed Dr. King into a national hero for black and white people alike and energized a movement and a nation to take matters into their own hands and make thing better for all people.

The American Cowboy

Americans have a unique vision of themselves and their role in the world. Unlike perhaps any other peoples in history, Americans see themselves as people of destiny and a people who were put here to do something phenomenal and something significant for history and for all peoples of the earth. This unique self-concept, sometimes perceived as arrogance, is deeply grounded in a set of archetypes that Americans use to form their vision of themselves in the world. And no other archetype is as powerful in the American psyche than that of the cowboy.

The actual American cowboy was indeed a unique individual. While probably not as noble and ruggedly handsome as the images created of him in the movies, they were unique types of men who carved out a civilization from the rugged wilderness that was the American west in the years before the turn of the last century.

Some of the reasons that the image of the cowboy sometimes includes elements of the outlaw and the loner is that much of the legend of the cowboy came from stories of refugees from the broken southern army who took to the life of the cowboy rather than attempt to integrate into a society that included making peace with “the Yankee”. And that type of individual certainly did account for many of the outlaws who went on to become the stuff of legend and stories even to this day.

The renegade and loner image combined with the rough life of an actual cowboy whose job it was to guide those huge herds of cattle along trails such as the historic Cumberland trail where they could be sold to become the steaks, leather and other goods that were sold in rustic American stores of the time. This was a difficult life and the stories of the trail make up many history books for sure (vistaroof.com). But far more of the stories of the trail are glorifications of that lifestyle that must have been difficult indeed.

But the image of the cowboy was also something that grew larger than what the actual lifestyle of those simple but rugged men must have lived in the American west. It was an image that pulled together heroes as far flung as the Australian Gaucho cowboy, the Japanese Samurai and a knight in King Arthur’s court. It was an image of a man who demonstrated the rugged individualism that all Americans consider to be one of the central unifying traits that makes America great.

The cowboy image is one that even has its influence as high in the social strata of America that it influences the presidency. It is said that there is a tradition for any president when he first is elected and comes to Washington to begin learning this big new job. Tradition h olds that each president has as part of their early duties to sit down and watch the movie High Noon. They say that President Clinton watched it dozens of times in his early years. If this is true, it accounts for how often a new president seems to grow and change in the office and becomes his own version of the great American hero that is depicted in that movie. The American cowboy defends the virtue of the weak and helpless. He is a staunch defender of families and those in society who are trying to carve out a home in a difficult world. As such, the American cowboy fits with the “superhero” image that also appeals to the American system of justice and morality and values.

Even the star wars epic films were fundamentally grounded in the legend of the cowboy. The cowboy concept grew up from a history of our country that included the settling of a big land and the settling of a wilderness that pit the god given will and intellect of man against God’s creation. And it was the will of man that prevailed. That is why American’s admire the cowboy because he represents their own struggles for greatness, for success and to be a heroic figure at least for their families, home towns and churches. And that desire so deeply rooted in the culture of American history will always be what makes America and Americans great.

RSS : Why You Want It

There seem to be several theories as to what RSS stands for so I will go with the most popular, Real Simple Syndication.

OK, enough geek speak, you want to know what it can do for you, right?

I imagine your car radio has several stations programmed in. These will be the stations that best fit your tastes. There may be a few featuring your favourite music and perhaps a traffic report station. Having them programmed into your radio means you can access them with one push of the button instead of searching everytime you want to tune in.

RSS can do the same for your web browsing. Rather than opening endless emails or trawling through websites hoping to find a nugget of useful information you can subscribe to RSS feeds from the people that have something interesting to say.

Your RSS reader will give you a headline and perhaps a line or two from the latest update and you can then decide whether to read on or not in much the same way as you scan the headlines in a newspaper until you see a story of interest.

There are RSS feeds available on just about every topic you can imagine. Whether you want to keep up on world news or the latest trivia you will find many feeds of interest. If your tastes change or the quality of the content drops off then you can just delete the RSS feed from your reader. No more opting out of email lists, putting up with 'follow up' autoresponder messages, just instant on/off access to information that deserves your attention.

This has to be good news as with the rise in popularity of RSS feeds the publishers of feeds have to stay on top of their game. They know that it is very easy for you to wander off elsewhere. You wouldn't continue to buy a newspaper or a magazine that bores you would you? This means that the quality of a feed is generally vey high which is certainly a positive step in the development of the internet.

Finding feeds is very easy - when you find a site or blog that you like just look for an XML or RSS button, usually orange or blue. If you click the button however the page you are taken to is just a bunch of HTML so you need a RSS reader to make sense of it. Just take a note of the url in the browser window at the top of your screen.

If you are a Yahoo subscriber you can simply add the url of the feed into your My Yahoo page. Google also now offers this service through Google Reader. Some browsers, such as Firefox also have RSS readers built in (just choose the add live feed option in the bookmark manager). Other services such as Quikonnex also offer a messaging service too which means you can completely bypass the whole spam ridden, over filtered ISP email system.

With RSS feeds available from broad subjects to narrow niche topics the internet now provides what it was originally supposed to do - share the best quality, most relevant information immediately.