I had the excellent opportunity to interview Bill Streeter, the brains behind LOFISTL, a podcast on St Louis culture and music. The rest of you can stop trying - Bill is the best interview I've done, and he has success written all over him. He truly gets where this Internet thing is going. Thanks to Jeremiah Owyang, who pointed Bill out to me in my own backyard.
Interview with Bill Streeter of LoFiStl
1) Can you give me a) LoFiStl in 10 words or less, and b) A 30-second Elevator pitch?
A) It's a show about underground culture in the Midwest.
B) It's a bi-weekly show about lo-fi music and culture in the Midwest, featuring local and touring acts and cultural oddities and human-interest stories that often get overlooked by the mainstream press. You can subscibe to the podcast in iTunes, on my own video blog (vlog), Youtube, MySpace, Podtech.net and where ever fine video is shared.
2) How long have you been around? Where are you located?
I've been around since the late 60's, I live in beautiful South City St. Louis MO USA. Lo-Fi Saint Louis has been around since February 2005 and exists on the Internets, and in my head.
3) So are you an advertising website, a music agent, or just a lover of music and culture with some web chops? Can you make or break bands with your podcasts?
Definitely a lover of music and culture. I love to find cool stuff that not many people know about and tell people about it. I'm also a recovering wanna-be filmmaker. I studied film at Columbia College in Chicago in the early 90's, I did really well there, but I had to dropout due to financial reasons. I became a graphic designer. I realized a long time ago that the Internet would someday be the primary distribution mechanism for video content so, in a way, I've been waiting to do something like this for a long time.
It depends on what you mean by make or break. First of all let me just say I'm not interested in breaking anyone really. I only cover things I really like and I think are worth sharing, so I'm not out to break at all. Making… well, that's another matter. I certainly don't have the power to catapult a band into superstardom, but I do have the ability to make influential people aware of acts they might not have been aware of before. For instance I know that some people in the local press follow what I do, because I've heard from them, and I've seen several stories I've covered eventually make it in to the local press.
4) There is so much good material out on the web – what do you do to get noticed?
The fact is that there isn't a huge amount of GREAT video content on the web—not enough anyway. The demand for it is much greater than thesupply and it's growing all the time. The way you get noticed is to
produce something great and do it regularly and consistently. Other things that have helped me get noticed are participating in related online communities, teaching people how to do it themselves, linking to other peoples blogs I respect, and ironically the mainstream press. It also helps to understand how blogs really work, the value of linking and participating in communities.
5) Is your site a moneymaker or is it solely a labor of love?
It started out as a labor of love. I had no idea where it was going when I started. I wondered at the time if video on the net was going to be the next big thing, and how cool it would be that I got in on the beginning of it. But I didn't know. All I knew was that I was posting video on a blog and people were watching it. And for many artists that's reward enough—knowing that people are seeing your work.
Obviously it seems that video online IS the next big thing, and there are lots of start ups looking to capitalize on it. Some of these companies are looking to be the next YouTube and attract users that will voluntarily produce content, and there are others that are looking to sign higher quality content producers. I had the opportunity to get an offer from one of the later back in December (I think I caught there attention by wining a Vloggie award), and in early January, I inked a deal with a company called Podtech. The same company that hired Robert Scoble last summer. So now I can say that I am one of the few people right now that makes any money doing this. So far it has worked out really well. They have some amazing people working there, among them are John Furrier, Steve Gilmor and Valerie Cunningham.
6) Is St Louis a cultural wasteland or a hidden gem? What can people outside our city learn by checking out LoFiStl?
It's certainly not a cultural wasteland, on any level. It's a place with deep history and an interesting future. But part of what I'm trying to accomplish is to encourage people to be tourists in their own back yards. Because I believe that everyplace is at least a little interesting on some level. When I first moved here in 2001 I was struck by how much this town has going for it, and I was equally stuck by how much people here don't seem to realize it. That attitude seems to be changing now.
I have more viewers from outside St. Louis than from within, which is interesting. Part of that is due to the quicker adoption of consuming online video in other places (like the coasts). And some of it is that there are things I cover here that can be interesting to anyone—and I make a conscience effort to present them in a way that is universal.
7) Do you read blogs or watch podcasts on a daily basis? If so,who do you regularly read?
Yes. There are a couple hundred blogs in my google reader. And what I read ranges from everything from local blogs about local issues in St.Louis, like PubDef.net, UrbanreviewSTL.com and Ecoabsence.blogspot.com. And I read some of the bigger more famous tech and business bloggers. There are also blogs I read that are about art and culture, music. The thing is I've always been really curious about a lot of different things-- almost everything really—when I was a kid I read the entire Encyclopedia Britanica from A to Z just because I wanted to know stuff. So give me the Internet and a good RSS reader and I'm happy.
I am also subscribed to a fair number of podcasts. I listen to a pretty wide range of things. It seems lately most of what I listen to are NPR programs repurposed as Podcasts. I used to listen to a lot of NPR on the radio but being able to listen to it on my own schedule on my iPod is awesome. Here is a short list of my current favorites: Skepitcality, Skeptoid, TWIT, GaragePunk Podcast, Alternative Tenticals Podcast, Basic Brewing Podcast, Democracy Now!, almost anything podcast by KDHX (local community radio), Adam Curry's DSC,The Jet Set Show, The Show With ZeFrank, Make Magazines Podcast with Bre Pettis and many many more.
8) What is the most exciting Web 2.0 company that you see out there? (And if you hate the word Web 2.0, now is the time to rant)
Hard to say. I sorta hate buzzwords like that. I always assume that when people are talking about 2.0 they're talking about social media, and communities built around UGC. But I think in the next year we might see a pull back from that stuff. Looking back I like the way the Web has developed. I remember thinking 10 or 15 years ago that those were the best years that there ever were going to be for the web. That all the corporations were gonna come in and commercialize everything and break it. But that never happened. It seems to keep getting better and more useful. And seriously it's amazing how much UGC that there is out there. I think all the 2.0 stuff was just a natural evolution—no one could have predicted it and no one can really stop it.
Which one is really interesting to me? At this moment (1:20 pm on March 19, 2007) I would say Twitter. But I can't say that I'm "excited" about it. In a few minutes it might be something else.
9) Is independent music via MySpace, downloads, blogs and podcasts the way of the future, or will music labels and radio stations adopt these tools and adapt?
Yes. They will have to adapt—actually they need to completely rethink their business models to survive. Suing your users is not a business model. Some of the smarter companies know this. Way too many do not. Music has had a tough time of it because what use is a label when a band can do all the things labels used to do for themselves—for almost no money? There are a lot of things Music labels can do to adapt, but most of them don't seem to be moving in that direction. Their apparent lack of vision is really stunning.
10) Anything you want to finish with? Promotions, reasons to bookmark you, final thoughts?
You can subscribe to my podcast in iTunes or view it at lofistl.com. I'm having a blast with it and will be getting out to do some live events later this year. I also have been helping behind the scenes at Podtech with their new Vloggies Show. Hosted by Irina Slutsky. And to keep up with all my endeavors you can read my text blog at BillStreeter.net.
