Welcome

Traffic data from Urchin and Feedburner is posted here, along with raw data if anyone's interested. A reminder that as numbers and data come in, we'll post them up. We will not have full purchase data for up to a month, depending on when Apple generates its reports. We should have third party verification of purchasing from IODA within a day or two.

Podcasting gets little respect from traditional media. To them we're little more than a joke, than amateurs. What they don't understand is that podcasting is more than just a delivery mechanism - it's a social movement. People are sick of the watered-down, cookie-cutter content that networks and record companies expect us to enjoy. People are tired of watching friends and loved ones get sued by record labels who only care about profits and nothing else, not even the artists they supposedly represent.

We want and deserve more. On March 22, 2007, we're going to change that with your help.

We can do better. We can match and exceed the reach of big media, corporate media, labels, and the entrenched interests. On March 22nd, we are going to take an indie podsafe music artist to number one on the iTunes singles charts as a demonstration of our reach to Main Street and our purchasing power to Wall Street. The track we've chosen is "Mine Again" by the band Black Lab. A band that was dropped from not just one, but two major record labels (Geffen and Sony/Epic) and in the process forced them to fight to get their own music back. We picked them because making them number one, even for just one day, will remind the RIAA record labels of what they turned their backs on - and who they ignore at their peril.

What's more, we're going to take it a step beyond that. We've signed up as an affiliate of the iTunes Music Store, and every commission made on the sale of "Mine Again" will be donated to college scholarships, partly because it's a worthy cause, but also partly because college students are among the most misunderstood and underestimated groups of people by big media. Black Lab has taken it up another notch - 50% of their earnings are going to be donated to the scholarship fund as well.

If you believe in the power of new media, on March 22nd, 2007, take 99 cents and 2 minutes of your time to join the revolution and make iTunes "Mine Again". If you're a content producer (blogger, podcaster, etc.), we're asking you to join up with us and help spread the word to your audience. Nothing would prove the power of new media more than showing corporate media that not only can we exceed their reach and match their purchasing power, but that we can also do it AND make a positive difference in the world. If we can succeed with this small example, then there's no telling what can do next.

How to help

Remind people about Bum Rush the Charts using email and MySpace bulletins & messages. Remind people that the link to buy Mine Again is:

http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/bumrush

and that using this link will net us 5% in affiliate fees from Apple on top of the 50% donation from the band.

Important: remind people that they can GIFT Mine Again using this link as well, so if they already own it, they can gift it to a friend, colleague, or associate who may not have heard of Black Lab before.

If college and graduate students are part of your audience, remind them that in order to be eligible for the scholarship, they need to set up a free profile at:

http://www.ScholarshipPoints.com

Also, it may sound silly, but it pays to remind people that they need to download and install iTunes, plus open an iTunes Music Store account with a valid credit card and/or PayPal account.

http://www.iTunes.com

Make sure you've got a copy of the StumbleUpon toolbar for IE or Firefox, and that you have an account set up on StumbleUpon.

http://www.StumbleUpon.com

Once you've got StumbleUpon up and running, visit EVERY blog post (click on the titles of the posts on the main page) at Bum Rush the Charts and click the Thumbs Up button. Be sure to do this on the buy now URL as well.

On YouTube, make sure you watch and rate 5 stars the Bum Rush videos on there:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jMx_66WS9hQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=u5_y9EZcLDY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T-zl5hZOScQ

Obviously, buy Mine Again today. In addition to that, we need to give a major social networking blast to BRTC stuff today.

Send out one final round of MySpace bulletins. Ideally, delete any previous bulletins about BRTC and post a new one. If you have the time, delete and repost in the morning, afternoon, and evening, to ensure that the maximum number of friends see the bulletin (especially if you have a lot of friends).

Go to this Digg.com Bum Rush URL:

http://digg.com/videos/music/Bum_Rush_The_Charts_2

and click Digg It. If you don't have a Digg.com account, set one up.

== After Thursday ==

We'll keep you up to date on how BRTC goes - if it goes well enough, there's no telling what we can all do next. Thanks for being a part of it, and please share this with anyone else you know who is excited about BRTC and wants to know how they can help more, beyond just buying the track.