Forty Years Online

It started with an Apple 2E

In 1984, seeking a solution to the tedious task of re-typing articles during editing, I purchased an Apple IIe with the word processing program, Apple Writer. The computer also came equipped with a 300 baud modem which, when connected to a phone line, enabled me to interact with other computers and BBS (Bulletin Board Systems). Once I was online, it was easy to post on bulletin boards and send emails. Primitive and slow, telecommunications technology was groundbreaking nevertheless, coinciding with the dawn of the personal computer. The following years saw rapid advancements. The emergence of more sophisticated online services marked a new era. First CompuServe then AOL (America Online) and Prodigy.

The introduction of the Macintosh on January 17, 1984, with its pioneering graphical user interface, was a significant milestone. Its ease of use helped make personal computers widespread. Consequently, the popularity of email and online services surged, reflecting the changing landscape of digital communication.

The TV Commercial That Changed the Word

The first ad for the Macintosh, aired only once on the 1984 Superbowl, is considered one of the most important and iconic in television history.

The ad was important not only for its immediate impact in promoting a product but also for its lasting influence on advertising, brand marketing, and the cultural perception of technology.

Directed by Ridley Scott, whose “Blade Runner” was a sci-fi hit the tv commercial featured high production values, a cinematic quality, and a narrative that was unusual for tv ads at the time. This approach set a new standard for advertising, showing that commercials could be as engaging and thought-provoking as film or television content.

The ad drew on George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984," suggesting that the introduction of the Macintosh would prevent a monolithic, oppressive future dominated by IBM (implicitly compared to Big Brother from Orwell's novel). This symbolism resonated with viewers and positioned Apple as a rebellious, innovative company challenging the status quo.

By choosing the Super Bowl as the platform for the ad, Apple ensured a massive audience. The Super Bowl was (and remains) one of the most-watched events on American television. This year, a thirty second ad on the Superbowl cost seven million dollars. Usually one of the most viewed progarms on television annually, Superbow LVIII attracted 123.4 million viewers on broadcast and cable tv, and streaming.

In the early 1990s, the landscape of online access transformed with the introduction of web browsers. This technology made navigating the internet more feasible, as it was easy for anyone to start browing the web.

The Web Arrives and The World Will Never Be The Same

By 1994, I had acquired "Internet in a Box," essentially the Netscape browser, marking my foray into this new digital realm. Initially, the internet was a sparse landscape, primarily composed of text and images, devoid of audio or video content. Yet, even in its simplicity, the potential for something groundbreaking was palpable.

I was particularly struck by the parallel between the internet and jazz. Both were global phenomena, transcending boundaries and connecting people. I recognized that the internet could serve as a powerful platform for the proliferation and appreciation of jazz. With this insight, I penned an article for JazzTimes magazine, envisioning a future where jazz thrived on the web, reaching new audiences and evolving with the digital age.

Just weeks following the publication of my article, I received a call from Larry Rosen, a key figure in the jazz world. Larry, along with Dave Grusin, founded GRP Records, notable for being the first jazz label to embrace the CD format. Their timing couldn't have been better. GRP Records rapidly ascended to major label prominence, skillfully balancing commercial success with musical authenticity. They were also instrumental in pioneering the smooth jazz genre, notably promoting artists like Kenny G. Personally, I wasn't a fan of that style of jazz, but many people were.

A Life Changing Opportunity

"I saw your article and liked it," Larry reported.  "We're starting a jazz website and we'd like you to get involved."  The next chapter of my life had begun.

Larry and Dave had just sold GRP Records, which had expanded to include Impulse! Records, to Universal Music. Each of them reportedly netted a cool seven million dollars in cash from the deal. It was an impressive achievement especially for Larry, who began his journey as a drummer in the basement of a synagogue. Eager to embark on a new venture and recognizing the immense potential of the web, they acquired a company, N2K, founded by Chris Bell, who later developed the technology used in iTunes. Their inaugural project under this new banner was Jazz Central Station, which emerged as the first major jazz website in 1995 after its debut on the soon to be defunct Microsoft Network.

Larry's office was situated on the top floor of a skyscraper located at 57th Street and Eleventh Avenue, offering a panoramic view of the Hudson River, with a direct sightline to the CBS-TV building. Notably, the renowned TV program "60 Minutes" was headquartered across several floors in the same high rise. On that memorable day, as I rode the elevator, I found myself in the company of Leslie Stahl, the correspondent renowned for her tenure as the CBS News White House correspondent, where she notably rattled President Nixon with her reporting.  She was totally immersed in what looked to be a briefing paper and never looked up.

While waiting in the expansive reception area for my meeting with Larry, his secretary courteously offered me a bottle of water from Larry's private label. I had never seen a bottle of water with a label that included someone’s picture. After a short wait, I was guided into his office. The desk was impressively large, reminiscent of the size of a steamship, and the office walls were adorned with photographs of Larry steering his yacht, aptly named 'Jazz'. As I sat across from him, I noticed that his desk was elevated above the floor level, positioning me to look up at him during our conversation.

Larry was excited about Jazz Central Station and he had some serious plans for N2K becoming the first internet music company.  As he began to spell out his plan my thought was, this guy is the Alexander the Great of Music, looking to build an empire here.  

I was soon consulting for Jazz Central Station, becoming co-founder of the site, and eventually, the Director.  The pace soon quickened as N2K went from five employees to twenty and within a year, nearly a hundred.  What started as a Jazz website, was soon joined by Rocktropolis, and Classical Insights, then a record label.  There were many venture capitalists looking for investment opportunities at the beginning of the dotcom era and the money began to pour in.  But in the early days of the web, there were few income streams.  Everyone believed advertising money would be huge, and it was, but that didn't happen for at least another ten years, as it took time for the medium to mature.

Nevertheless, N2K kept growing.  We took at an office down on Wall Street, occupying an entire floor of a newly wired building. N2K also purchased an online retail outlet, hoping that the sale of CDs would provide the necessary income stream to keep everything afloat until the big payday arrived. That quickly became an issue at N2k because of the burn rate. That term refers to the rate at which a company is spending its capital, especially venture capital, in excess of its income. It's a measure of negative cash flow. With rapid growth and new employees arriving almost daily, the burn rate at N2K was soon $750,000 a month.

One day Larry called me into his office, this time overlooking the East River and said, "we have Jazz Central Station, Rocktropolis, Classical Insights, the N2K Record Label, and the official websites of Leonard Bernstein and Miles Davis. And now we have an online CD store, Music Boulevard"  Pausing for effect, he looked in my eyes said, "we control music on the internet.”

Six months on, N2K began to crumble. Despite raising sixty million dollars in a public offering, the expected revenue couldn't materialize quickly enough. Around the time N2K went public, Amazon emerged, rapidly becoming a massive success as the first major online retailer. In those days, before iTunes, people predominantly chose Amazon for purchasing music. In the online world, the first to successfully establish a new niche often leads the market. While there are other online retailers, they remain secondary to Amazon. This pattern repeats across platforms: social media has alternatives to Facebook, but they don't compare in scale. Similarly, in the realm of video, YouTube stands out with its vast collection of 850 million videos, garnering two billion views monthly on a global scale, unmatched by any competitor.

The First Jazz Blog - Bird Lives!

After N2K, I started the first jazz blog, Bird Lives! I was the Pariah writing impassioned diatribes about the injustices of the music business. It caught on very quickly. I would go to events and since no one knew I was the writer, they’d talk about the blog, wondering, “who the hell is the Pariah?” Nothing like drama to draw an audience.

Thanks to Steve Smith for this mention in his blog.

I eventually became engrossed in a different project and ceased maintaining my successful blog. Subsequently, my identity was revealed.

My next professional endeavor was with the Global Music Network, a London-based initiative. The concept involved traveling to various jazz and classical music venues worldwide, capturing performances through video and audio recordings, and potentially live streaming these events. The goal was to distribute these recordings on CDs and DVDs via the website. However, in 1999, the limited availability of broadband internet made it challenging if not downright impossible, for most people to stream videos. Additionally, while purchasing music on iTunes was started to gain traction thanks to the iPod, the broader concept of selling music online was still struggling to gain widespread acceptance.

As an early adopter of the internet, my tenure working for Larry Rosen was intense and non-stop, but it provided me with priceless experience. Working at the dawn of the dotcom age, I was essentially an internet pioneer. With the dawn of the new millennium, I began creating websites for jazz musicians for Sonny Rollins, Billy Taylor, Joe Lovano and other jazz musicians.

The Birth of the Jazz Video Guy

The reduced costs of video production and the advent of broadband video streaming technology soon led me back to filmmaking. In 2004, I started producing videos for Sonny, Billy, and Joe. Following the launch of YouTube in 2006, I began sharing content as the Jazz Video Guy. The arrival of smartphones and social media in the following year enabled me to quickly cultivate a global audience. My predictions about this medium, in 1994, all came true.

From 2006 to 2022, I uploaded nearly over twenty five hundred videos on YouTube, with at three hundred of them being short films I produced. When I started, I was the only person posting jazz content on the web. Over the next few years, others joined the party.

Goodbye Social Media?

The only constant in life is change. I've written extensively about the recent shifts on YouTube, particularly their focus on short-form content, driven by TikTok's immense success, and the rise of algorithmic control. For me, algorithms are a form of digital dictatorship. Facebook has also changed, following YouTube’s lead on short videos and their dependence on algorithms,

Because I’m outspoken, I’ve encountered considerable censorship on Facebook. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been in Facebook jail, banned from the site for periods of up to a month, because of something I posted.

This developments led me to largely cease posting on YouTube and Facebook.

Now, I find myself at Syncopated Justice, where I've come full circle, back to writing. Here, I enjoy the freedom to create without censorship and the pressure of chasing numbers. This marks the latest chapter in my ongoing online journey, one driven by passion and filled with accomplishments, and it's a story that continues to evolve. I still have something to say.

I’ve given up trying to predict the future. But I do know one thing, as long as I’m on the planet, I’ll keep creating, inspired by the music that first reached out to me when was eight years old. And I’ll be utilizing the latest technology. You can count on that.