We're excited to move Lingua Musica forward with a new concept for the show. In spring of 2011, we will begin partnering with artists performing upcoming shows to video interviews of 5-15 minutes in length which will post to the Lingua Musica YouTube channel. Joe Kendrick and/or Lingua Musica team members will interview the artists and talk about their next performance(s) along with other relevant topics. This video will be promoted with both social media (through our own team plus our followers and fans) and media sponsorships with other media in digital, print, radio, etc., as well as to and through the artists' fan base.

We will partner with businesses to sponsor the shows in a variety of ways. Lingua Musica will target businesses such as music venues to offer everything from tickets to the featured artists' shows to potential locations for filming. We will target other businesses that have ties to music and the concert-going public to offer items that can be used as prizes and incentives for viewing the Lingua Musica videos, for attending the artists' concerts, for becoming fans of Lingua Musica on social media and helping publicize its projects, and so on. For example, Lingua Musica could partner with a local artist who is playing a date in the next three or four weeks and get the venue involved by offering free tickets to the show to selected viewers on YouTube. We could partner with a business to give their products to new subscribers of the Lingua Musica YouTube page, and garner sponsorship from other businesses to give goods and services to the person getting the most RTs of the link on twitter, and to people who "like" the Facebook page. Their products could be featured in Lingua Musica videos. Also, the artists could get involved by offering free albums, CDs or downloads to lucky ticket buyers.

Essentially, we will be giving incentives for people to watch the video, become fans and promoters of the artists, venues, the sponsors and Lingua Musica, and buy tickets to the show.

We have our sights set on producing the first shows in Asheville, and are working to set up partnerships with venues, businesses and artists to make it a reality.

We look forward to hearing what you think about these ideas and will update you about our next Lingua Musica show soon!

-Joe Kendrick

Artist stereotypes do not apply

How many times have parents cringed when their children fell in love with a musician? Let's be honest, the world has looked askance at artists of all stripes (with notable exceptions) for most of our history. Musicians tend to be thought of as people who may be great at their art but who are nonetheless pretty bad at life skills like paying bills, getting to work on time, and sticking with the missus.

Aaron turns all those stereotypes on their head; he is not only a fantastic songwriter and musician, but he also runs his own construction business and is a devoted family man living a stone's throw from where he grew up in the western NC mountains. He is as meticulous and intense about his guitar and ballads as he is about his green built homes and raising his two girls.

As you'll see in our pilot episode, Aaron does both life and art exceptionally well. The folks around him are a big part of that.