OFF: Changes at Aural Innovations

[Jerry Kranitz]

AURAL INNOVATIONS NEWS

I have decided that the July 2003 issue of Aural Innovations (online this
past weekend) will be the last of the quarterly "issues" I will publish. No,
Aural Innovations is not going away, and I certainly have no intention of
slowing the momentum we've built up. But after nearly 6 years of always
being on time I'm finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the
regularly scheduled issues. But another big part of this decision is that
with the immediacy of the internet it just doesn't seem to make sense to try
and simulate a printed publication. I'll complete reviews that sometimes sit
for up to 2 months waiting for the next issue to go online. The "have it
NOW" aspect of the internet allows AI to be a "publication", without the
need to try and give the illusion that we're a publication that people can
hold in their hands, which is essentially what I think the quarterly index
page format attempts to do.

So here's my plan...

Because the radio shows are fairly frequent people get regular announcements
from me anyway. So as we complete reviews and articles I want to get them
out there. So if I've got some reviews/articles/interviews ready, I can
include those with my radio announcements as part of an overall "What's New"
release. I'll add a "What's New" section so people can track everything (and
hopefully become regular visitors) and I'll also break the alpha index down
into individual letters of the alphabet for easier alpha reading, which I
know many readers do. I'll also add a continually updated NEWS section where
readers can go to get the latest news about what's happening in the
space/psych world. I try to include news in my radio updates but I receive a
lot more than gets included in those.

I will also do the radio shows more frequently as I believe we get a lot of
"bang for the buck" from them in terms of exposure for the bands. The radio
shows are easy to do, often taking not more much time to create than it
takes to do a single CD review. And because so many of the CD's I get are
sent out to reviewers, I never seem to have time to hear that music for
myself, even though I make copies before sending them out. So unless I'm the
one that reviews the music it tends not to get played on the shows. I need
time to hear the stuff that others are reviewing because there's most
certainly great music that is getting ignored on the radio shows. I'll also
be adding at least 2 new radio shows: An all-Electronic music show and a
Stoner rock show, though the Space Rock shows will still be the primary focus.

I think there are lots of benefits to this change, with more frequent
updates of the site, more radio play, and more time to focus on the site and
publicizing AI. Things will proceed as usual with the radio shows for the
time being while I reoganize the web site. I've got lots of ideas about how
this  will all work and I foresee it evolving over the next year, none of
which will involve getting any more rest than before... and I wouldn't have
it any other way. Your comments and sugggestions are most welcome.

Jerry Kranitz (jkranitz at aural-innovations.com)