Tag Archives: Dave Allen

advice, featured

Twitter 101 Business Guide

twitter_101guide social cache dot com

by Joe Wallace

One of my favorite new media commentators is Dave Allen, of Gang of Four fame. In addition to a very busy speaking and traveling schedule, he’s got a few going concerns on the web, one of which is the ever-relevant Social Cache.  Check out the recent post on the Twitter 101 for Business guide, now available as a free download from Social Cache (hosted from Allen’s other site Pampelmoose.com).

If you’re still trying to figure out what this Twitter thing is all about and why you should be paying attention, try this free download courtesy of Social Cache and get yourself schooled. (Please note this is a link to the post, not the PDF itself–that’s located within the post itself.)

If you’re not familiar with Social Cache, have a look around the site…it’s definitely worth your time.

resources

Trust and Fame: The Gospel According To Nemo Design

Dave Allen had some compelling things to say about quality work, ideas that all freelance writers should take to heart. The discussion includes the notion of doing AMAZING work versus merely GOOD work–a concept which resonates with me thanks in part to the fact that I’m reading similar concepts in the recent Henry Rollins book DULL ROAR. Now I am digesting the book in light of the Dave Allen Social-Cache post. If there’s one thing that’s hammered away at over and over in the Rollins books, it’s the insistence on doing the absolute best in spite of all opposition, personal baggage, fatigue, pain, whining, excuses, lack of involvement from your band mates, etc.

I have a hard time reading Dave Allen and Henry Rollins on this subject because I have to go back to the real world when I’m done–the world where you have to lower your expectations or else be constantly annoyed by a lack of interest in basic issues of quality. Hey, I spent 13 years in the military where nobody gets fired, but if you had enough seniority you could impose any standards you wanted. That includes no standards at all or asking-far-too-much-for-no-good-reason madness.

You also had your creative work–writing, editing, photography, the lot–critiqued by people who had no idea how to string two words together to say thank you, let alone put together a script or an article. It gives one a work ethic that says “not on my watch” or it sucks all the life out of you.

But I ramble. Check out that post over at Social-Cache. Well worth your time and it’s an idea worth taking to heart.

editorial

The Music Industry Vs. The Freelance Writing Game

In recent times there is a great emphasis on radical transparency for websites and blogs, so I feel it’s only fair to point out that today’s headline is completely sensationalized and downright misleading. It did what headlines are meant to do though, it got you to read what comes next.

As some regular readers here may remember from my earlier screeds, I’m a fan of Dave Allen’s music blog, Pampelmoose.com. A recent post reprinting the words of Todd Berry of Greyday Records discusses some practices in the music biz that drive the value of a musician’s work down.

What does any of that have to do with freelance writing?

Continue reading The Music Industry Vs. The Freelance Writing Game →

lifestyle

What’s in Your iPod?

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getpeel.jpgI’ve been a fan of Gang of Four bassist Dave Allen’s blog, Pampelmoose for quite some time, but I was never happier to be an avid reader than on the day Allen blogged about a fabulous little application called Peel. This app has literally changed my life as a writer in a small but wonderful way; Peel legally harvests free MP3s from music blogs anywhere you tell it to go. Within two weeks I had more free music than I know what to do with, and even listening in the home office for the better part of the work day I can’t possibly keep up with it all. No more changing CDs in the middle of a tricky writing assignment for me, Peel can be set up to dump all the MP3s into iTunes automatically so I just hit “party shuffle” and enjoy endlessly.

Peel is designed to give you access to all that great stuff you’ve been missing with the same basic notion that all good MP3 blogs have: if you like what you hear, buy the full album and support the artist. Contrary to what the major labels and the RIAA would have you believe, this is a supportable business model for an independent artist as evidenced by the recent Radiohead album, In Rainbows which was released digitally “for any price you want” long before the CD went into stores. Radiohead sales have been fine in spite of the damn-near-free digital release. 

Peel is my new favorite tool, but alas it is only available for the Mac at present. You can download it for a free one-month trial, and then buy it once you’re hooked for the ridiculously low price of $14.95.