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Since January 2009, Jonathan Mann has posted a song every day. Not five days a week: seven days a week. There is no rest for the wickedly productive. While he makes his living by writing and performing bespoke songs for organizations, Jonathan never stops creating for himself — and his fans.
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Things we mention in this episode:
"You've Got to Have a Gimmick." Jonathan's "The iPhone Antenna Song" was played by Steve Jobs at the "Antennagate" press conference.
Jonathan made a living for a while entering video contests. A friend of Jonathan's runs Online Video Contests, a site devoted to tracking and listing, uh, online video contests. (Lex Friedman, my buddy and the guy whose employer sells ads for this podcast, won the Ask Me Another quiz show "contest," and Paul and Storm recorded the results.)
Microsoft had a Bing jingle contest, which Jonathan won. M.G. Siegler of TechCrunch was not amused. Jonathan responded with a song.
Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn didn't create Pomplamoose on purpose, but it was a blazing success in views — not revenue. Jack explained the challenge of being ridiculously popular, not making much money, and trying to be true to one's own vision in an XOXO talk this year; you can watch the video. I interviewed Jack for the New Disruptors as well.
Jonathan and his then-girlfriend recorded the song, "We've Got To Break Up." It went viral. Jonathan Coulton launched his career with a Thing a Week, which, for him, was a song. Mr. Mann's friend, Chris Piascik, draws something every day — but only Monday to Friday! For which Jonathan pokes fun at him. You can have the Pike Place fish-throwing gang come and do a corporate team-building event for you.
Steve Wozniak's wife, Janet, commissioned a Mann song: "That's Just the Woz." Jonathan made an astonishingly strange video for Movado.
The New Disruptors is a podcast about people who make art, things, or connections finding new ways to reach an audience and build a community. Glenn Fleishman is the host, and he talks with new guests every week. Find previous episodes at the podcast's home.
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