What's next for GenRegardless?

I really hate college.

An accurate depiction of how I feel at the end of every semester.

Coming into this year, I felt so discouraged with journalism that it seemed to me GR would just end up being another project to fall by the wayside.  Yet, in another semester where I've questioned the value of that tiny piece of paper called a diploma, GenRegardless has remained my joy.  I've had a lot of trouble writing this semester (even this post is late and short) but my dream is still to get paid to write about music. 

What have I learned?

Well, most importantly, I found some great blogs that reminded me that people still want to read good writing.  Joey Sweeney of Philebrity showed me that it's okay to write about whatever I want, and that a laid back/conversational tone is not only allowed in blogging, but a highly effective way of writing.  Enrico Campitelli Jr., creator of The 700 Level, showed me that writing about what you love can lead to a legitimate career.

But Tom & Lorenzo get their own paragraph.

Image courtesy of philly.com

My favorite guest speakers of the year (and possibly of my college career) made me believe that I CAN do this.  Both of them openly acknowledged that luck has been a major factor in their success, but their gumption to MAKE it work is what truly inspired me.  As far as their writing goes, I can't describe it better than they do, "Fabulous and Opinionated." They're sassy, maybe slightly snarky at times, but never bitchy to the point where you want/need to stop reading. Most importantly though, the tone in every piece makes it sound important, like that post was all the writer cared about that day (despite the fact that they post multiple times a day).  This devotion to creating quality content, whether they're in the mood or not, has encouraged me to do the same as I approach a period in life where unemployment seems inevitable and forcing myself to write will be necessary. 

But what about branding?

One of the classic motivation killers that visits me is self-doubt.  I don't want to be just another person spewing their opinions on the internet. So an important aspect of my blog to establish is what makes me different.

It's probably not enough to just say that I'm different because I only write about what I want to write about.  However, if you look deeper, the main difference between GenRegardless and other long-form music blogs is the variety.  This semester I've covered Frank Zappa to KoRn, Katy Perry to simply working at Hard Rock.  I feel (and I hope) as long as I can keep my writing engaging, I can continue to not limit what it is I write about. 

I quickly mentioned in a previous post that I thought the GenRegardless brand was Picky, Honest, and Conversational.  The more I think about it, the more those three characteristics fully embody what I hope to accomplish.  

Picky: Slightly contradicting what I said above about Tom & Lorenzo, I don't want to compromise and write about anything I'm not super passionate about.  Sure, there may be some topics that are less exciting, but my addictive personality keeps me very focused on whatever I'm into at the moment.  I think that obsessiveness of wanting to know more about a topic than anyone else leads me to having a better knowledge and understanding than many other music bloggers.

Honest: I love Rolling Stone (despite my disappointment with their handling of "A Rape On Campus"), but their reviews are essentially useless.  Ever noticed that Rolling Stone's logo appears on every commercial for a new movie or album you see? Of course it's usually next to a word like "outstanding" or "breath-taking."  Their reviews have gotten so fluffy and weak just because of the mutually beneficial relationship between them and these production companies.  Since it feels like no one reads my reviews anyway, and I don't see GR searching for advertisers anytime soon, I can write with complete honesty.

Conversational:  The goal behind GR, other than a creative outlet, is to start a conversation.  I want people to read my posts and feel a need to react.  In class, we talked about how difficult it can be to deal with commenters.  I'd love to have to deal with that problem.  WHERE ARE YOU, INTERNET TROLLS?!?!  In all seriousness, I just want to talk to people about music, so all of my writing is intended to be responded to.  Tell me you couldn't agree more with something.  Call me a blundering idiot (as long as you back it up).  I just want to engage, and I'm trying to improve the voice in my writing to make that happen.

Another major facet of this course was using social media to boost our posts.  I've tweeted and shared every post on Facebook, but with little avail.  However, my Hard Rock post was shared multiple times, so I finally got to witness the exponential growth of page views.  When I was tinkering with GR 2 years ago, I set up a specific Facebook page and everything, so I hope to resurrect that and start a specific Twitter account for the site.  I don't want to feel like I'm whoring out GR, but it couldn't hurt to share my posts in a few more places.

Someday, I'd love to turn GenRegardless into a flourishing business.  It'd be awesome if I could be picky about what I want to write about, but also hire individuals with completely different musical interests than mine so that they could be picky too.  The ultimate goal is to make GenRegardless as inclusive as possible (music news and reviews, regardless of genre), but without sacrificing good content.

At this moment, GenRegardless and Carter Wintsch are one and the same.  In the future, I hope it is a place where ANY music lover can dive in and lose themselves in the conversation.  

(This post is checking in at almost exactly 1,000 words, which is half of what was suggested.  Sorry professor, but another thing I learned in class was to keep my posts concise and interesting. Maybe you taught me too well?)