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February 2009

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Dear fellow AAJ contributor,

Despite the economic downturn, All About Jazz continues to forge ahead and we're off to a productive start in 2009. Every contributor announcement contains important and timely information, so please read on.





AAJ House Rules

We've made a short list of article submission rules and we'd like you to follow them from this point forward. Please commit them to memory.

The Musician Center is growing rapidly (16,500+ profiles when we last checked) and we've developed a way to hotlink musician names to their profiles. Please start linking names within your articles. It's easy. Just place two curly braces around the name, like {{Christian McBride}}. TIP: Just link the first instance of a musician's full name.



Recommended Articles



AAJ readers were quick to embrace our new "Recommend" feature. Check out how many times your recent articles have been recommended. Mark Corroto's Dave Douglas digital listening experience article is hot! To view the top recommended articles, click the link next to the recommend button.



Thank You Editors!

We'd like to thank the editors who have stepped up to help out recently. We're running short-staffed and many of them have assumed greater responsibility while helping us through a rough stretch. You can view our entire editorial staff here. If an editor has improved your article, please send him or her some encouraging words.



Follow AAJ on Twitter

Are you a Twitter user? If so, you can follow AAJ daily. Learn how here.



Best of 2008 Roundup

In case you missed the best of 2008 lists, you can view them all here. View some of the individual contributor lists and the top picks voted on by our entire staff.



What's in Store: 2009

We've already made several refinements to the website and we're now working on a new and fully integrated photo gallery. Unlike our previous gallery, this one will be developed in-house (just like everything else you see at AAJ).

We're working on a streaming audio solution so musicians can upload their music. We'll stream their music from a musician's profile page, in related articles, in related news items, and on related concert pages. The site will soon become more welcoming to students, and though there are some hurdles to overcome, we have every intention of bringing video to the site.

On the backend, we'll change how publicists, musicians and record labels communicate with our staff. In a nutshell, we'll allow them to post upcoming releases and you'll have the opportunity to claim them for review. Direct service from the source to the writer (cutting out a stop at AAJ HQ) will ensure you'll get music you want, improve tracking, and improve turnaround time on the reviews.

On the business front, we've partnered with two organizations to sell advertising for AAJ. The economy has made web advertising sales a challenge, but we have a unique site with a desirable demographic, and our two new partners will allow AAJ to generate revenue commensurate with our traffic.

And speaking of traffic, wow! January was our best month ever, and last Monday we topped 76,000 readers! Traffic is growing and we expect to see a significant increase as the year marches on. We're posting the monthly numbers again here.



Need CDs to Review?

Ready to review some more CDs or haven't received your shipment from AAJ HQ yet? If so, email me. Place "CDs for [Your Name]" in the subject and include details in the message: number of CDs, preferred genres, special requests, and your address.



Musicians Dig AAJ!

Check out some of these feel good comments from jazz musicians around the world. We're making a difference!

Be back in touch soon.

Michael Ricci

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