Start-up Journal: Celebrating Philadelphia.

IN THE OLD DAYS, journalistic outlets championed for their cities and regions, helping the areas grow and prosper.

The New York Times reports that the founding owners of the Los Angeles Times "used their fledgling publication to push for the development that helped give rise to modern Los Angeles. Water was first piped into the San Fernando Valley because they arranged for it. Los Angeles Harbor was built in part because of their backing."

I don't see journalists championing for cities or regions much these days. Most, especially in Philadelphia, pander to their audiences by feeding them a steady stream of bland information about sports, spot news, weather and gossip.

JUMP will champion the city. We'll focus on the awesome people doing awesome stuff, here in Philadelphia.

As nearly all large-scale manufacturing operations have left the city, leaving our brains as the most important product we create, it's vital that we celebrate our creative community.

JUMP will do that. And hopefully we'll all benefit.

Start-up Journal: Free Ads? Branded Content?

I'VE HAD DISCUSSIONS with several people who have suggested giving away free advertisements in the inaugural issue of JUMP, which will be released in March.

It is a common practice for new publications. There are numerous reasons for giving away ad space - developing relationships with potential advertisers, creating a perception of legitimacy in the eyes of the audience, etc.

Personally, I am against giving away ad space. With all that extra room in the magazine, we can be the magazine we would want to be, not the magazine we have to be because of finances. This is our chance to show the world how awesome we can be.

I'm not sure if that is smart. Thoughts?

Also, I don't want to give away ads when a handful of folks will pay for ads. Just doesn't seem fair.

A few people have suggested that we do branded content. They have suggested we work with potential advertisers to develop story ideas around their businesses. The stories and photos would be presented as regular content. But it would essentially be sponsored.

I'm against that as well.

That all may make me sound naive in business terms. But I try to see things from the readers' perspective. What do they want?

If we can figure that out, we'll gain a following. If we gain a following, advertisers will want to reach them. And we'll throw concerts and other benefits to raise cash to continue the magazine. Plus, we aren't looking for tons of cash.

I'm open to all ideas. Hit me.

(Why the picture of celebrating baseball players from 8th & Poplar? I miss me some baseball. Damn.)

Start-up Journal: Defining Success?

WE WILL NOT even come close to breaking even financially on the first issue of JUMP. If I am lucky, we'll sell maybe $1,000 worth of advertising. And our costs will be in the ballpark of $5,500 for the one issue, not including time, concert tickets and basic travel stuff like driving around the city to drop off issues.

We may earn more money through advertising for the second issue. For the third issue, we have a tentative arrangement with City Paper to sell ads because the issue will revolve around the Philly Film and Music Festival, of which CP is a sponsor.

Regardless, I personally am going to be eating a lot of money this year. Some people might automatically consider that a failure. But forget the money for now. I am committed to four issues this year. We'll re-evaluate afterward.

What criteria should we use to decide whether to continue after the first four issues?

First and foremost, I believe, the product has to be good. If the writers, photographers and other volunteers don't have their hearts in the project, it is a failure. If we create a product that is not special, why continue?

Second, there must be interest in the mag. On March 11, 2011, we'll begin dropping the mag at locations throughout the city. We'll deliver half of the 10,000 copies during that first week. One month later, we'll return to those spots. If the mags are gone, we'll leave more. If the original mags are still there, we probably distributed poorly.

If a lot of mags remain at a lot of distribution points, we've created something people have no interest in.

Finally, I want to hear from people directly. I want people to email us and say they love the mag. I want them submitting ideas, photos, art, whatever. I want people commenting online. And I want them clamoring to get involved.

I've already had random people submit a ton of photos. I've had emails from high school students, bands, labels and journalists inquiring about the project and offering to help.

There is interest in the magazine, and that has me unbelievably optimistic. It's been a long time since Philadelphia had a high-quality, local-music-only magazine, and the city has never had it's own glossy publication devoted to pumping up the local music scene.

So, let me tell you why I believe we will succeed:

1. Few places I've ever been have as much civic pride as this city does. If you are not from here and you say something bad about Philly, you will get a beat down (if you are from Philly, saying bad things is your birthright). Philly will support Philly, and the mag is a total community-builder and civic-booster.

2. We will run large, engaging images - on shiny paper - that you can rip out of the mag and tape to your wall. Our stories will be deep, and the variety of stories will be unmatched by any publication in the city.

3. The music scene in Philly is insane. There is so much amazing stuff happening. I went to the recent Diplo Mad Decent party and there had to be 150 people in line to get in, and another 200+ people inside. It was wall-to-wall packed. And it was a Monday. In January.

In November, I went to a Philadelphia Orchestra concert with Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the future musical director and conductor, leading the symphony. Afterward, Nezet-Seguin sat down with fans. There had to be more than 100 people waiting in line to shake his hand and snap pictures with him. It was especially amazing when you consider the Orchestra crowd usually splits for the Main Line before the conductor has taken his final bows.

People here love their music. There is interest in learning more about the musicians, the scene, the city, everything, I think.

4. Finally, we will succeed because we are modest with our goals. We aren't trying to get rich. The idea is to get to a financial comfort level - where everyone gets paid for their work.

Other than that, we want to help the musicians get notoriety. We want to encourage people to come to the city to listen to music. We want our talent to stay in Philly and get lots of love. And we want people supporting Philly businesses that support the Philly music scene.

As always, your thoughts are welcomed and appreciated.

Start-up Journal: Creating the Business and Launching a Magazine.

FOR THE PAST SIX nights, I have experienced the awesome and eclectic sounds of Philly. Last night, I sat in David Gaines Dining Room Recording Studio (above) as he and a group of friends sang, played music and discussed the music scene in town. It was pretty amazing.

This is part of my 31 days of Philly music, the story that I am doing for the new JUMP magazine, the all-local Philly music mag I am launching with the HUGE help of volunteer writers, photographers, editors, artists and other supporters.

As we go through the launch process, I'll detail how we did it so that others can learn from our trials and errors.

I decided to create the magazine in November after talking with a few students about a London mag project I did with students last summer. They loved the London mag but didn't feel connected to it. "If there was something like this for Philly, that'd be awesome," one student remarked.

The same day, Jesse Pearson, the former editor of Vice magazine, told one of my classes that a magazine should represent the editor's way of thinking. "The mag needs to be about my curiosity," he said.

That night I started a facebook group. I invited a bunch of friends and students to talk about the idea and what a mag would look like. By the end of the month, we had our first meeting. One week later, we discussed story ideas.

Over Thanksgiving break, I created a media kit. In December, I started a website, filed for a federal employee identification number, registered as a business and opened a bank account. Mookieland Inc. now exists and will launch JUMP: The Philly Music Project magazine in March.

Total costs to date: $1,425 paid to an accountant ($600 to incorporate the business, $300 for Philadelphia business license and $525 for the accountant's fees) and $25 for a domain name and hosting.

We have nearly 30 assignments in progress right now with stories due on January 28.

In February, I'll edit (with the help of volunteer copy editors) and we'll begin laying out the magazine. It should go to print on March 4, and be on the streets by March 11. Most of the city's college students return from spring break that weekend, so we'll do our major magazine launch party the following week (sometime between March 16 and 19).

It will cost around $5,500 to print 10,000 copies of a 48-page, full-color, glossy magazine. We have no advertising plan right now, so that money is coming out of my shallow pockets.

After the mag launches, we'll do a massive outreach to potential advertisers. Our next issue will be out in June and hopefully, the content/ ad ratio will be closer to 70/30, content to ads.

That is the plan for now.

My concerns? They are plenty: the stories won't come in on time; they won't be good; the images won't be strong and engaging; we'll miss genres; the mag will be too eclectic; we will be perceived as naive; advertisers won't be interested; I will lose $7,000 that I will never get back.

I could go on for days.

For now, however, I am having a great time. The process is exciting. And my 31 days of music story has me exploring every day, meeting amazing people and seeing places I've never experienced. Speaking with all these folks reminds me of why I love journalism.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.