Jazz.NEXT

NFCB to Assemble Public Radio Jazz Stations for Meetings
to Discuss Building Digital Music Libraries

The National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB) is convening a meeting of up to eight jazz-formatted public radio stations around the country to discuss the need for digital music libraries at all stations and plan for the specific demands that jazz programming has on the technology of digital music and data storage. A one-day intensive meeting and two or three follow-up conference calls are being planned to facilitate an important discussion of what the challenges are for jazz stations in building digital music libraries, what has been tried in the past by some stations, and what best practices can be defined.
 
As jazz musicians and small record labels move to digital recording formats and distribution, NFCB has identified jazz radio stations as requiring significant assistance to access the new music and convert their existing CD and vinyl libraries to digital formats. The eight public radio jazz stations that NFCB will engage in these discussions will represent the spectrum of the nearly 70 public stations from across the country that primarily program jazz.  The exploration of the topic will ultimately yield a blueprint to develop curriculum that trains jazz stations to create and maintain digital music libraries and enhance their music programming.
 
NFCB’s Program Manager, Martina Tran, states, “Most public radio jazz stations – traditionally offering some of the best opportunities to connect emerging and independent artists of the genre with audiences – do not have the infrastructure or the training to access, catalog and store digital music.  This planning meeting will focus directly on the uses of technology and new platforms to expand access to and delivery of jazz music to audiences.”
 
This project is funded by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation (MAAF), through the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  NFCB was one of only five projects that received funding in the first round of grants for the Jazz.NEXT program being organized by MAAF.  Jazz.NEXT is a new national jazz initiative designed to encourage the application of technology in substantive and innovative approaches to developing audiences; communicating with the public; marketing, distributing, and selling the work of jazz artists; and building a more robust jazz infrastructure better positioned to meet current and future challenges.
 
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters is an alliance of stations, producers, and others committed to Community Radio. NFCB advocates for national public policy, funding, recognition, and resources on behalf of its membership, while providing services to empower and strengthen community broadcasters through the core values of localism, diversity and public service.

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