Hear Nebraska

Imagine an electronic playground where Nebraska's musicians, writers, critics, fans, photographers, promoters, venue owners and more could all get together and discuss the states' music scene, browse through upcoming concerts, upload media, contribute content and more. You could loosely describe it as Facebook for the Nebraska music scene. Well, imagine no more, for there is a place like that, and it is located at HearNebraska.org.

Hear Nebraska, which is a non-profit organization, officially launched their web site Jan. 24 and is trying to become the one stop place for anything that is Nebraskan music media. The founder of the organization, journalist Andrew Norman, has slowly but surely been putting the pieces together for the last couple of years to make a promising idea materialize into something big.

"My wife, Angie, and I were drinking cheap beers in a dive bar called The Unicorn in Lansing, MI somewhere around November 2009," Norman said during a recent e-mail interview. "I was getting my master's degree in environmental journalism at Michigan State at the time, and was trying to figure out a good master's project. [Angie] came up with the general concept and we started brainstorming."

Andrew finished school at Michigan State, and the couple moved back to their native Lincoln, where they established Hear Nebraska as a non-profit group and turned the web site idea over to a professional programmer. Now, after months of fundraising, data gathering, and a few pushbacks, HearNebraska.org is up and ready to serve Nebraska's music community.

The freshly launched site is already loaded with a healthy selection of original content from significant media outlets like Lazy-I, the Lincoln Journal Star, and Kevin Coffey's "Rock Candy" blog. There is also a host of articles, blogs, photos and videos from other various contributors.

The purpose of Hear Nebraska, though, is to do more than just provide media for the general public to consume. Omaha already has a number of entertainment-focused publications that provide this service. At HearNebraska.org, the users are invited and encouraged to upload and post their own thoughts and content.

"I want fans to read great stories and columns, as well as learn about excellent shows, see killer music videos and meet like-minded people," Norman said. "I also want them to share their news, photos, videos, events and generally celebrate this amazing cultural resource we have in the state."

Another cool feature of the web site is that bands and venues can create profile pages where they can post news, upcoming shows and other various forms of media. After some minor tweaks to the site, booking companies, promoters, arts organizations and other groups will be able to create similar profiles.

"I want [users] to think about their profiles as an efficient website/electronic press kit that offers the latest news about the band, venue, etc.," Norman said. "We hope to add more voices, establish regular columns for artists, and feature more content about touring bands who are coming through the state; always with an eye toward multimedia."

The site is brand new and still has a few adjustments to make. Soon, though, HearNebraska.org will have clean interaction with social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook and the site will be easier to navigate. Despite these minor issues, HearNebraska.org is highly functional and has a clean, modern design.  New users have been adding up and forum discussions are building.

And while the site is recruiting new contributors and users, Norman and the crack team at Hear Nebraska have even bigger projects in the works.

"We plan to do a series called 93 in 93, where we find and produce an original music story in each of Nebraska's counties," Norman said. "We will also soon have a hotline you can call and leave a message about something – hopefully- music related; so if you're at a concert and you just saw the most amazing (or worst) performance, leave a message and we'll present the audio on the site."

What started as a master's project is slowly transforming into something that can do networking wonders for Nebraska's budding, emerging and established artists. It's also a platform to elevate Nebraska's music scene to a higher level. The multi-functionality of HearNebraska.org is what sets it apart from other entertainment media resources in the state.

The folks at Hear Nebraska want you to immerse yourself in the state's musical culture, and with their web site, that act has never been so easy to perform. So sign up and set yourself loose on this electronic playground, which unlike most other playgrounds, you can hang out in your underwear.