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The Next Evolution Of BreatheHeavy: A Letter From Jordan Miller

Jordan Miller

By Jordan Miller
in Britney Community

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JP9101 Master

JP9101

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Hi jordi. It’s not a bad idea but you must offer a lot of value like we are living in a moment where content is free and great! So bring some fresh ideas... the content should be a must - not paying - the membership should give discounts, ruffles, gifts (calendars; wallpaper), apps, events. Don’t come here and Charge just for content... if you are going to do That it has to be AMAZING content... as a professional marketer this works for master class, video suscribtions, music, so bring good ideas :bedtime: you can’t charge just for daily news Jordi :comingthru: but good luck

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Dhl818 Collaborator

Dhl818

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On 4/5/2019 at 6:28 PM, breatheheavy said:

This made me really sad. This announcement has been planned for today for literal weeks. And if push came to shove and I had to show a judge receipts, I could prove it. I wasn't waiting for some huge Britney story to share this news. I know you're well intentioned, but someone thinking I'm taking advantage of Britney, especially during a time when she's in a mental health facility, when all I am trying to do is create original content for fans while she's out of the spotlight (content that pays respect to her legacy and career), is a bummer. Sending you good vibes either way.

thanks for you’re response i didn’t expect one I didn’t intend to make you sad I was just saying how things look. I am a paranoid person in general if that makes you feel any better. I was also sincere In saying that I hope it works out well for you. 

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DarkLord Mentor

DarkLord

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3 hours ago, breatheheavy said:

Haha sorry boo. You’re right. Thank you for the support. I truly am so grateful!

M&G with Femme fatalney in Mexico made my year, but you  made my next 2019 months. Can't wait The New BH era. ;)

Spoiler

You are a Hot Hot hottie and a fitness inspo for me. 

 

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MmmDani Mentor

MmmDani

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On 4/6/2019 at 10:38 AM, breatheheavy said:

- I def want to tap into the YouTube market. It's been difficult for me because I don't enjoy making videos. The editing process is a nightmare, and the whole thing seems overwhelming. However, I do understand how important it is and would like to get people hired for that. Which of course costs $, and I'm hoping memberships assists with projects like that. Cause God knows advertising (and peoples' ad block) isn't helping. 

- Love the competitions idea, because I want readers to be more involved / engaged. 

- Exhale definitely needs some TLC. Looking forward to that this year as well!

- Podcasts is 100% happening after this rolls out. That's the next big project. 

- An app - I get that a lotttt. TBH I have some ideas for an app that aren't just re-imagining how BreatheHeavy functions as a news site. Something else entirely ;)

 

Thank you for the feedback! It's not falling on deaf ears. 

I’ve divided this message into separate subsections to make it easy to follow, sorry it’s so long. (For the lazy ones, there’s a brief summary at the bottom)

 

BreatheHeavy (and Rx):

Again, this could work, but right now I don’t think it will (this precise moment). Before you launch this, you need to hire other people (again, no idea what the staff situation is) to write articles (as far as I can see it looks like you’re the only one actively keeping the site alive). The more I’ve thought about it, the less the $5 seems. However, there needs to be some kind of guarantee that subscribers will receive one article every day. Which obviously means, as I’m sure you’re aware, you need to have a bank of quality articles available at all times. 

University graduates are always looking to break into their prospective industry (I’m referring to “media” students), offering them money for each article they submit is something may would find very attractive. It’s a great thing to have on their CV, and I’m sure you could sell it that way. Again, you’ve probably already been doing this, but I’ve been here for nearly two years and I’ve not once seen any form of advertisement for such a role. Taking article submissions and “purchasing” the best ones is a perfect way to, not only boost your output, but increase your readership. There aren’t that many places that young writers can get their work published easily, this, I know, would be a great opportunity for many people.

Along with something like this, the problem with trying to expand your readership is that you’re catering to a very limited market. Music fans, specifically Pop music stans, make up a very small portion of the consumers of media. You’re totally excluding, not only other genres of music, but other mediums. Film/Television is a big one, Sport is another potential, Literature is huge e.t.c. Your album reviews are great, I love album reviews, but there aren’t enough right now. I heavily advise you to adopt this user submissions approach to your articles. Your output is incredible for one person, but the variety isn’t there (especially not for paying customers). 

As for what you could do in Rx, I would be really interested in some analysis. Like Poetry style analysis of Britney’s song lyrics, Music Video (actual, close anslysis though, like shot compositions and such) or Tour Setlists or Live Performances. (This is the kind of thing media students would be great for).

Another thing is interviews with (even barely known) producers, writers and dancers that have worked with Britney I’m the past. That’s more difficult, but I suspect more interesting. (Maybe even interviews with some lesser known pop artists)

 

Forum:

Secondly, the forums need a spring clean. The most frustrating part of browsing is the lyric threads for me, the “official appreciation” threads. You need sub forums for each album, and to pin each song at the top as the “official appreciation thread”. You don’t need to sort out what’s already been posted, but sorting out future posts will make this forum much easier to follow. Additionally, within the fandom itself, the structure cater towards news discussions and speculation. It’s very difficult for e.g. merchandise collectors to discuss their recent purchases. Basically, what I mean is that you need to subdivide the Britney Forum (not to the extent that Gaga Daily has) into (e.g.) General, Specific Albums, Collectors, Fanmade Remixes e.t.c. Essentially, you need to invite other portions of the fan base. I love this place, but the Forum can be quite inaccessible. Uniting it with other portions of the fan base is really important for your website traffic.

The general thread needs subdividing into e.g. Pop Music/other umbrella genres, Film/Television, Literature (I’m not convinced that there’s a large group that’s be interested, but book reading communities thrive with a small population), Independant Artists (where people can share their own work), Celebrities? e.t.c. Right now there’s no order, focussing on building smaller communities would go miles. “If you build it, they will come”

 

 

Guides/Timeline:

Probably the most overlooked thing here, but some sort of discography guide is so important. A lot of the discussions I engage in across forums is where to start with “insert huge Pop icon’s name” ‘s discography. To new fans it’s daunting getting into huge discographies. Something that’s essential for when B10 comes out is a quick road map that clearly lays out her career, otherwise people won’t make the effort to look into it. iTunes is a mess, it’s so confusing, I’d love to sort her discography out properly on there. This website could be the one that has an “introduction to” section, that people could skim over and then be pretty up to date. That (especially with B10) will get you traffic, and it will get the Forum new members. 

Something else to consider is a Timeline feature. This thread made me think about it:

 

A career timeline, with recording dates, links to interviews and performances, facts. Idk, this could be the most interesting feature of this whole site, especially to fans who would like to see a scale representation of everything they’ve been watching/listening to. 

 

 

 

 

 

In summary: 

These are the steps that I think you should take before dropping Rx.

1.) Sort the forum into smaller divisions, it’s more appealing to newcomers and currently excluded portions of the fan base.

2.) Look into “pay-per-article” ways of content production, young people who’d do it are everywhere. You just need to find them.

3.) Expand your coverage, including upgrading the General Forum

4.) With your strong foundation, I would first venture into podcasts (this is perfect for being Rx exclusive, an article a day and a podcast every week is absolutely worth the $5, and people will see that. Maybe this is where you could do interviews)

5.) Once the quality content is there and you can consistently produce it, then (and only then) launch Rx. Please don’t make the mistake of selling memberships before you have enough content, it will turn people off.

6.) YouTube video adaptations of your best articles? An App? More writers? Hire an editior and commentator for YouTube videos? Expand the cast of the Podcast? Do more event coverage? Don’t jump the gun, make the foundations, then launch Rx (with the podcasts) and then expand from there.

 

 

Again, good luck :sendinglove:

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Alice X Community Regular

Alice X

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5 hours ago, Lilith said:

Can you explain what do you mean by "BH is one of the firsts" "this kind of model" parts? One of the "firsts" for what? And what model exactly? What are you talking about? Be more clear.
Ad revenue works fine for lots of sites based ofc on how much traffic they get. Just because your website doesn't get much ad revenue doesn't mean other sites don't get great revenue. It just happens that your site doesn't have enormous traffic compared of course to other sites and so on. There is sites with even lower traffic than yours that will get even lower revenue, other sites with greater traffic that will get far greater revenue. What work/or not work for you doesn't mean won't work for others.

If only this new frontier was more clear for what it actually is because so far all you keep telling us is just abt ad removal, and a content that will somehow draw ppls interest so much that they will be willing to pay and not go get the very same content for free from the web.

Speaking of switching to POP forum, you know that right now the way you have formed BH is not a pop site right? When ppl join exhale what they first see is a Britney Forum, a Breaking Music News and a General section. That doesn't look like a pop forum at all. What they see is a main Britney section that's majorly favored and they flee bc they realize instantly that's not a pop music forum, its actually a Britney forum.
I don't know what you thinking or what you plan to do with the site, but you need to understand that's nowhere near pop music news site. It's a "pop news site" only in the name. Anyone who visits will see instantly a main Britney forum popping up in their faces.

The $5 is funny to you? You don't even know what one spends and on what and IF they can spare $5. Sure to some people it will be nothing but to others $5 is important. People pay bills/loans/every other expenses you can think of and now here, you are asking those people to pay $5 (an amount you even laughed at) to read (based on what you have said so far) a very unique brand new content-which somehow we won't find anywhere else. You have yet to explain how exactly that particular content will be exclusive(?) and we won't find it anywhere else for free.

Since you think that $5 is a funny amount and easy for people to spare, then trust that people won't have any issue at all to share that content either. $5 is nothing right? Then no problem, people will just pay and if they want to they will share it.

How exactly are you planning to "track them" ? That's actually nearly impossible. It will be only possible if the person who spread the content did mistakes in his attempt to cover his tracks.
Just because someone pays doesn't mean they won't share it if they want to. It's very very common for people to pay to get content and share it for free. Besides, $5 clearly is nothing, so why people would think twice before sharing the content? It's not even a hassle.

@Lilith I disagreed on many topics with you in the past, but damn you hit it right! I agree with every single line you wrote. Respect!:tbh: 

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MysticWomaney Veteran

MysticWomaney

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My only real confusion is you’ve been asking for months now but always said £2 

and that wasn’t well received but £2 is better than £5. 

I’m not paying the same as I do for Apple Music with not as consistent stuff and as big a library. You can’t charge more when rn there is nothing there.

it just seems a bit money hungry and not like you even listened to your multiple market researching you did 

idk how the backlash from £2 you now set in stone £5. We knew it was happening but you did more than you even suggested when no one wanted it

go back to £2 Jordan and from now on don’t change what you have said in the past it’s just not a good look

i feel you’re being dishonest from that

thats all 

I know you’ve achieved amazing thing with this site and this is your baby but be careful don’t self sabotage it like this ease it in make it cheaper is the main concern for most that’s it we want t to work for you 

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MysticWomaney Veteran

MysticWomaney

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11 hours ago, breatheheavy said:

I'm only accepting a certain amount of people to start (not saying the number tho lol) and in just one day it's almost full. :wow: 

https://mailchi.mp/e19f505e8fe6/bhrxwaitinglist

 

I work with mail chimp so that must mean you’re nearly at 2k subs already as that’s before you have to pay A **** LOAD to manage your subs 

so well done Jordan I do hope the best for you it can work I just need to see stuff before I consider it yannoe but I want this site to last so I hope it works 

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BOBIBCFBG Mentor

BOBIBCFBG

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15 hours ago, breatheheavy said:

Let's agree to disagree here. I don't see myself as an amateur writer, nor are James (iHeartRadio) or Ross (MTV). We're all super talented and smart :byetina:

I've read some articles. But above that this is still a fan site. Most professional journalism sites still don't charge for their articles.

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Jordan Miller Master

Jordan Miller

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11 hours ago, Lilith said:

Can you explain what do you mean by "BH is one of the firsts" "this kind of model" parts? One of the "firsts" for what? And what model exactly? What are you talking about? Be more clear.
Ad revenue works fine for lots of sites based ofc on how much traffic they get. Just because your website doesn't get much ad revenue doesn't mean other sites don't get great revenue. It just happens that your site doesn't have enormous traffic compared of course to other sites and so on. There is sites with even lower traffic than yours that will get even lower revenue, other sites with greater traffic that will get far greater revenue. What work/or not work for you doesn't mean won't work for others.

If only this new frontier was more clear for what it actually is because so far all you keep telling us is just abt ad removal, and a content that will somehow draw ppls interest so much that they will be willing to pay and not go get the very same content for free from the web.

Speaking of switching to POP forum, you know that right now the way you have formed BH is not a pop site right? When ppl join exhale what they first see is a Britney Forum, a Breaking Music News and a General section. That doesn't look like a pop forum at all. What they see is a main Britney section that's majorly favored and they flee bc they realize instantly that's not a pop music forum, its actually a Britney forum.
I don't know what you thinking or what you plan to do with the site, but you need to understand that's nowhere near pop music news site. It's a "pop news site" only in the name. Anyone who visits will see instantly a main Britney forum popping up in their faces.

The $5 is funny to you? You don't even know what one spends and on what and IF they can spare $5. Sure to some people it will be nothing but to others $5 is important. People pay bills/loans/every other expenses you can think of and now here, you are asking those people to pay $5 (an amount you even laughed at) to read (based on what you have said so far) a very unique brand new content-which somehow we won't find anywhere else. You have yet to explain how exactly that particular content will be exclusive(?) and we won't find it anywhere else for free.

Since you think that $5 is a funny amount and easy for people to spare, then trust that people won't have any issue at all to share that content either. $5 is nothing right? Then no problem, people will just pay and if they want to they will share it.

How exactly are you planning to "track them" ? That's actually nearly impossible. It will be only possible if the person who spread the content did mistakes in his attempt to cover his tracks.
Just because someone pays doesn't mean they won't share it if they want to. It's very very common for people to pay to get content and share it for free. Besides, $5 clearly is nothing, so why people would think twice before sharing the content? It's not even a hassle.

There is no way you can assure us, your paying customers that their "exclusive" paid content can stay exclusive. Absolutely NO way. What are you going to do about the reviews btw? Because people will subscribe and review it so naturally they will discuss what the stories are about IN DETAIL too and the issues they have with it and why they may have unsubbed or stayed etc. You can’t prevent customers from doing this.

What makes me laugh is the fact that you allow your members to post leaked songs and footage and other stuff of artists, but you tell us that you'll ban anyone who redistributes your opinion articles. Hypocritical much?

Super appreciative of your response. I know it must have taken some time and thought so thank you for this. 

It was a terrible choice of words to say I think it's funny about the $5 thing. Five bucks is five bucks. What I should have said is the value we are going to provide (in my opinion) is tremendous. It's difficult to put a price on content. It's all subjective. To me, $5 is a digestible number and low enough for most people not to immediately scoff at. 

The mods and I are currently brainstorming ideas to elevate Exhale so it is more inclusive - so people don't sign up just for the Britney section. Exhale is super special and I look forward to growing the members and getting threads active on other artists as well. 

As for the exclusive content – you won't find it anywhere else because it's not breaking news. Some of them will be evergreen stories that aren't time sensitive. For instance, @Ross Lohan just submitted one of his stories that centers around how Britney isn't just a pop star, but a rock star. We have an exclusive series in the works that focuses on a producer who worked very closely with Britney during a very interesting time in her life, we have deep dives on days in popular culture where that story will drop on the actual day of the past event. My B-Sides stories for instance have performed better than almost anything else I've written in 2019. There are so many fantastic pieces in the works that shifts BH and our audience away from 'omg this video just dropped and here's what happened' kinds of stories / rumors / gossip. 

As for the stealing. Yeah, you're right, there will be people who are jerks and steal then share the content. Just like 20% of people use Ad Block. There will always be people like that who just don't support, but I can't not pursue this because of them. They're not my focus cause clearly they don't care about BH's future, and that's OK. But rest assured I will be pretty aggressive when it comes to someone stealing our RX content (not a threat, but also not going to sit back and let that happen). 

Apologies again for the ~only $5 comment~ It's a big deal and I hope people believe in and love this enough that they end up thinking $5 is a steal! 

Mucho love. 

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Jordan Miller Master

Jordan Miller

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5 hours ago, Mystic Womaney said:

My only real confusion is you’ve been asking for months now but always said £2 

and that wasn’t well received but £2 is better than £5. 

I’m not paying the same as I do for Apple Music with not as consistent stuff and as big a library. You can’t charge more when rn there is nothing there.

it just seems a bit money hungry and not like you even listened to your multiple market researching you did 

idk how the backlash from £2 you now set in stone £5. We knew it was happening but you did more than you even suggested when no one wanted it

go back to £2 Jordan and from now on don’t change what you have said in the past it’s just not a good look

i feel you’re being dishonest from that

thats all 

I know you’ve achieved amazing thing with this site and this is your baby but be careful don’t self sabotage it like this ease it in make it cheaper is the main concern for most that’s it we want t to work for you 

Hey there. hmmm I think you are mistaken. I never said £2 (unless I'm mistaken and someone can point me in the right direction, I'm old now). 

Also it's worth mentioning nothing is "set in stone," however I advised with people who specialize in memberships and we all felt $5 was a fair price. Things can be adjusted, but from what I've gathered from most people they seem to be ok with that price point. I think if I made it $2, people would say they think it should be $1. People aren't thrilled with paying for things on the Internet yet, but I am hoping the people who participate are absolutely thrilled with this and think $5 is totally worth it!

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Jordan Miller Master

Jordan Miller

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11 hours ago, Lauralicious1 said:

Best of luck Jordan hope it’s a big success for you! 

Hope we haven’t got to pay to keep using the forum. 

What are you going to do if Britney retires and there is no new Britney news?!? :tiffanycries:

TBH minus last week, Britney news has been pretty much non-existent this year, but we've had some pretty outstanding stories (traffic wise) about her anyway because we're paying mad respect to her legacy and career - that's also a big part of BH RX!

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MysticWomaney Veteran

MysticWomaney

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1 minute ago, breatheheavy said:

 

Hey there. hmmm I think you are mistaken. I never said £2 (unless I'm mistaken and someone can point me in the right direction, I'm old now). 

Also it's worth mentioning nothing is "set in stone," however I advised with people who specialize in memberships and we all felt $5 was a fair price. Things can be adjusted, but from what I've gathered from most people they seem to be ok with that price point. I think if I made it $2, people would say they think it should be $1. People aren't thrilled with paying for things on the Internet yet, but I am hoping the people who participate are absolutely thrilled with this and think $5 is totally worth it!

I saw it on a post you did on here not too long ago and I think on fb and/or insta. I didn’t comment on either but everyone said no.

i can’t remember the exact thing to give receipts 

i hope it works out for you anyway and I really love this forum and I do like the site I do follow it and the articles.

i for one can’t afford £5 but I could £2 and I assumed when this idea was finalised by you this is what you would go for 

guess I’m sad I feel alienated but it’s okay because that’s my financial problem and you’ve even said well still be able to use exhale.

if you drop any unreleased stuff tho I don’t wanna be left out of that 

 

happy bday Jordan have a good day and I wish you the success you deserve the internet is where fortunes are made now so just take it as it comes don’t be too hasty xx

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