Harp On: Blurt-Online.com

IT WAS A SHOCK when the Silver Spring-based indie-rock magazine Harp went belly-up in March after a seven-year run. Word started to leak out during South by Southwest, arguably the biggest promotional event for those in the music industry, and a place where Harp was hosting several parties and displaying its latest issue — featuring Virginia local boy Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters on its cover.

It was awkward, to put it mildly.

But creator Scott Crawford didn't stay down for long, and on Wednesday he launched a new music and culture Web publication called Blurt at blurt-online.com. The Web site features a mix of news, reviews, features and commentary, but it also includes access to a downloadable PDF formatted like a traditional magazine, albeit with the added bonuses of embedded MP3s and videos.

Express spoke with Crawford about Harp's sudden demise and his new venture's surprisingly fast rise.

[Full disclosure: Writer Christopher Porter and Crawford worked together for several years when the latter acted as art director for a publication the former edited.]

» EXPRESS: What happened with Harp?
» CRAWFORD: It came as a complete shock to me. But the majority owners decided it wasn't performing the way they thought it should be. In the end, it was a flawed business model that did Harp in — it was almost set up to fail because we didn't have the kind of resources we needed to be successful. There are certainly things we could've tried to make it more successful, but there was a general lack of interest in doing so. Ironically, it was our best newsstand year.

» EXPRESS: The time between Harp's demise and Blurt's launch was remarkably short — less than 3 months, I think. How did you pull it together so quickly?
» CRAWFORD: I worked together with my team of editors, Web designers, photographers, etc., and as a team we hunkered down and tried to make the best site — the kind of site we'd all want to spend time at — and continue in the spirit of Harp. It was a real group effort, and I feel pretty lucky to be working with such a passionate and committed team.

» EXPRESS: Why did you decide to go with the downloadable magazine format rather than just a Web site?
» CRAWFORD: We still loved the idea of a magazine "format" so the idea of creating both an interactive Web site and a companion digital magazine was appealing — kind of having the best of both worlds. So as we moved forward, we were really working two sides of our brains: one kind of old-school — classic magazine layouts with physically defined pages — for the digital mag Blurt, and one more new media, Web 2.0 minded — the Blurt-online website plus the interactive features embedded in the magazine.

» EXPRESS: Do you think you'll ever do a print edition of Blurt, or is the magazine industry hurting too much right now to consider it?
» CRAWFORD: I'd certainly consider that down the road, but right now with the economy the way it is, the consolidating of newsstands and the cost of paper, it's a world I'm happy to stay out of.

» EXPRESS: What are some of the things planned for Blurt that will help it stand out from the numerous music Web sites already out there?
» CRAWFORD: We've already created a series of Blurt-exclusive videos with The Black Keys, DeVotchka, Alejandro Escovedo and others that are pretty top-notch. We'll continue to experiment with the digital magazine by offering additional interactive content. And our blogs cover everything from books to politics — written by artists like James McMurtry and music critic Chuck Eddy. We're all about content — and I think ultimately what will set us apart is the way we present that content.