Ask any 1,000 web publishers who is their biggest traffic referrer, and 999 will say Google. Ask me, and I'll tell you it's Pikahsso allen Poe. That's because he's always telling his friends and fans about what's going on over here. 

The new TexasGigs is still a fledgling, and the larger Pegasus News vision is still a (prominent) glint in our eye. And in these early days, I've been blown away by the way the hip-hop community has embraced our site. Alan mentioned Ch0 yesterday -- and we really couldn't have ramped up coverage of the hip-hop scene without his help.

See, the dirty little secret here is that save for Donte, back in November when we started working on the site, there weren't any die-hard hip-hop fans in our shop. My entire collection consisted of Public Enemy, Beastie Boys and a Def Jam box set.

But now I find myself grooving on Pikahsso, Steve Austin, 3-Alarm, Brownlion, Money Waters, Kin-Fok Kru, Mad Mexicans, ClaAs, JointMethod and lots of others. I had a blast at Monday Nite Fights.

That's mostly because these are talented local musicians. But it's partly because I'm so humbled at the way they have supported us during our launch.

Sure, we've done podcasts and videos and articles on lots of local musicians. That's all part of our long tail strategy for content: Find the great local stuff that isn't getting covered, and cover the hell out of it, rather than piling on what traditional media are already doing.

But the hip-hop community here is special. While artists of other genres bitch and moan about the lack of coverage (or in some cases gratuitously negative coverage) they get, the DFW hip-hop community rolls with it and then some. Instead of grousing, they make their own buzz. And when they see someone paying attention to what they're doing, they support them. Makes sense, eh?

We have had more comments and interaction on our site from hip-hop artists and fans in the last week than many hyperlocal news start-ups have seen in six months of operation. I'm extremely grateful for that-- It really validates what we're trying to do.

And, I'm trying to learn from that example and not grouse or snark when local media outlets go out of their way to not talk about what we're doing here.

And, I'd suggest that the entire local music community industry should take a page from the hip-hop community.

Yeah, not as many people go to Deep Ellum. Yeah, show attendance isn't what you'd like it to be. Yeah, it's hard to make a living. But, judging from the relative attendance at hip-hop shows around town, the positive vibe works a heckuva lot better than the negative.

What are the keys to that vibe? We're all best to learn the lessons directly from folks like Ch0, Pikahsso and the rest (and I hope they'll ring in on this), but some things I do see:

• Always promote, but never sell: That means to always talk about what you've got to offer, as well as the community has to offer -- but to never do so gratuitously. These folks really do understand that markets are a conversation.
• Good for one is good for all: When one member of the community succeeds or gets coverage, the whole community promotes it.
• Be humble: Nobody like a braggart. And no one succeeds without help and support from their community.

I'm sure there's more, and I can't wait to hear about it.

That's not to say that anyone should be a Pollyanna. You'll see a fair amount of criticism on our site, because that's part of an open discussion. But, you'll never see us taking potshots at a band we haven't listened to or seen. And, even when there is criticism, artists and fans can and should always add their own comments into the discussion.

What we're doing at TexasGigs, and later Pegasus News, is a radical notion: We are here first and foremost to promote our communities and to use the digital medium to encourage people to do more things outside their homes and with their neighbors.

The cynic in me looks at a mission like that and smells fluff, or worse, advertorial-- things which I abhor. But that's not what what we're about. For all of the technological innovation and media change of the past few years, the primary lesson is this: media (like markets) are a conversation, not a monologue. Our agenda is to get people talking, get people walking, and let the pieces fall where they may.

With more allies like our new friends in the hip-hop community, success is inevitable.

On that note, we're taking a page from the marketing acumen of Pikahsso, who made himself a TexasGigs banner to promote his content on our site. By merging that idea with the technology of our publishing system, we've added an automatic promotional banner to every band and venue page on the site. That means that by clicking on the HTML link below the banner, you can add a promo link for your band or any favorite band to your website, MySpace page or email signature. Here's Pikahsso's as an example:

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