UPDATED: International Jazz Festival reveals information on their website Saturday only

by Sarah Blaskovich , Jessica Harp

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For 24 hours, you'll be able to hear the music, see photos, and see members involved with the project. It all happens Saturday.

DALLAS — UPDATE: The Uptown Jazz Dallas website is open to non-members for 24 hours beginning at midnight. It stays open all day Saturday.

Keep your eye on the Uptown Jazz Dallas | International Jazz Festival. In the near future, organizer Keith Hill will open up the website UptownJazzDallas.com (which is currently open to members only) and debut a playlist of "artists of interest" for the impending 2012 festival.

We first reported on the jazz festival in February 2010, explaining the vision behind frontman Keith Hill's project.

The response was fantastic. Hill wrote on our site, "I really believe that the time is right for Uptown Jazz Dallas and that our city is ready to host an international jazz festival of this caliber. Just think, our focus is on music, food, fashion and the arts. Our city and the world is full of creativity in these areas. And, I truly believe that the vision for Uptown Jazz Dallas is the perfect vehicle to showcase all of this."

Fast forward to late April 2010, and Hill is back with an announcement. For 24 hours, you'll be able to hear the music, see photos, and see members involved with the International Jazz Festival for free. After that short time, the website will be closed to non-members again. (NOTE: A membership to the page is also free; you just have to ask and be accepted.)

Hill sent this Facebook update on Wednesday:

So what will you see when Hill opens the doors to the website? There will be a playlist with jazz musicians of all kinds. Those artists are on Hill's long list of potential performers for the festival. "When we add them to the set list, it allows us to get the members acclimated to the music," Hill said. "It's kind of like listening to your radio station, and when you go to a party, you're like, 'that's my jam!'

"It's our way to exposing people to music to that we think they should hear," he said. "It's somewhat of an experiment, but it's a good one."

Hill has experience building social networks and thinks they are the best way to market this music festival. He built TheJudahSet.com a year and a half ago targeting the Christian community. There, he posts breaking news in that niche market, plus playlists of music people might not hear on local radio stations. He let the website spread by word of mouth, creating a model that seemed perfect for his current project with the jazz festival: the website is invite only, with a 24-hour sneak peek from non-members who will (hopefully) want to join.

"Next thing you know, we're on different continents around the world," he said of TheJudahSet. He hopes to have the same reaction with the jazz festival.

At press time, 207 people were members on UptownJazzDallas.com, PegNews included. The Facebook page has 1,035 members. "The other festivals, they're not doing social media. I think we're the first ones to really show how a social network is important to ideas," he said.

Want your shot at being in-the-know for his blossoming festival? We'll tell you when the 24-hour all-access will begin.