we're all in this together

by jonathan robles

Note: Variance Magazine debuts July 2010.

Maybe it's the recent "Lost" series finale and its themes of togetherness and unity. Maybe it's the fact that "American Idol" is wrapping up another season (and pretty much ending as well). Or maybe it's the fact that we're just over a month away from the launch of Variance Magazine--on the brink of a new era in music, arts, and media.

When I was growing up, Britney Spears was an unknown-turned-star; Celine Dion and R. Kelly were on Top 40 radio; names like Hanson, Spice Girls, Notorious B.I.G., "Puff Daddy", and Toni Braxton--those were the familiar radio hit-makers. Today, Britney Spears is still the queen but slowly losing to Taylor and GaGa; "Puff Daddy" is now--hold on, let me Google it--"Diddy a.k.a. Sean Combs"; and Toni Braxton is re-introducing herself to a world that vaguely remembers her (or anything that happened more than a week ago).

Many people--maybe everyone, at some point--dream about being famous. Oh, what it would be like! Thanks to reality television and the "American Idol" fanaticism of the 21st century, many boys and girls go to bed dreaming of their faces on billboards. They aspire to be the next David Cook, or Sandra Bullock, or Dan Brown.

Take a look around, though. Things are changing--and not slowly, either. iPads and Kindles are must-have items re-inventing how we view books--literally (a new generation is discovering a thing called "reading"). Filmmakers are creating world-class features with their laptops. More and more people are paying for music that they will never physically touch now that mp3s are available from just about every artist imaginable. And stars are being "discovered" via YouTube and Twitter. Ten years ago, they would have called us crazy!

The world is different now. Dreams are not plastered far, far away in the sky. Bands are gaining thousands of fans without ever having a radio single--thanks to the Internet. High school kids are auditioning for "Glee" from their living rooms--thanks to social media networks. Betty White hosted "Saturday Night Live" because 500,000 Facebook fans demanded it. And "The Shack" is still on the New York Times Bestseller List--for the 104th week in a row--because of e-mails and word of mouth. With a little elbow grease and some of the endless resources available to us nowadays, little guys are making big names for themselves.

The new era of music, arts, and media is a collaborative effort. It's a display of the power of many hands coming together, the power of networking. This new era isn't any more about me than it is about you. The world--with all six billion of its residents--is a smaller place today. The generation at hand realizes that we all have a unique role in this. And moving forward, we're going to see something different happening. We're going to see an explosion of creativity and, therefore, an explosion within the arts community--community being the key word.

I believe this is where Variance comes into play. Now, while we don't claim to have it all figured out (this thing is changing by the millisecond), Variance is an online magazine providing you with content from people who have been there and people who ARE there--in the trenches with you. If you have a story, share it. If you have a question, ask it. If you have an opinion, voice it. We don't want this to simply be "an online magazine"--we want it to be a resource. A conversation. A community.

So whether your dream is to be the next Carrie Underwood, the one who writes her biography, the one who produces her next music video, the one who designs her next album cover, the one who portrays her some day in a feature film, or the one who gets front-row seats at her next concert, we hope you'll be a part of this.

Welcome to Variance. And as cheesy as it might sound, welcome to the future. We're all in this together.