Move to Jazz.org Raises Concerns

When my wife and I lived in New York City, attending concerts and performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) was one of our favorite things to do. We lived 13 blocks from the Time Warner Center, and one of my friends dated someone that worked there. Until this morning, I didn’t know that the JALC website had been moved to the keyword Jazz.org domain name, which JALC seems to have owned for several years.

Interestingly, this change apparently caused some discontent, according to an article on TheJazzLine.com. The article cites a Change.org petition that was started by a former Vice President of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The Change.org petition says, “Remove jazz.org as Jazz at Lincoln Center’s domain name and develop a separate inclusive community-wide site with the URL.”

I can see the point that is being made, and it may be a good idea. I am not a search engine expert, but they could build a totally separate website about jazz music on Jazz.org while continuing to operate the JALC website on their branded JALC.org domain name.

I am sure there are good reasons for both, so it remains to be seen if this petition will cause any change with the JALC website and the Jazz.org website. At the present time, there are 41 supporters of the petition.

Changing from a branded domain name to a keyword domain name is something I’ve discussed with many companies. Most seem to prefer the branded domain name, but in a crowded industry, some prefer to own the industry defining domain name. Jazz at Lincoln Center still owns the shorter domain name, but perhaps they will revisit the domain name decision if the petition gains traction. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting discussion.