The Highway Girl: Building On What You Already Do

Samantha Murphy, aka The Highway Girl, has a long history as a performer which has led her to unique approaches to the contemporary music industry. In particular, she turned her own touring process into a web platform organized around a video show featuring indie artists with additional sections such as an online store with fashion and music/travel gear, a city guide and MP3s.

Though the show seems to be on hiatus, possibly due to her recent journey into motherhood, I think the overall concept is well worth considering as an example of how one can build on one's music to create a larger creative and commercial vehicle.

Samantha Murphy began touring and performing as a kid with her musical family and released a debut album in 2005. That same year she began a podcast focused on indie artists she was meeting on the road which later became a web tv show in 2008. The Highway Girl is a site that was clearly designed to create a base for building the show into something bigger.

Since Murphy has toured her whole life, she has had to find solutions to a variety of issues from where to eat to what to wear. So The Highway Girl site includes a section on cities and an online store with fashion items, kids travel stuff, music gear and similar items that relate to the touring life of a musician.

In addition to the show itself, which features interviews and live performances from indie artists, the site has a larger section featuring musicians with streaming music.

Unfortunately, especially since I love the way the content and ecommerce aspects of the site build on Murphy's performing career, the site seems to have stalled at some point in its development, various links don't work and it was impossible for me to find a public statement about the lapse in the show and the site's development.

Be that as it may, I think the site is a great source of ideas for taking what you already do and care about and turning it into something bigger.

Hypebot contributor Clyde Smith is a freelance writer and blogger. Flux Research is his business writing hub and All World Dance: World Dance News is his primary web project.