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Realizing, of course, that the entire publishing industry is cratering, still: it’s been awhile since we checked in on the health of music magazines.
Folio just summarized the latest Publishers Information Bureau statistics for 2008. Auto and Business magazines did worst overall, with Music mags just trailing.
- Blender: -30.6%
- Rolling Stone -23.6%
- Spin +1.7%(?!)
- Vibe -17%
Folio referred to Blender as “on life support,” and MediaBistro reported in late November that Alpha Media, publisher of Blender was going into “restructuring talks that are expected to turn over the company to creditors.”
And news came just a few days ago that Arthur was “hibernating” their print edition. This comes just 6 months after narrowly escaping the jaws of death by soliciting a $20,000 donation from readers.
I don’t have any news about any of the other, smaller, music mags, but I am very curious about them– I’ve seen a lot of steeply discounted ad rates being offered of late. And whether it’s preemptive or reactive is unknown, but you have to give credit to Paste for really pushing their thinking waaaay “outside the box.” In the last year, in addition to their Radiohead-modeled “Pay What You Want” offering and their “VIP Subscription,” they’ve also launched a Barack Obama traffic grabber, placed ads in the page-number areas of their magazine, and launched their own ad network.
I understand there are some caveats and exceptions, but I stand by my assertion that an on-demand system for in-store fabrication of CDs, DVDs, books, magazines, and newspapers is the way to move forward. And by that, I simply mean that if these industries could cut out the huge costs associated with the mass manufacturing, printing, and distribution of their product, their balance sheets could start looking a lot better a lot faster. And recognize that I’m not talking about downloading stuff and then printing it at home on your HP Deskjet– I mean that retailers should be equipped with the technology to fabricate these items, in high-quality form, on the spot, when a customer wants to buy it. Granted, maybe the technology’s not *quite* there just yet, but I think my point still stands. You don’t see the short-order cook go into the diner in the morning, fry 1,000 eggs, and then wait for 1,000 customers to order them. That would be rather inefficient, don’t you think?
7 Responses to “Checking In On The Music Mags”
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January 14th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
>>I mean that retailers should be equipped with the technology to fabricate these items, in high-quality form, on the spot, when a customer wants to buy it.
Two questions:
1. Theoretically, does this essentially mean an end to any kind of browsing?
2. Theoretically, does this essentially mean the end of any sort of distinctive packaging for, say, books?
January 14th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
There are certain video and music stores I’ve frequented where you browse, you take the item up to the register, and then the clerk goes in back and brings out a copy for you, and replaces the “browsing” copy back on the shelf. I imagine the same interaction in what I’m talking about.
As to the unique/interesting packaging: I prefaced with “there are some caveats and exceptions,” specifically b/c there will always be certain things that demand a certain type of unique packaging. We all love “special” kinds of product presentations. But you have to think about: how similar are most CDs? A disc, a jewel, and a few-page insert. DVD: disc, amaray case, insert. Then you take books, newspapers, magazines: many use very similar paper stocks, sizing, bindings, etc.
The retailer would essentially have “blanks”– and a “blank” newspaper could become a “New York Times” or “USA Today”, the “blank” CD could become “Rubber Soul” or “Master of Puppets”, the “blank” book could become “War and Peace” or “Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle…”
January 14th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I’m definitely aware of the “copies up front” — one of the two record stores I visit most often does this for new releases, for instance.
I was definitely thinking more along the lines of books in my comment — though I’d also think that what you’re describing would be potentially less problematic for CDs or DVDs. An ‘instant’ copy of “Rubber Soul” would take a lot less time to create than, say, “Anathem” or “2666″. I can also see problems with a print-on-demand kiosk running out of ink mid-job that wouldn’t be anywhere near as present when burning a CD or DVD.
January 14th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
As a post-script and qualification to that last bit, though, I will say that my own taste in books runs towards trade paperbacks and indie presses, which is probably not what a kiosk-based book-fabricator would want to be oriented towards in order to, you know, make money. Which is, I suspect, why I’m not a futurist.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
interesting…are you aware that the old Musician magazine had an article way back when (pre-downloading, pre-CD-burning) that speculated that in-store, on-demand CD-making would be the wave of the future? (I think it was early ‘93…) It may still be… If “record stores” can get people to recognize their social function (actually rather similar to the way online music blogs create a community), and such customized services can add value beyond what you might get merely by downloading a track, it just might work… I actually still buy CDs fairly often – but the ones I buy are those that either are interestingly packaged, or by artists I really want to help support: somehow, a CD still feels more real to me than paying for a bunch of mp3 files.
January 29th, 2009 at 9:57 am
[...] some time now, We’ve watched as the music mags began giving up the ghost. We’ve even seen magazines squeeze out an extra 6 months of life by taking reader donations. [...]
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