The Americana and roots music authority
Music Magazines: elite or obsolete?
Ironically that was the topic of discussion today (the day we launched ND's print archive) on WNYC.org's Soundcheck Smackdown. One of my awesome archive volunteers emailed me a link to this piece which I found interesting. What do you think?
(it takes a second for the imbedded player to pop up so be patient)
(it takes a second for the imbedded player to pop up so be patient)
Views: 4
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by M Shanghai String Band on -
yes, "online" IS the future, but......commanding your nitch online is the key to a successful
future. A vibrant website and a high profile festival is a damn good start..
-
Permalink Reply by T Hanssen on -
Thanks for posting this - an interesting conversation. My personal opinion is that short form, time sensitive content will complete its migration to the web. Feature articles and interviews will also be on the web but may still find a place in print.
Honestly, if reduced to a binary choice, I would say "elite" - create a quarterly, high end publication, with high quality exclusive photos and articles/interviews, bound in high quality at a high end price and perhaps that is viable.
Look at McSweeney's (no ads - high end subscription literary quarterly), and use that as a model.
To me, print = vinyl at this point. Not trying to be glib, I mean that it is something I care about and will pay up for a quality product.
-
Permalink Reply by Alan Pudding on -
Folk Roots is the best mag left.
When they publish, Oxford American is quite good.
Both are pretty elite reading which will never become obsolete.
-
Permalink Reply by Kurt on -
When feeling flush I still occasionally lay down the cash for Mojo--high quality paper/images, well-researched articles, and as a bonus, a CD that often includes rare material. Guess it pretty much defines 'elite.' Whatareyougonnado. Pass the arugula.
-
Permalink Reply by Kevin Oliver on -
funny that the comment's made that the internet's not conducive to longer stories, which seems counterintuitive. Most of the longer stuff I've written, I've had to edit it down to fit in the printed space allotment for publication, whereas online you don't really have a space limitation--just an attention span allotment, I suppose. there's so much out there online I guess we shouldn't expect someone to slow down long enough to read a serious, several-thousand word piece on an artist or album at the computer screen.
I still enjoy flipping through an actual magazine, but I have to admit I was at a newsstand today glancing at the magazines and the thought occurred to me that "I don't need to buy any of these, I can just read them online."
-
Permalink Reply by Andy Moore on
-
Kyla:
Getting credentialed to cover next month's Lollapalooza for nodepression.com was an interesting practicum on this topic. The media application placed higher priority for "non-web based" publications. I suspect the final roll call of those of us who will be filing copy for various audiences there will show at least a 50/50 split, hard copy / cyber. A funny irony is that I'll be posting two-to-three-times per-day for ND while at the festival, as will other cyber-correspondents, resulting in literally thousands more words on the fest compared to single story, hard copy report.
Here's another difference...
If I was covering the festival for ND in the print magazine days, my assignment and product would have been much different. Rather than snapshots of acts and the color and scene, like my posts will be, it would have been that plus a deeper analysis of the meaning of it all. Not sure which is best but I sure miss Grant and Peter's editing!
Andy
-
Permalink Reply by Kim Ruehl on -
I've run into that same problem a lot for several years now, Andy - festivals, etc., placing higher priority for press access on those writing for print publications. Once I was told only people working for the daily papers in town would be granted access. I get it and, believe me, as a writer I'd much rather make my living in print. I love paper, I love researching and writing really in-depth features, I love working on a story for a long time with intuitive, skilled editors, etc., and the pay is generally considerably better.
But, like Jeff Jarvis says in What Would Google Do? (which I'm now almost finished reading, and would recommend to anyone trying to understand and figure out a way forward), preserving the past is not a plan for succeeding in the future. This is where we're at, and I wish festivals, etc., would catch up. They can get much more reported coverage online - not to mention a rather larger audience than may pick up a print publication. A vast majority of people who want to know what's going on at Lollapalooza are going to go online (to Google, keeping with my reference above) rather than wait for the paper or magazine report. Online reporting, if done by knowledgeable people with solid writing voices and a firm grasp on the music they're covering, has the potential to be a really valuable thing. The more of us professionals who jump on board now (and can afford to do so on the side, for those folks with more bills than I), the more likely we can, together, set the bar higher.
I think the long-form article belongs in print - whether in book form or in an elite publication. But information on up-and-coming artists and other newsy stuff is obsolete by the time a magazine completes its production cycle. So if music mags want to stay in print, they'll skip that kind of thing altogether and focus on a wider feature well. Leave the breaking, envelope-pushing recommendations, reviews, etc. to the web (online reporters have the potential to do much better at this if we start now). I'll pay good money for in-depth stories that educate and expand my understanding of music styles, history, etc., whether they're in a magazine or a book.
Whether or not any of us will come out the other end being able to make a decent living or not is yet to be seen. I'll keep crossing my fingers, feeling glad I don't have a family to support right now and am grateful y'all keep telling your friends about this place. Please keep doing so!
-
Permalink Reply by PB on -
>>
If I was covering the festival for ND in the print magazine days, my assignment and product would have been much different. Rather than snapshots of acts and the color and scene, like my posts will be, it would have been that plus a deeper analysis of the meaning of it all.
>>
(Plus you'd have been paid for your work, Andy.)
-
Permalink Reply by Kyla Fairchild on -
It's true about the payment part, but why couldn't (or wouldn't) such a piece still include a deeper analysis of the meaning of it all?
-
Permalink Reply by PB on
-
Would be interested in Andy's answer on that too, but my guess is that the "deeper analysis" part is fairly directly related to the payment issue -- it's that kind of writing which takes more time, and thus is harder for most folks to pull off without being compensated in some way for their allocation of time.
-
Permalink Reply by Kyla Fairchild on
-
That makes sense. It took me two or three hours to write my blog about the making of the archives and I kept thinking either I'm really bad at this or people deserve to get paid for it! (Maybe it's both!)
-
Permalink Reply by Hugo Traeger on -
As a lifelong music freak and a lifelong media sales/marketing person by profession I am really torn on this. I understand the business realities all too well. And music on the web compared to only reading about it in a magazine. No comparison of course. But there is the comfort and satisfaction of settling back with a good magazine that is well designed. It is the comfortable way to read an in depth feature. But our media choices will be dictated by where the advertising goes and for music that means electronic media. I don't know how music magazines can survive in this environment so I guess that I just have to get over my love affair with my favorite magazines.
The No Depression web site is so great. And now with the addition of the archives. Wow! The sense of community is wonderful.
To extend a media brand, live events are a must and I so wish that I could attend the No Depression Festival.
And I love my iPod.
© 2012 Created by No Depression.
Badges | ND Terms Of Use | ND Privacy Policy | Report an Issue | Terms of Service
